We know our Savvy readers just love knowing about the best restaurants and food options in Tokyo. But right now, it can be a challenge to be a #stayhome foodie… What about some #stayhome tacos?
Today, we’re really excited to introduce Los Tacos Azules and Chef Marco to our dear readers, this amazing Mexican fine dining chef is celebrating a unique take on Latin food in Japan. The cherry on top? You can even experiment with his cuisine—and enjoy it—from your own dining room table!
First of all, thank you for your time, Chef Marco! Can you please introduce yourself and give us a little background about Los Tacos Azules and your history here in Japan?
I was here in 2005 as an exchange student, studying international relations. One of the things that awed me the most during my stay was the quality of the food. Pretty much everything I tried was delicious, carefully prepared, even if you went to a cheap place you’d almost never get something bad. The standard was high, it seemed to me like it was a cultural thing.
When I went back home I missed food so much, not just Japanese, French, Italian, Korean, Indian food… We had some restaurants in my hometown in Mexico but they felt miles away quality-wise. If I wanted to eat those delicious things I fell in love with during my stay in Japan, I had to learn to cook them myself. Soon, my dreams of becoming a diplomat dissipated and I decided I wanted to dedicate myself to cooking.
I started getting curious about applying the things I learned, especially Japanese cuisine’s attention to detail and focus on the quality of the ingredients, to the cooking of my country. I grew up eating delicious homemade cooking in Mexico, but I felt that the stuff they sold at restaurants in my hometown sucked. It wasn’t nearly as good as the things I tried in Japan.
The kit includes four different taco fillings, plenty of tortillas, salsas, tamales, my mom’s Frijoles Charros—the ultimate Mexican comfort food in my opinion—, cajeta (goat milk caramel you can pour on whatever dessert you like) and even a mix for making your own drinks.
Some people can eat it in one seating, others can split it into a few meals. Some people have been doing very interesting arrangements as well! Somebody sent me a picture on Instagram of a donburi made with our toppings. Another guy made soumen dipped with salsa. More than a meal, it’s a wholesome activity.
With the help of my team, we changed our website to be able to take online orders. We change the menu a bit each week and take orders every Sunday to be delivered during the rest of the week. Quantities are limited, and you can visit the online shop to order. We hope today’s delivery customers will also become tomorrow’s restaurant guests.
Do you have anything new coming up that our readers can look forward to?
To our surprise the Taco Kit took off very well. We are getting orders from all over Japan, from Kyushu to Hokkaido. So eventually I think we will continue doing some sort of delivery.
This corona situation is changing the market landscape in so many ways, it will definitely impact us as well. At night we used to do a Taco Omakase, but who knows if that’s gonna work after all this. Lately I’ve been considering changing our style and making it more casual. I’ll post about that on Instagram soon.
Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?
Now, more than ever. It is very important to get savvy and forget about the cost-performance mentality. Restaurants run on tiny margins if somebody offers you something that feels too good to be true it probably is. Restaurateurs can lower prices by cutting corners… Maybe using cheaper ingredients, paying less to their employees, working more hours, or plainly by sacrificing profit.
Now that we have this crisis, many people who did that and lived day by day are going bankrupt or already did. An economy where cost performance is the most valued attribute of a restaurant is an economy dominated by chains that sell generic mass-produced food. As a foodie, I wouldn’t want to live in such a boring world. If you can support your favorite small businesses this is a great time to do that!
You can follow Los Tacos Azules on theirInstagram account,Facebook page, or order directly on theirwebsite!
