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2019-06-27
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Summary: Super-hip restaurant that happens to serve delicious tacos, appropriately priced on Taco Tuesdays, where you’ll need to book a week in advance (as of Jun 2019). Drinks are overpriced, and guacamole is weirdly expensive, but order a couple of Al Pastors and you’ll see what the fuss is all about.Full disclaimer – this is a review only for their tacos – we went on Taco Tuesday and had only guacamole and tacos, so have no idea what the rest of the menu is like. I was considering waiting unt
Full disclaimer – this is a review only for their tacos – we went on Taco Tuesday and had only guacamole and tacos, so have no idea what the rest of the menu is like. I was considering waiting until we go and try the full menu on a normal day, but that could actually be never, so I went ahead with this.
This is a simple review – if you like tacos (and who doesn’t), Taco Tuesday at 11 Westside is worth the hype and hassle. We booked almost a week in advance and still could only get a 9 pm slot. Fortunately, they have a badass speakeasy (Wilshire’s) attached to it where you can kill some time.
11 Westside, if you’re not familiar, is LA’s “The Taco King” Esdras Ochoa’s first HK restaurant, and it’s supposed to, at last, bring authentic Mexican food to Hong Kong. While the setting is painfully hip, with mood lighting, faux-chandeliers, and graffiti on the walls, I guess it works for the NEW KENNEDY TOWN. There’s a beautiful full bar for cocktails, and a giant drinks list. The drinks are overpriced – every beer but one (a Mexican lager) is 80+, and every other drink (wine, cocktails, etc) begins at 100$. I know Ktown is the place these days, but these are basically LKF/Soho prices, much further away. As a side story that you hopefully won’t encounter, it was Negroni week, and after a good one at Wilshire’s (the attached speakeasy), my friend ordered one at dinner. Without being warned by staff, it turned out to be a bizarre over-sweetened strawberry popsicle with no detectable Negroni flavor, which they told us over and over was indeed a Negroni, specially prepared for this week. We didn’t insist they take it back, but we probably should have.
Here’s the menu
As for the food, sorry for the pictures, but it’s so dark they turned out terribly.Guacamole
The fresh made-at-table-side-completely-by-the-book guacamole hits all the right notes, and the accompanying homemade tortilla chips were great. At HKD 150 it’s steep (2 avocados, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lime, and jalapenos are what… $40?), but come on, they’ve gotta pay for those chandeliers somehow! You guys decide if dictionary-definition guacamole is worth that price, but delicious is delicious.Tacos!
N.B. I don’t eat much Mexican food here because it’s often terrible, so take this for what you will. But, if you like ingredient-packed, flavor-filled American-style tacos, these are the best in HK. I like the simplicity of Sheung Wan’s TQM’s tacos, but these scratch a different itch. The tortillas are also wonderful, freshly made and lightly toasted. They are however not water-resistant, so eat them with a bit of urgency as they will get soggy – a real threat when you order 20 at a time. Also, there is avocado and/or guacamole on every taco – I don’t know many people who consider that a bad thing, but just FYI. Also, amazing that they offer all 8 of their tacos on Taco Tuesday - a lot of places cut down their selection for expedience. Terrific variety on display here.
Al Pastor
The best taco they serve – the pork itself is the standout - deliciously roasted with incredible depth of flavour. The smokiness of the meat and the sweetness of the pineapple comes together deliciously with the salsa and guacamole.Pollo Asado - delicious and juicy, but with a lot of flavours at battle between the sweet citrus/garlic of the chicken and all the condiments. Still worth a try.
Carnitas - I never understand these, the shredded pork has never not been dry or bland. There’s more fat here than usual so it’s juicier, but still the weakest tacos on offer. I think you can pass on these.
Mango Shrimp
My friend loved these, but the mango was too sharply sweet for me.Baja Fish
Lightly breaded and fried sole with chili mayo, pico de gallo and topped with cabbage. Tasty.California Veggie
Was the last non-beef taco on the menu so I had to try it – surprisingly good. Cauliflower was just a tad mushy, but a wonderful adobo/chili sauce coats it, and a layer of jack cheese over the tortilla gives it some needed richness and bite. Not sure I’d order it at the expense of the others, but excellent for vegetarians. Better than it looksI didn't try the Carne Asada, but half the table said it was the best taco of the night, so if you eat beef you should definitely give those a try as well.
Overall, these are great tacos: fresh ingredients combined with complex flavors from the variously prepared meats and salsas/chilis. If this was just a rating for Taco Tuesday (which I guess it is), I’d give a strong recommend to 11 Westside. At full price though, I’m not sure each taco is worth 50 hkd. I ate 6 of them and could easily have had 2 more. Was this meal worth 300-400 without drinks? That said, they have many other dishes for HKD 100-200 we didn’t get to try, so in a normal meal here, tacos would probably just be another side dish.
These uber-hip HK openings are exhausting, with the food usually taking a back seat to all the hype, but the tacos at 11 Westside are no joke. While they aren't "authentic" Mexican tacos, (they're way too packed with stuff, and the flavors are a bit over the top), but they are undoubtedly delicious, and you can feel the effort put into the production of each one, from the meat to the tortillas. As such, even with its silly drink list prices and hours-long waiting list, Taco Tuesday at 11 Westside is absolutely worth your effort.
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