Tag: fish taco

Solid Tacos at Azul

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Azul
Location: 100 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/azulmexicanto/

I think the first thing I should note about Azul is: it’s not easy to find!  It’s in the food court at First Canadian Place downtown, except, oh wait, apparently there’s more than one food court in First Canadian Place?  I wandered around the one on the lower level for longer than I should admit, and the whole time I’m looking at Google Maps like, it should be right here, what gives?

It turns out there’s a whole other food court on the upper floor, which is not confusing at all.  Totally reasonable to have two food courts within a couple of floors of each other.

Azul

Anyway, Azul.  It’s a Mexican eatery that features various tacos, tortas, and bowls.  I tried a couple of the tacos: chilorio (“pork shoulder – marinated and slow cooked, pickled onions”) and Baja (“fish – battered and fried, cabbage slaw, lime mayo”).  You also get a little tub of salsa on the side that can be mild, medium, or hot.  I went with hot.

Azul

The tacos both come on blue corn tortillas that are reasonably fresh and have a decent amount of heft to them (both tacos were crammed with stuff, and the tortillas held up nicely).

Azul

Neither knocked my socks off, but both were quite tasty — particularly the chilorio, which features a generous amount of tender, meaty pork.  The fish was a bit dry, but it’s topped with so much stuff that it barely matters.  For something from a food court, you could do much worse.

Great Fish Tacos at Seven Lives

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Seven LivesLocation: 69 Kensington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://sevenlives.restaurantsnapshot.com/

Seven Lives serves what is frequently called the best fish taco in the city, which makes deciding what to order there quite easy.  It’s the fish taco.  It’s gotta be the fish taco.

I’ve actually been wanting to try this place for quite a while, but it’s popular; the place routinely has a line-up going out the door, and it’s a tiny restaurant.  If you don’t get a seat on one of the two benches out front, or at the one table inside, you’re out of luck.  You’ll just have to eat and walk, which is a bit of a challenge with their generously-stuffed tacos.

Seven Lives

It’s worth the wait and the hassle.  It is as advertised: it’s clearly one of the best fish tacos in the city, if not the best.

It consists of a very generous piece of fried haddock topped with cabbage, pico de gallo, and a garlicky sauce.  Everything works really well together.  The fish, in particular, is delicious; it’s super tender and flaky with a very satisfying crispy exterior that never overwhelms the fish itself.

Seven Lives

The toppings are great — the cabbage and the pico de gallo add some nice freshness and crunch (not to mention an acidity that helps cut through the fried fish), and the creamy sauce brings a nice garlicky bite.

My only real issue here are the two corn tortillas, which were a bit stale (corn tortillas are one of those things that pretty much have to be consumed within minutes rather than hours of being cooked — they get stale fast).  But that’s a minor complaint for an otherwise superlative taco.