Review: Tweat-Up Taco Wars

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than heading over to the giant food orgie that was the Tweat-Up organised Taco Wars?

What's Taco Wars? I hear you cry - well here's the gist of it: 10 traders serving up one delicious Taco each, one winner to be crowned the best Taco in Britain voted by us, the public. We had the pleasure of trying each Taco in turn surrounded by a great atmosphere. There was music, free margaritas (how could we refuse?) and even a crazy tape measuring contest.

If you didn't make it to Merchant Yard for Taco Wars upcoming Tweat-up events include Ginstock, the Craft Beer Battle and more. it was our first but judging by the day we had certainly not our last.

Anyway - let's get down to the serious stuff... what were the strengths and weaknesses of each taco? Check out the photos to see all the Taco's and our personal faves. And the winners were Luardos, just in case you were wondering.

Here's our personal running order, from least tasty to most delicious, but it's worth mentioning that they were all damn good tacos.

10th, Banh MI 11: Promising presentation but unfortunately lacking a little bit in flavour and seasoning.

9th, Benito's hat: Nice taco but needed more seasoning and less guacamole. The taste of the corn tortilla overpowered the filling. Well done for the margarita though, delish.

8th, Santana Grill: Nice presentation but unfortunately I found the pork too strong, maybe spent a little too long on the hob... I would need to try it one more time.

7th, Buen Provecho: Great taste and pork cooked to perfection, just lacking in ingredients and originality.

6th, Casa Morita: Lovely flavours, loved the mixed of the pineapple, salsa and pork. The aftertaste was great.

5th, L.A. Sueno: Ohhh this was a good'un. Great presentation, very different textures and tastes and served with a tasty home made cheese. The flavours worked well together. Loved the crunchy carrot topping. And we got a free shot of tequila, bonus.



4th, Breddo's Taco Shack: The haute cuisine taco, by creating a complex taco this chef showed great cooking skills. The presentation, taste and different textures worked well, but maybe a little bit too clever for it's own good?



3rd, Kimchinary: Great tacos, loved the beef cheek, awesome flavours. The cod was well cooked but lacking a little bit in seasoning. The trimmings worked really well with the tacos, great mix of textures and colours... yummy...

2nd, Toma Mexicano: Simple and cooked to perfection. In my eyes, it was the taco-iest of of the tacos (that's totally a word). I would love to eat a bigger one. 

1st, Luardos: Oh wow, all the elements that made up this king prawn taco were perfect. A great sweet, salty and spicy combination. We didn't expect a fish taco to be out number one, but boy they were good.

Here are some pics shot around and about merchant yard. You needed a ticket to taste the tacos (£35 for all ten tacos and two beers, which is damn good value if you ask us) but there's an open bar and a hot-dog stand for those who didn't manage to bag themselves a ticket.

Toma Mexicano Kitchen

Breddo's Taco Shack 

Well done to macho man for this really nice Margarita, hell yeah!

What's the point of being Mr. Greedy Cochon and not being greedy? After all these tacos I had to try one of these hot dog from Dogtown, obviously.

 One cross only... It was really difficult to choose, If I had the choice of three It would have been number 8, 10 and 6 (Luardos, Toma Mexicano, Kimchinary).

Congratulations to Luardos, it was an impressive taco. The winner won £2000, a nice trophy and a cuddle from TV presenter Gizzi Erskine...