MOVED: Senor Taco now can be found at Orchard Towers and Boat Quay.

Melicacy, Six-and-Seven and I arranged to go to Señor Taco for food tasting but I was down with Shanghai Detoxing Diarrhea for 3 weeks and the other contributors of RERG don’t know Mel and S&S so RERG had to give it a miss. However, Mel reported back that the restaurant is worth going. It used to be a small kiosk at Clarke Quay, and has grown into a flagship restaurant at Chijmes. You can’t and shouldn’t miss it. It’s in the garden area on the first  floor.

Decor: There are two areas: the al fresco with the most comfortable wooden swivel lawn chairs–trust me, I have no meat on my ass, I need comfortable chairs and I sat on this one for hours–and the aircon area inside the restaurant where the clever lighting makes the place very classy. We chose to sit outside, which is a good and bad choice. Good because the ambience was fantastic, extremely relaxing and casual, in a garden of old colonial setting – how awesome is that. Bad because when night fell, the lighting made it difficult to take photos. Shit foodies say.

Complimentary free-flow nachos with four dips/sauces: jalapenos (taste like green chili, sourish and slightly spicy),  chipotle (smoked, dried jalapenos), guacamole (avocado paste) and habanero, the only sauce I’ve not tried before this and it was intense like chili padi! My tongue burned. These four sauces are magical, you can add them to everything. I added jalapenos, guacamole and chipotle to everything; Jalapenos and creamy guacamole are the reasons why I love Mexican food and the chipotle really gave the food a smoky flavor.

The menu can be rather confusing. Each person should have 3 or 4 pieces to be full.

There are two menus and this is from the usual menu.

A set ($19.50) would suffice: (a) four tacos al pastor with a Corona, OR (b) 3 tacos de bistek with a Corona, OR (c) 2 quesadillas with a Corona, OR (d) 1 taco al pastor, 1 taco de bistek and 1 quesadilla with a corona.

Or you can order a la carte.

The main difference between Taco de Bistek (beef only, $3 each, pictured right) and taco al pastor (choice of pork or chicken, $2.50 each, pictured left pork) is that al pastor has pineapples. Both are wrapped with traditional soft corn house-made tortilla with onions and coriander. The main difference between taco and quesadilla is the meat inside quesadilla is melted and infused with cheese. For all three, you can add and adjust the four condiments as you wish. But to us, this was average. Not very exciting.

From here on, we ordered from the Special Menu.

Chicharron ribeye ($25) is deep-fried beef in a bed of guacamole, my favorite sauce! The beef by itself was tasteless, but if you roll it up in a wrap, and add the four condiments, WOW. The condiments brought the taste of the beef, and the texture was amazing. The beef was crispy at the edges but the tortilla was soft and gentle. It was very addictive just to chew on the crispy beef. Each pot can roll up to 5-6 wraps, quite value-for-money.

The Baja Shrimp Taco ($12) consists beer patter prawns with creamy chipotle salsa, mix of cabbage and pico de gallo (just chopped onions, tomatoes and jalapenos). This was sooo good! The shrimps were so crispy but not at all greasy. The different textures of meat, vegetable and tortilla worked superbly. The flavors were equally wonderful with the sweetness of the seafood and the earthliness of the vegetables.

Carnitas Taco ($12) is a simmered pork taco with avocado and Barbacoa arrachera taco ($12) is flank beef slowly cooked for 16 hours! At this point in time, we were too full to savor them properly. But taking two bites, they were so tender and soft and the distinct meaty taste came through in a mouthwatering manner.

The food was delicious but the alcohol was the BEST. Hookerlily and I agreed that the frozen margarita ($14.50, lime or strawberry) was among the best in Singapore. It isn’t as easy to make a margarita as one would think: there has to be a right balance of lime and tequila and ice–and one must consider how much and fast the ice would melt. The mountain you see in the photo is what you will get at the restaurant. Bella, the manager, assured me they pile as much margarita as they can in a glass.

Bella also recommended us mojito ($12.50). Hookerlily exclaimed, “OMG, is this how mojito tastes like? WOW, I have never tasted true mojito till today. All the mojitos I had before are shit compared to this.”

I tasted it and exclaimed, “WOW, this may be the BEST mojito in Singapore.” That’s why we are friends; we speak in hyperbole. But truthfully, the mojito may really be the best in Singapore. It was sweeter than others, which we liked, tasting almost like tea with mint, very refreshing.

She continued, “Best mojito in Singapore and some say with the best view of expats,” as she eyed three hot angmohs sitting next table to us.

The restaurant also has 70 different tequilas! And the boss wouldn’t let me off if I didn’t take a shot. I had the house tequila (El Charro 100% Agave, $11). It amazed me. You know how tequila shots usually burn at the throat and you feel like “why the hell did I take the shot?” The house tequila was potent but it didn’t burn and in fact, it gave a spectrum of sweetness and a very pleasant aftertaste. I really liked it! 10 more shots please!

Service: When I was taking a photo of the establishment, the male servers–Ronald and Austin–were posing at the door of the restaurant for me. Haha. This is the kind of service you can expect, fun and friendly.

Overall, we love this place with the laid-back, soothing atmosphere; friendly service; fantastic cocktails and wide range of tequilas. As for food, it would be best to order from the special menu; try the Chicharron ribeye, Baja Shrimp Taco, Carnitas Taco and Barbacoa arrachera taco. This restaurant / bar is good for afterwork; bros hangout; girls’ night out; casual dates, first dates or dates you’re not so sure of; to people-watch; and for SPGs to get to know some hot angmohs! But you know what we love most about this place? The value-for-money pricing. Where else in the city can you get food and beer at $20 at such a upscale setting?

Señor Taco
30 Victoria Street
#01-19/20 CHIJMES,
T: 6337 1377
6pm-midnight daily
Facebook

Rating: 3.626/5 shots

PS: We’d like to thank Alex, Marina, Ananya, Bella, Ronald, Austin, Alejandro–hey did you know Lady Gaga wrote a song about you–and everyone else at Señor Taco for their hospitality and help.