From the creators of Mas Mexican restaurant in Dundee, the Guardbridge street food spot Box Tacos has taken Fife by storm.
The colourful shipping container can be found in the Avalon Business Park, next to Fife brewery CoelBrew.
The menu includes a range of Mexican street food, including tacos and churros.
You can also get your hands on antojitos (“little cravings” in Mexican Spanish), such as loaded nachos, loaded fries and guac and chips.
While Mas in Dundee is a sit-down restaurant, the aim of the takeaway Box Tacos is for a more casual style, without sacrificing the quality of the food.
So does Box Tacos achieve that aim? Read on to see what I made of it.
“We want there to be quite a different feel at the two places,” co-owner Sharon Avery tells me.
“This is eat with your hands kind of food, made for sharing.”
Owners, husband and wife Grant and Sharon Avery, have been blown away by the response since they started the street food spot in November.
Sharon says: “We were surprised. We didn’t really expect it to be so popular.
“People have been so friendly and so receptive to a new food premises in Guardbridge.
“We have people walking, running, cycling, people bringing their dog, and people driving from afar, so we’re really happy.”
This popularity has encouraged the duo to open seven days a week, from 11am-3pm.
In keeping with gluten-free beer CoelBrew‘s ethos, all the food from Box Tacos is also gluten-free.
“A lot of Mexican food is naturally gluten-free,” says Sharon.
“We use corn tortillas, the nachos are made with corn.
“In the restaurant [Mas], we offer flour tortillas or corn tortillas, but here everything’s made with corn, so that there’s no gluten products at all.”
Quesabirria tacos at Box Tacos take 7 hours to cook – is it worth it?
The quesabirria tacos (£9) are the most popular item on the menu, and they require a lot of work – and beef.
“We need 20 kilos of beef for these for Saturday and Sunday,” Grant tells me, “that is more than we sell in Mas all week.
“One Saturday, we sold all 20 kilos in one day – and still sold out before 3pm.
“We prep and cook all the food in Mas, chill it all down, then bring it here.
“But it was a Saturday, so Mas was busy, and I couldn’t get into prep until they had finished cooking.
“So then I ended up cooking through the night to make sure we could open on the Sunday.”
So how are the quesabirria tacos made?
“We cook beef brisket for about 7-8 hours,” says Grant. “Then we grill it off on big griddle pans so it sears it all.
“We make a paste with tomatoes, three different types of chillis, garlic, onion, cinnamon, oregano…”
Sharon chimes in: “Our own secret blend of spices.”
“Then,” adds Grant, “we blitz that into a paste and pour it over the beef.
“We top it off with beef broth, and that cooks for 7 hours until it just falls apart.”
The quesabirria tacos are served with the sauce they’re cooked in, which provides a yummy dip which ensures every mouthful is perfectly moist.
They were amazing when I tried them. The meat was juicy, oozing with that delicious sauce and perfectly tender.
That combination of spices really came through, providing a depth of flavour you miss out on in certain Mexican fast food chains.
What is the rest of the food at Box Tacos like?
I also tried the loaded nachos (£7) which were (£9) with chicken on top.
The combination of different sauces here was amazing. I especially loved the lime and coriander crema drizzled over the top.
Though these were very tasty, I would have preferred cheese rather than a cheese sauce so I could get that gooey nachos cheese pull.
The loaded fries (£7) from the Fife Mexican street food spot were another highlight.
There was both sweetness and spiciness going on (a favourite combination of mine). The chipotle aioli had that perfect smoky flavour to it.
The cheese pull on these was amazing and the red onions added a nice bite.
Grant also creates weekly specials at the Fife taco box.
I was lucky enough to get a try of the blackened prawn taco bowl (£8) special available on my visit.
This was a substantial portion thanks to the huge prawns. They were meaty and perfectly cooked, and there was a decent amount of them too.
The seasoning on the prawns added a nice hit of heat to the dish, which was tamed by the heaped portion of creamy guacamole.
There was a delicious flavour of lime throughout which made the bowl feel like a summery treat.
The food I tried at Box Tacos is outstanding, and certainly worth the short drive from Dundee.
Other items on the menu include churros (£5), black coconut ice cream (£3.50) a baja mushroom taco (£7.50) and more.
Currently, they do not have a license to serve alcoholic drinks, but are hoping to be able to sell the gluten-free CoelBrew beer as well as frozen margaritas soon.
In the meantime, they’re planning to offer non-alcoholic slushies, flavoured with passion fruit, lime and cucumber.
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