L'Informal Tacos

The menu at L'Informal Tacos

The tacos come in pairs, and the range is wider than the narrow format suggests. Al Pastor is cut from marinated Duroc pork roasted on the trompo and topped with pineapple, red onion and a fresh salsa verde of jalapeño and avocado — a vertical spit is no small commitment in an island kitchen. Cochinita Pibil brings pork marinated with chilli and orange, lime cream and pickled red onion. Birria is filled with stewed beef and mozzarella and served with a broth of beef and chillies for dipping the taco into.

Alongside them are versions that move further from the template: Baja California with tempura corvina, pico de gallo and lime aioli; Brisket with sautéed beef and a salsa of charred tomatillos; Panceta with pork belly in a pineapple and jalapeño barbecue sauce; Pollo Crujiente with crisp chicken and pickled cabbage. The Korea Town taco leaves Mexico entirely and sets prawns in a sweet-and-sour kimchi sauce with sesame and chilli mayo. The vegetarian option is roasted sweet potato with beans, lime cream and salsa verde.

Beyond the tacos

To start there are house-made totopos with guacamole, quesadillas with mushroom sofrito or with slow-cooked pork, and cazuelas of melted cheese, plain or with chilli con carne. What stands out is how much raw fish the menu carries: a ceviche of corvina and tempura prawns with leche de tigre and ponzu, a tostada of red tuna in soy vinaigrette, and a tostada of corvina whose leche de tigre is drawn from chile ancho and passion fruit. The cauliflower comes cooked zarandeado, with feta, almond salsa, pumpkin seeds and chile de árbol oil.

A row of house salsas stands ready for adding heat — maya, chipotle, habanero, green tomatillo and macha. The menu marks allergens dish by dish. At the end wait tres leches, a cheesecake in the “La Viña” style and a chocolate tart with peanut mousse.

Margaritas, mezcal and tequila

The bar at L'Informal Tacos is no afterthought. The margarita gets a section of its own and is poured in several builds: classic, as a Tommy's with agave syrup instead of orange liqueur, with passion fruit, with mezcal in place of tequila, and in a hibiscus version with a cold brew of hibiscus flowers, lime cordial and hibiscus salt. Then come the Paloma, the Jalisco Mule, the Mezcal Mule, an Espresso Martini built on reposado tequila, a Pisco Sour and an alcohol-free long drink of hibiscus, passion fruit and lime.

Anyone wanting to taste agave neat will find a full run of tequilas and mezcales, the latter mostly espadín, including a pechuga. Add Mexican beers with michelada and chelada, and house lemonades. The island press names the margaritas in the same breath as the tacos, quesadillas and cazuelas — which gets the balance of the house about right.

The place and its neighbourhood

The room is furnished sparely: light wood, concrete, plenty of daylight and large windows through which you watch the quarter go about its day. Sa Gerreria, the dense warren of lanes around the Plaça Nova de la Ferreria, was long not an address for eating out and has been changed by a run of new restaurants and cafés.

Booking is worth it, because a table here rarely frees up on its own. The house takes reservations through its own website and via WhatsApp, and can also be reached through an international booking platform.