Los Tacos Azules — Restaurant in Tokyo

People say this place has the best tacos in Tokyo. The shop is right near my university and opens early for "morning tacos," so one day, after going to the gym, I decided to splurge on the Morning taco omakase.

Inside, there's a clean modern feel, with vibrant energy and cool contemporary Mexican popular music playing. The walls are painted to match the homemade blue corn tortillas, which they cook to order on the griddle that sits right in front of the counter.

After I ordered, they brought me a small bowl of tomato salsa and another of tomatillo salsa verde. Both were flavorful, well salted, with light heat.

The first taco they brought might've been the best. Simple and elegant: eggplant salsa, avocado, goat cheese--sprinkled with fresh cilantro leaves. The eggplant salsa had a great silky texture, well-complimented by the creamy goat cheese. In this context, the avocado came across fruity and firm. I was impressed that a small taco could make me reevaluate my impression of avocados. The blue corn tortilla was delicate and tender, just a touch of masa grit.

The next one was a white corn tortilla with wilted okahijiki (land seaweed) and smooth refried black beans. The greens were fibrous and nutty, the beans smooth and creamy. The white tortilla had more of a doughy texture than the blue corn did. I had one bite plain, one with red salsa, one with salsa Verde. All were good. Again, very simple, but deeply satisfying.

Taco three had nopal cactus, simmered pork cracklins, refried beans and cilantro on blue corn. The chewiness of the simmered cracklin' was a great juxtaposition with with tortilla's mealiness and the beans' smoothness. The fruity acidic spicy nopal and fresh cilantro were a bold contrasting texture and flavor.

Taco four was green pepper and chicken gizzard on white corn. This one also had the bean spread and fresh cilantro. Plus, a sprinkling of sesame seeds. The chicken gizzard texture is not my favorite, but I enjoyed it here with the rich sauce. I added a bit too much salsa and made it too spicy.

The final piece was fried pork belly, with a cracklin' on top. What's not to like? Succulent pork belly, crispy pork skin, fresh taco. It was great. I guess a creative sauce would've been fun, but it was still delicious. I tried it with both salsas and thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

I decided to order one more thing after the omakase: the simple quesadilla with Hokkaido cheese. The woman at the griddle flipped it a few times and letting the tortilla fry in the cheesy grease. The Hokkaido cheese was a great compliment to these fresh tortillas. It has that distinct Hokkaido creaminess and it's very elastic and buttery.

These are bougie tacos. But they're done well, with a very Japanese character: minimal ingredients, robust flavor, bold texture. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was expensive (but not more so than other upscale taco joints in Tokyo). I don't know if I'll go back, but I have nothing negative to...

This is my favorite Mexican restaurant in all of Tokyo !! The waitress already recognizes my cousin and I cause we come here once a month (at least) lol.

Come here if you can appreciate simple recipes, artfully executed!!! The tacos don't have too many ingredients in them. They aren't all brimming with cheese like the ones in texmex restos like Chili's do, unless you order the tacos that intentionally revolve around cheese... but every time I come here, I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness behind the few ingredients they choose to put in every taco. They all taste sooo different from each other. I can also feel the care they put behind the tenderness of the pork in the carnitas special taco, and the way they cook all the other ingredients. ITS SO GOOD LOL its rly my fave.

I am also OBSESSED with their chilate, a mexican chocolate horchata-like drink.

MUST BUYS: Chilaquiles - with their homemade nachos (blue corn

As we are in #stayathome mode across most of Japan now, I was excited to find the Taco 🌮 kit available from this restaurant and delivery to us in Hiroshima.

We requested a vegan, vegetarian set and I don't think they usual offer it, but it was something really special. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for delicious take-out and home-delivery of Mexican food.

The blue corn tortillas, salsa, soup, tamales and sauces are all handmade and bursting with flavor. I hope I can visit the restaurant in Tokyo someday, but as there is nothing available like this in our area, I will definitely order from them again.

If there were any explanation page in English or pictured instructions for how to pair items and which need to be heated up, it might help although I think we muddled through fine.

It'd also be nice for those of us trying to use less plastic, if the foods + salsas came in jam jars so they could be more easily heated up + kept for multiple uses and decrease plastic packaging while looking...