I think I was not alone to think that Chinatown was dying since a few years ago. It seems like the new Chinatown has moved to the proximity of Concordia. Something must be done to uplift this dying neighborhood. Who had thought that the first move was to plant a taco restaurant! Yes, that’s what La Capital Tacos did.

La Capital Tacos is located at the extremity of Chinatown, on St-Laurent just below Rene-Levesque. Not too far away from the metro station and a few blocks away from the hip part of St-Laurent. What differentiates itself is its focus on Mexican food in Chinatown. Truly a first mover.

The ambiance is reminiscence of a clean yet ghetto Mexican restaurant. I do not know how to describe it better than a “modernized ghetto place”, probably achieved from the help of the industrialized lights.

Nonetheless, I liked the decor; I think the mix and match was done seamlessly.

As entrees, we had Frijoles Refritos and Jicama salad.

The Frijoles Refritos is essentially baked beans with chipotle adobo where we dip it with tortilla chip. It greatly reminds me of the amazing bean nachos from my recent trip in Mexico.Just lovely.

The Jicama salad was a simple radish salad with lime juice. A bit too simple for my taste. It is similar to a Chinese dish, where the radish is marinated with vinegar, but this Jicama salad is not as acidic. Soon enough, I was dipping the radish into the baked beans and it became fantastic!

I had Rosarito as tacos. Definitely a colorful dish, the Rosarito taco did not disappoint. While I was enjoying it, I forgot that it was fried shrimp because somehow, it tasted so much like fried fish. Regardless, it was delicious and the fried shrimp was larger than expected.

Mr.Butter had Rib-Eye. I was worried that the steak would be too tough to eat as we had experienced once before on a taco and it was definitely not a joyful experience. Surprisingly, the rib-eye was tender and easy to bite off. There was no struggle. With that secret green sauce served with the dish ( I like to believe it is a sauce made of cilantro, lime and some kind of green spicy pepper), this taco was a killer. I’m sure this taco would appeal to most crowd.

With a simple one page menu, La Capital Tacos deliver some flavourful tacos in Chinatown. Falling within the same price range menu from its neighbors, this Mexican eatery can attract a new crowd to Chinatown and hopefully liven up this area a bit!

Zuuchini