Taqueria Playa Tropical

So, I was listening to some ABBA before lunch and felt the need for some Mexican food.  How does a Swedish pop group translate into Mexican food you might ask?  Well, the song that I was listening to was “Fernando”.

Taqueria Playa Topical is located in the historic Brow of the Hill neighbourhood of New West and just a few blocks south of the busy 6th and 6th.  The interior is actually better than how it appears on the outside and seems clean and spacious.

My friendly server brought some tortilla chips to nosh on while I waited for my meal.  I really like the Jarritos (Mexican pop) so I order it whenever I see it available.  This time I picked a Mandarin Jarritos ($2.50).

The Enchilada Verdes ($9.99) comes with 4 soft corn tortillas that’s filled with shredded chicken and covered with green salsa and is served with traditional rice and refried beans.  I enjoyed the meal a lot but it was quite filling.

The best was the soft tacos… at just $2.50 each, they make a great appy or you can order a bunch of them and make a meal of it.  I ordered the Camaron (shrimp) and Pescado (fish) and they were both very good.  Unlike a lot of other places that serve tacos on 2 tortillas, they only use one soft corn tortilla here which I prefer.  I know that some people like 2 tortillas because it holds the filling better but I feel like the real star of the tacos is the filling so I don’t want to fill up on tortillas.

The Camaron had 2 plump and juicy shrimp that had just the right amount of snap when you bit into them.  The soft tacos are topped with garlic, celery, onion, cilantro, and melted cheese and both of these seafood tacos were juicy and had a taste that was clean, delicate and mild.

Service was friendly and attentive but it wasn’t very busy on the weekday that I visited so that might have played a part of it.  This is a good place to go to pick up some great tasting Mexican food and immerse yourself while you listen to the Latin American music in the backgroun.  Plus there’s plenty of free nearby street parking just off of 6th.

I enjoyed my meal so much that I came back the next week to try out some other dishes.  This time, I ordered a Jumex Mango Nectar ($2.50) to go with my meal.  You need to shake it up a bit because the contents tend to settle (don’t worry, it’s not carbonated so it won’t explode all over you).

I picked up 3 tacos this time… the Alambre (grilled chicken breast), the Pastor (marinated pork), and the Camaron (shrimp).  As I mentioned before, I like how they only use one tortilla shell.  It does make it a bit difficult to eat at times (especially with how much filling they put in the Pastor).  The tacos themselves aren’t spicy but I quite enjoyed them and you can add either the green or red salsa to add some extra kick (but neither of the salsas are too spicy).

The Choriqueso Torta comes served on fresh bun and had crumbled chorizo, avocado, tomato, cilantro, and onion held together with melted cheese.  I really liked this torta and was surprised that the soft bun held up nicely to the filling.

This May will be their 2 year anniversary – hope they stick around for a long time to come.

334 – 6th Street
New Westminster, BC

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