Tacowars 2

Tacowars2....what a day!!!! This was an incredibly well run corker of an event!!!  Firstly credit needs to be given to for @StreetFeastLDN not only organising this but the successful Hawker House nights also.

So for 35 quid we got 8 tacos, ice cream, a corona and a blood orange Margarita. We were entertained by DJs and a mariachi band.  With such a great atmosphere created the tequila flowed which may have impeded our judgement come taco 7 and 8 however for us there were 2 winners - @BOBs_Lobster& @BBQ_LAB who both took the classic taco and reinvented it into something new.

BOBs lobster used a wonton shell for the tortilla which worked so well with the fresh, limey sashimi grade Ahi tuna giving a great texture of crunch and soft paired with the wasabi guacamole - this was heaven in a few bites and left us wanting more...in fact later on in the evening we headed straight to Bobs to sample their lobster and vegetarian buns and again we were blown away.

BBQ Lab's taco was the most interesting/strange sounding as who would ever think hickory smoked peanut butter jelly pork belly would ever work and that’s not forgetting that each tortilla was made out of pork loin. As BBQ lab were creating this masterpiece in front of us you could see that so much thought, love, attention and care was being taken to make every individual taco. There was water bathing and blow torching and my god once the taco hit our lips it was just incredible - we in fact had to take a step back after the first bite to just acknowledge the sure brilliance of the taco. The meat was succulent, the accompaniments much to our surprise WORKED and the tortilla was out of this world - If Heston had been at this competition we don't think he could have competed with BBQ Lab. Again after 1 tequila too many we were on the hunt for more food and back to BBQ Lab we went to sample their steaks which were cooked to perfection and were so tender that we didn’t even need a knife!

3rd for us were the overall winners of the competition @breddostacos. We have sampled Breddos before and we were not disappointed! Their meat was rich and moist and all the components worked so well especially the cheese croquette and the tortilla which was made with beef dripping! Their taco was paired with a chilliback shot which has revolutionised the way we drink tequila...sod the lemon and salt it’s all about the 1/4 shot of chilli you finish the tequila with! After our first chiliback with the taco we were left wanting more....and more....and more...and so to the bar we went resulting in us losing count of the amount of chilibacks we had!

For us @kimchinary and @RitasDining came 4th and 5th with their original tacos pleasing our tastebuds. Kimchinary's taco was a delicious blend of pork belly and korean flavours packed with flavour.  Next was Ritas, neither of us had ever tried pigs head, belly and trotter before, in this taco we got to try all 3.  It was goooood.  The blood orange salsa added a really refreshing taste to the taco which worked really well.

@Luardos , @SantoRemedioUK and @BenitosChat were lagging at the back! We were expecting big things from Luardos who served their taco on a napkin which made it difficult to eat and also meant the juices were from an already rather dry taco were lost.  Benitos hat just had too much crunch and fat in their taco.  We felt that we couldn't really experience the full taste of the taco due to the fact that it was far too crunchy. Santo Remedio took a risk and served octopus however the taco we had the octopus was poorly cooked - although by talking to other punters and the fact that their taco came top 4 in the official vote maybe we were just unlucky and got a dodge lot of Octopus.

Our taco tasting was completed with two scoops of @_BlackVanilla_ chili chocolate and tequila sorbet which when eaten together worked so well with the sorbet acting as a cooling effect to the chilli!

From the bits we can remember we had a bloody great day and night and cannot wait for taco wars 3!