Written by: Hurmat Majid
Posted on: October 14, 2021 | 
| 中文
Tacos
Karachi is just starting to discover tacos and not everyone is managing to do them justice. Tacobay, however, has thrown the gauntlet in when it comes to acquainting the city’s tastebuds to Mexican food.
To find Tacobay tucked away in a corner of North Nazimabad’s food street was nothing short of a miracle for us. We saw the board while passing by, and decided to stop for a quick bite. The little hole in the wall sports a minimalist interior brightened up with a little pop of bright yellows and greens, an ode to the bright colors of Mexico. To be honest, we expected the bare minimum from the establishment, not because of any other reason than their location. North Nazimabad is not somewhere you’d find many adventurous eaters.
The menu at the newly-opened establishment was divided into two, on one side there were a whole lot of Mexican options, and on the other, there were a few staple fast-food dishes. We understand the restaurant’s need to keep go-to fast food items on the menu, as not everyone is in the mood to try out bold flavors. One would rather tempt the customers to try something new along with their standard orders, than frighten them away with very foreign names and dish descriptions.
Chipotle Wrap. (Picture credits to Tacobay's Facebook)
We decided to sample a bunch of items from the Mexican menu. Our order included the Chicken De Papa Tacos, the Chicken Al Pastor Tacos, the Beef Carne Asada, the Beef Steak Quesadilla, the Chipotle Steak Burrito. We did order plain fries for the little one at the table.
The wait time between ordering our food and getting it served was about 25 minutes, but that is understandable because we had asked for six different dishes at the same time. People with smaller orders were getting served in about 10-15 minutes.
To start with, we were pleasantly surprised with the serving size, they did not try to stuff a single large taco shell full of food, which would have been difficult to handle, rather, we had a tray of three separate tacos of the same flavor sitting in front of us. We had ordered the Al Pastor taco in a hard corn shell, while the other two were both served in soft shells. The Al Pastor was nicely seasoned and had a balanced amount of vegetables in it. The hard shell did maintain its crunch for a solid 20 minutes and the sauce had a nice kick to it. The chicken meat was tender and was seasoned and flavored well.
Beef Steak Tacos
The beef Carne Asada taco was served with a sauce quite similar to the Al Pastor, but the flavoring of the meat, the corn and the soft shell made the two stand apart. We wish the Carne Asada had a little bit of a kick to it, even though we each took about 20 seconds to demolish the whole platter.
Chicken De Papa Tacos
The chicken De Papa tacos were a favorite at the table, with the sauce sporting a bit of a tang, and the chicken was flavored with just the right amount of heat for us to be reminded of true Mexican food.
Chipotle Steak Burrito
The Chipotle Steak Burrito may have been the weakest dish on the table, and not because it lacked seasoning or flavor. The first issue that the burrito had was that it was missing key elements like rice and beans. Secondly, the meat in it was slightly on the chewy side, and was drowned out by the bold chipotle sauce. When we asked for a burrito, we expected a hefty hand roll full of flavored rice, beans, a nice helping of Pico Di Gallo and a dollop of sour cream. While the flavor wasn’t all that bad, the burrito was more of an impostor. That said, the team at Tacobay listened to our criticism and said that they would take it into account.
The Beef Steak Quesadilla on the other hand was our favorite dish for the night. It was oozing with queso, the meat was tender and juicy and the wrap was nice and soft and thoroughly enjoyable.
Chicken Tacos with Cheese (Picture credits to Tacobay Facebook)
Incidentally, we came to the nachos last and expected them to have become soggy by that time, however, the kitchen had layered them so expertly that the cheese sauce and the taco sauce had not yet moved down to the corn chips. The nachos are served as a side dish and are priced accordingly, but the serving was large enough for it to be a small meal on its own. The freshness of the Pico and the richness of the sauces balanced the dish perfectly. The fries were made in house and were crinkle cut and salted well, and we would give them a solid 8.5 out of ten.
With six dishes and three bottles of water, our bill was just shy of Rs 2500, which we considered well justified. The food was great, and most importantly, this wasn’t a desi take on Mexican food, for the flavors were distinct and delicious.
Overall, our experience was very enjoyable and Tacobay would be seeing us again, as that Quesadilla could potentially become a go-to meal for us.
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