We Love Tacos And Tequila

There is a couple of things that easily attracted us to this restaurant – the location in the pedestrianised section of Central Avenue, away from strong ocean breezes but still in the middle of Manly’s partying mile, the handful of specials that they run every week such as 5 tacos for $15 or the Happy Hour, as well as the representation of fresh and bold flavours make this little place a must-visit. We started the night with a glass of cool and crisp white wine and one of their tequila cocktails, the Paloma. Who said that tequilas need to be boring? This cocktail was exactly what we wanted in a drink, with a slight bitterness and zesty body, cool and refreshing on a summer’s night out. But there is no reason to get stuck on the cocktails and imported beers if you want to treat yourself to something special. We were particularly intrigued by the choice of soda mixes that would include such delightful combinations such as mint, lime and agave. Moving on to the food – our first choice of two tacos, each 15cm diameter in size, were devoured so quickly, we can only say that we enjoyed these two immensely. While one taco was filled with grilled chorizo, with spicy juices dripping out of the rolled taco, the other was light and fresh with battered fish fillet and salsa, simply delicious. If you are not keen on tacos at all, check out the BBQ ribs starter which will definitely not confront you with salads or veggies but still they turned out to be finger-licking-good. With our tummies not quite filled yet, we then moved on to the highlight of our evening, four small taco plates, each topped with fresh tomato salsa and two lime pickled prawns. This was everything we could hope for on this night. Equally good but at an entirely different angle came the albondigas, or meatballs. We are familiar with the Continental Spanish version of this dish, which has Moorish cumin flavours and a distinct tomato flavour to the sauce. The albondigas at Tacos & Tequila have a truly rustic feel to them. Served in two big hard taco shells they have been slow cooked with potatoes and other vegetables which make them a good choice for a cozy winter’s night. While the other dishes were mostly designed for happy sharing, this one clearly came across as a one-person dish. Overall, we had a fantastic night out at the Tacos & Tequila. The only thing we’d like to suggest – do not select this restaurant on your first date night, as many of these dishes need to be eaten with your fingers, and we found ourselves losing the balancing act a couple of time. Not a big issue though if both of you are relaxed about little spills and mishaps, it definitely makes for a good conversation topic.