Tuesday, late afternoon, I had just gotten back from work and my wife was playing a game on her iPad. After changing out of my work clothes, we had THE talk. You guys know what I mean right? The important talk that we all have. "What are we having for dinner?" Throwing ideas left and right, takoyaki, ramen, pizza but none of them stuck (Ramen almost won). Then, she said one beautiful word that made me excited for dinner. Tacos.
Tacos are incredible aren't they? My wife and I both love them. I have made them at home before but I decided that night that I didn't want to cook at home. We were going out on a taco quest. But where to go? A few months back, I had heard there was a taco place down south in the last city in Ibaraki before you enter Chiba prefecture, Toride. 'It is a bit of a drive" I thought but why not? I hadn't been in Toride for a while. Off we went, to get some delicious tacos.
Tacos yay!
Our taco heaven is called Mosh & Tacos or M&T for short. This taco place doesn't have parking so we had to park in a pay parking lot. We walked up to the restaurant and I was surprised by how small of a place it was but in a charming, hang out place sort of way.
When I got to the entrance, the staff leaned on the outside counter and told me a Japanese word that filled me with despair. "Manseki 満席" which translates to "fully occupied." There were no seats for us to sit in, so we couldn't eat in! M&T is a pretty small restaurant. From what I saw, there was a counter area with only two stools, and three small tables. The restaurant can probably sit 12 people max. Heed my advice, do not make the same mistake I made, if you are planning to visit this place, call ahead.
I was ready to leave, defeated at the prospect that tacos were not on the menu tonight. Then my beautiful wife saved the situation by saying "there is a take out menu." Hurray! We are having tacos...in the car.
Eat in menu
Take out menu
T&M's menu really impressed me, I saw tacos, burritos, nachos and even quesadillas (quesadillas are in the eat in menu not the take out menu). For my non-Japanese speakers, great news! The menu is in Japanese and English. I am not sure if the staff speaks English though. We decided on three items from the take out menu. The 3P tacos box, the pork burrito and the nachos. We ordered and waited. T&M also serves Mojitos which I wanted to try but since we were getting take out that wasn't an option. I am from Miami, Florida and I am of Cuban heritage, so I judge mojitos harshly. I will definitely try it next time and report back if it lives up to my standards. The restaurant was also playing reggae music inside. Huh, they serve Mexican food, a Cuban cocktail and play reggae music, very interesting little place here. The inside had hanging star likes paper lanterns of different colors and everyone inside seemed like they were having a good time. No wonder this place was full. After waiting a few minutes we got our take out and headed for our car. No seats opened up while we waited unfortunately.
Nachos time!
The first thing we tried were the nachos. From what I saw and tasted, the nachos come with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, cheese and beans. I have to say that they were pretty good. The guacamole and the sour cream went really well with the nachos and salsa. A nacho fiesta in my mouth. The cheese though was non existent. I am not sure if it was because there wasn't enough cheese or maybe T&M needs to use a different kind of cheese but I couldn't really taste it. It wasn't a deal breaker at all, the nachos were very satisfying. Sorry for the blurry picture.
Three types of tacos!
Next up was the main event, the tacos! I was really excited to try them because as I stated before, I love tacos. This 3p taco set has three different kinds of tacos. Beef, pork and chicken. They all come with a soft tortia and a side of spicy salsa. The tortilla was not bad, very fresh and delicious.
First up was the beef taco. It was good, but in my opinion it was the least impressive of the three. The beef was tasty but it just didn't mesh up well with the tortilla and the salsa.
The next taco was the chicken taco. Now this was a taco! The chicken had that taco seasoning that we all know and love. Having that familiar taco seasoning with a small spicy kick from the salsa was very nice indeed.
Finally, we come to the pork taco which was fantastic. The pork also had taco seasoning like the chicken and it was shredded which was interesting. I have usually eaten minced pork or beef with my tacos so this was a nice change of pace. It worked well with the taco and it was delicious. Out of three tacos, the pork was my favorite.
I did like the tacos and am definitely going to order them again. I wish the tacos had some cheese and diced tomatoes but the salsa and lime were a very nice addition.
We were almost done but then, the flavor of the next item hit me like a tsunami of deliciousness.
That's a damn good burrito!
Finally, we come to the burrito. I wasn't sure what to expect with this burrito. Frankly, it had been a while since I had one. But this burrito, blew my mind. The pork, the cheese, the rice, the sour cream, oh I could go on and on. So many delicious ingredients all at once. It was so lovely. This was by far my favorite menu item that we tried that day. Biting into that burrito was magical and I kind of didn't want to share it with my wife. But no worries, I did share. She loved the burrito as well and we were contemplating on getting another. But we were pretty full so we decided against it. The next time I go to T&M, I am undoubtedly ordering the other two types of burritos. I might even get crazy and order the jalapeno topping to spice it up.
Tacos are hard to come by in Ibaraki so I was extremely happy to have visited T&M. Even though we couldn't eat in, we still very much enjoyed the food. If you are craving tacos and are in Toride city, give Mosh and Tacos a chance. Who knows, I might be at the counter stuffing my face with a burrito and sipping a mojito...if I can get a chair.
Enjoy!
Mosh and Tacos doesn't seem to have a website so will post their number and a link to their google maps location. If you come by train, it is only a three minute walk from Toride station! On google, their hours are from 11:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. However, when I went to T&M last Tuesday, they were open till 10:00 p.m. I highly recommend calling before you head on over there to double check their closing time and seating.
For more information on Mosh and Tacos check out their Facebook page:
If you try the mojito, let m know what you think.
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