A note on the words: al pastor is pork marinated in chili and spices, shaved off a vertical spit and served with pineapple; cochinita pibil is pork slow-cooked with achiote and citrus until it falls apart, eaten with pickled red onion. Chicharron is fried pork skin, puffed up light and crisp. Guacamole is mashed avocado with onion, tomato and chili. A gringa is meat and melted cheese folded inside a wheat tortilla and griddled. Clamato is a bottled mix of tomato juice and clam broth; poured over beer with lime and chili salt on the rim it becomes a michelada. Mezcal is an agave spirit from Oaxaca, smokier than tequila, sipped slowly rather than shot.
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TAQUITO on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. So this time, Shin-Koiwa! A long way out! But as for why I came all the way out here……! A Mexican fellow I got to know recently — I asked him to tell me the Mexican restaurant in Tokyo that is closest to the real thing and tastes best, and one of the two places he named was this one, “TAQUITO” in Shin-Koiwa! When people say Mexican food, most Japanese people cannot really tell it apart from Tex-Mex, which started in the United States, so if there is pure Mexican food that an actual Mexican recommends, I will go anywhere!
The place is inside the shopping arcade in Shin-Koiwa. The skull on the wall looks properly Mexican!
Of course, this time I am here with the Mexican who told me about it, so we are going a la carte, built around his recommendations!
Now then, the staff speak Spanish? I think? Fluent, local-sounding people, and since there is someone on our side who can speak it too, the ordering is being done in Spanish lol Well, I have no idea at all what is being said, but the conversation certainly seems to be going well!
To start with, the Mexican beer Modelo Especial!
Compared with Japanese beer it drinks very light. Easy going down, and good.
So, on the left are the tortilla chips, and in the middle is guacamole. Up to that point these are dishes anyone would know, but the one on the right is chicharron, a snack of fried pork skin, and it is crisp and airy and delicious!
Put some of the spicy sauce on the guacamole and it is seriously good! I have never been to Mexico, but I can tell this is good! And my Mexican friend taught me that Mexican cooking is quite deliberate about working white, green and red into the food! Eating with commentary like that is the best lol
And here are the tacos. Al pastor, I believe — pork marinated in a range of spices, combined with pineapple, onion and cilantro. Apparently this is a fairly orthodox combination in Mexico as well. Squeeze a little lime over it, wrap it up and eat it, and it is seriously good. The way those Mexican spices go with the meat is really something. Seriously good.
And this is a Clamato — clam (the extract of hard-shell clams) plus tomato juice, mixed with beer, a cocktail.
This one is seriously good… And around the rim of the glass is a powder of lime, chili and salt lol That too is superb. I had no idea acidity and umami and tomato went together this well…… When I looked into buying Clamato, it turns out to be fairly expensive. I wonder if anywhere sells it cheap.
The pulled pork combined with red onion is cochinita pibil. This one was seriously good. It is apparently another of the representative dishes, and one he used to eat often. To be able to eat something this good as an everyday thing — Mexico has it good!
Next, when I asked what to drink alongside Mexican food, he introduced me to a spirit called mezcal. It is a fairly strong drink, but rather than knocking it back in one go, it is apparently a drink you take slowly and enjoy in a refined sort of way.
A distinctive flavor, and a very good drink! I had no idea anything like this existed.
And this is cucumber dressed with lime salt. This one you could make at home if you had lime salt! And it is good, which is the point.
The style is a slightly firmer shell with the filling tucked inside. This is popular too, and it is good! was how it was introduced to me. It was very good, though by then the mezcal had gone in and I am not really sure what it was lol I have a feeling it may have been a “gringa.”
And then a breather with the other Mexican beer.
Then, thinking it was about time for tequila, I was looking over the bottles lined up on the shelf and the staff explained all sorts of things to me.
The price is a bit steep, but this is the best one! was what they recommended, and that was
The color has come on beautifully, and it has a lovely aroma.
It is a strong drink, but it goes down very easily and tastes good with it. There is an interesting maple-like aroma to it.
I am starting to want a bottle of this myself!!
So there we are — proper Mexican food enjoyed with a Mexican, and I got to try Mexican dishes and drinks I had never had before. It was the best. If someone from there says it is the real thing then presumably it is, but either way every single thing was delicious, and this place has climbed a long way up my want-to-return list. Honestly, I had no idea it would be this good…! Proper Mexican food with a Mexican seal of approval. Do go and try it!!
TAQUITO Shinkoiwa (Mexican / Shin-Koiwa Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
