KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — If you're serious about tacos, you must try Bangsar-based Taco King. It's a genuine food gem where tortillas are made from scratch while salsas resonate with deliciousness with the use of genuine ingredients like a special mix of chillies. They also offer tamales made from corn, which is a rarity here.

It was by chance I discovered Taco King. A friend had mentioned they were doing a pop-up with ice cream purveyor Minus 4 Degrees, so I signed up for it. I was not disappointed as everything was delicious.

As the menu for the pop-up was a little different, I decided to give them a try and ordered their tacos for lunch. The menu is a compact one with just three items and kombucha from Kuno, which shares the same owner.

There's pork carnitas tacos made with their house-made corn tortillas. This combination is a decadent one as the tender pulled pork is slowly cooked in its own fat and deep fried till browned. Now it gets an extra preparation step to amp up the flavour....brining it with shio koji to give it a deeper flavour. This is served with a red and green salsa.

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They take the trouble to make the corn tortillas from scratch. It's worth the effort as the tortillas are packed with the flavour of corn. The texture is a little rough but the fragrance of corn trumps the store-bought version. 

The fish tacos are substantial with the larger-sized deep fried dory fish served with their handmade flour tortillas.
The fish tacos are substantial with the larger-sized deep fried dory fish served with their handmade flour tortillas.

Making these tortillas takes multiple steps. First they nixtamalize dried corn where the kernels are cooked and steeped in an alkaline solution (a mixture of water and food grade lime). Later the kernels are ground and dried to make it into masa flour, which is used to make the tortillas.

Your order will have three pieces for RM22.50.

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The fish tacos (three pieces for RM24) come in substantial portions that will satisfy a very hungry person or two. Their own-made flour tortillas are topped with chunky deep fried dory fillets. It's garnished with pickled habanero, onions and cabbage. There's also a sour cream salsa that balances out the flaky fish well to give it a much needed creamy touch.

The tamale may look like an 'otak otak' but it's delicious with an achiote chicken filling.
The tamale may look like an 'otak otak' but it's delicious with an achiote chicken filling.

At one glance, you may think the chicken tamale is an otak-otak as it looks similar. Take a whiff and you get the distinct aroma of corn for these parcels which are all cocooned in banana leaves.

Basically the dough is made from masa, pork broth and fat, which is stuffed with achiote chicken that gives it a lovely depth of flavour. It gets more flavour from their red salsa that has a deep, rich flavour.

If you love fermented items, the owner of Taco King also operates Kuno (Instagram: @kuno.my) which makes various fermented products. These range from kombucha to koji hot sauces.

The red salsa adds a depth of flavour for this creamy tamale (left). The tacos and the tamale are available for pre-orders only from Tuesday to Saturday (right).
The red salsa adds a depth of flavour for this creamy tamale (left). The tacos and the tamale are available for pre-orders only from Tuesday to Saturday (right).

During the pop-up I tried the durian hot sauce which was really good. Think of it as a flavour packed tempoyak in a sauce form that you just cannot stop eating.

Place your orders at least a day or two before your meal. As everything is prepared from scratch, that gives them more time to prepare the items. You can either self pick up or get it delivered.

Taco King, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Open only from Tuesday to Saturday. You can follow the link on their Instagram: @taco.king.my to place an order via Google Form.