In search of Auckland's best taco

I drove for miles so you don't have to

One of the unusual aspects of being a public figure is that sometimes you’re reading the morning newspaper and come across your own name. Try and imagine my emotional journey as I read this, from Steve Braunias in his recent Canvas column:

“Cooking in cars! Does anyone do it? I approached an expert in cooking, and an expert in cars. My favourite reviewer in New Zealand is Jesse Mulligan, whose food reviews in Viva are comedy classics as well as observational writing at its best. He has adventurous tastes in food and although he is the very definition of an epicurean he does not stand for food snobbery. What I’m trying to say is that the fat pig will eat anything.”

To be honest I loved it. In case there was any doubt I texted Steve.

I don’t expect other fat pigs to put up with being named as such in a national newspaper, but I am a gag man and I respect the beautiful U turn Steve took in this line, driving me and readers into an oncoming lorry.

We only text a few times a year but it’s always good stuff. As an ambassador for the delights of West Auckland eating he had some time ago suggested I check out Cielito LIndo, a Mexican restaurant in an unexpected location.

Well, with the kids away on school holidays and me stuck in the city, I took the opportunity to drive not only to Henderson but, the following day, to Mexican Specialties in Ellerslie. MexSpecs (as I have just dubbed it, scarcely believing nobody has done it before now) was a local foodies’ secret when I first moved to Auckland, when we were just discovering that authentic Mexican tacos used soft corn tortillas, not a crunchy ones. It’s changed hands since then so I was keen to see how it held up. So please enjoy this Suburban Taco Showdown (with apologies to Tacoteca and other city greats, who I have already written about in glowing terms).

Location

There is no hiding it. Cielito is in The Concourse, a very industrial street off the Northwestern motorway, most famous for being where you find the dump.

MexSpecs is in Ellerslie, in a nice set of shops next to Mint Cakery, with lots of happy families strolling past in the sun. While I was eating there, a neighbour walked in offering the owner a big bag of limes he’d gathered from his mum’s lawn. I bet that doesn’t happen at The Concourse.

The Restaurant

Everything at Cielito is done on a budget - from the chairs, to the signage, to the cooking facilities. There’s room for a dozen or so people and you will sometimes have to share a table. But this has its own charm - you do really feel like you’ve stumbled on something special here, and the crowd is a nice mix of the hip and the cheap.

By contrast you could almost call MexSpecs beautiful. They have big windows letting in heaps of natural light, tasteful decorations and, most strikingly, rows of imported Mexican cooking ingredients line the walls making you feel more like you’re at an upmarket deli than a taco-joint.

Price

At first I thought Cielito was coming in WAY cheaper - $7.90 a taco rather than the $30-40 advertised on MexSpecs’ blackboard. But wait, there is a second price list for “medium” tacos at more like the $18 mark. It turns out they’re the same size as Cielitos and you get two of them, so that makes the comparison much more competitive. Cielito offers a deal of three tacos and a Coke for $26.20 but I did the maths on this and I’m not convinced you’re saving anything at all.

Selection

I was only looking at tacos today, not the many other menu options at both places. At Cielito you can get cactus, fish, chicken, pork, beef brisket and beef cheek, and you can choose one of each for, say, a plate of three different tacos. At MexSpecs you get two of one variety, so if you’d like to try a combination you have to order four tacos which (and you may recognise the voice of experience in this) will leave you absolutely stuffed.

Service

They are just lovely at Mexican Specialties, a kind woman (not Mexican) and in the kitchen someone I presume to be her mother, who also makes many of the condiments they sell. They are eager to please and even slipped me a free beverage.

It’s a lovely welcoming environment.

There are fewer smiles at Cielito, where they are nice enough but all business. To be fair they were much busier than MexSpecs, and had little time to wander round tables asking people how they were doing. Expect little and you won’t be disappointed.

The Tortillas

Cielito uses two tortillas per taco, which is a nice act of generosity and has practical benefits in that your taco doesn’t break apart under the sheer weight of the filling.

Mind you MexSpecs only uses one (made from the visually pleasing blue maize) and four out of four didn’t fall apart, so you can’t take any points off them.

The Filling

I really liked the cactus taco, and it’s a more interesting choice than MexSpecs’ vego option which is filled with capsicum and other veges. MexSpecs has slightly more premium ingredients - the avocado with the chicken was lovely, and those pink pickled onions are iconic - but my favourite of the weekend was Cielito’s brisket, which was not pulled but chopped up into little cubes and fried on the greasy hotplate, with plenty of food-truck flavour and tender, occasionaly crunchy meat.

Head to head Cielito might win the pork battle too but only because I’m a bit over pulled pork and there wasn’t much else but that and refried beans in the MexSpecs pork taco. I loved MexSpecs’ chicken as previously noted.

Extra Spice

I expected that classic selection of very spicy hot sauces but neither offers them. In fact you have to pay $2 extra per taco for “spicy” at Cielito, whereas at MexSpecs you have a choice of four tasty sauces at your table (the tequila salsa is probably as hot as you need it to be).

Conclusion

Cielito Lindo in Henderson has it by a nose I think - far from detracting, the weird industrial environment and comfortless dining room makes you feel like you are somewhere special. It is all about the food here and it delivers, with an unspoken collegiality among customers who’ve traipsed out here only adding to the vibe.

Mexican Specialtiess should nonetheless be proud of their offering, which is more sophisticated and undeniably more pleasant for the upmarket visitor. As a bonus you can take ingredients home with you and do it yourself next time. The food is fantastic and there is plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy it.

Thank you for attending the Taco Showdown. Here’s what else is happening …

What I’m eating

If you’ve noticed I’m obsessed with Indian food you’re not the only one - I went to the dental hygienist this week and she said “this is a weird question but .. have you been eating a lot of turmeric?”. She was able to polish me back to normal again but she’s told me I have to start rinsing my mouth out with water after dahl if I want to keep my teeth pearly white.

What I’m smelling

Speaking of which, there is no greater smell than walking past Satya on Great North Road at dinner time. There used to be a rumour KFC pumped out their aromas on purpose to try and lure people in and I wouldn’t be surprised if Satya was doing the same. I asked the Satya family wonder boy Samrudh Akuthota about it but he couldn’t give me any reason as to why it’s so strong and so beautiful - “just good ol curry” he reckons, but they’re up to something in there - there’s nothing like it in the city.

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Where I’m reviewing

Photo/ Babiche Martens

Advieh in the new Intercontinental Hotel, by chef Gareth Stewart. It’s website “reads suspiciously like it’s been created using Chat GPT. It promises a restaurant ‘where a tapestry of Middle Eastern flavours seamlessly weaves into New Zealand's rich landscapes, inviting you into a world of vibrant tastes and captivating aromas’. If this has been written by a human, the AI robots should be worried about their own jobs.”

What people are asking

Jesse my wife is dragging me to something at the Mt Eden Community Hall. Can you suggest somewhere I can fortify myself with alcohol (and good food) beforehand?

Kevin

Kevin I’m sorry to hear it. Let’s go get you drunk.