Los Vida, Barangaroo
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Today's post features an absolute taco mania! So before we start has anyone heard Jennifer Lopez's song that goes like "Taco taco burrito burrito"? 😂
If not…
HAHAHA!!
😂 It's really something is it not 😂
Out in the open there are a heap of towers but also directories available so finding your way to the Canteen tower is quite easy. The whole Barangaroo area looks really nice and modern. The canteen is also pretty and clean with lots of food choices available. Seating seems to the be biggest issue here as it was SO crowdy with all the people who worked in the surrounding buildings and I didn't feel like there were enough seats for the amount of eateries.
Los Vida's Barangaroo store is located toward the end of the canteen and is actually really easy to find. It looks so fresh and vibrant.
The menu is different to Los Vida's Westfield store as it offers quick lunch options such as mixed bowls, tacos, quesadillas, and chilaquiles. I love the standardised pricing across each category because it makes ordering things simple and everything sounds delicious. It's different to the menu provided on Zomato which is kind of confusing, but much better for the person who is in a rush to buy I guess.
Francis and I are here today to try all the taco's with my Groupon vouchers which lets me get a choice of any 2 taco's and a drink for $6. Such a bargain! I have 3 of these vouchers so we ordered the first six taco's off the menu board. The only one we didn't get was the "beans de la olla" taco. You hear beans and you know why! 😂
Service is super friendly and chill! Although she didn't give me a choice of drinks and just handed us three bottles of water. I'm pretty sure the voucher entitled us to any drink but neither of us had any water on us that day anyway so we just took it. Water is good for your health and teeth and you know what they say… H2O is the way to go.
While waiting you can catch a glimpse of your meal being prepared in the open kitchen. I think that this is so cool! It definitely comforts me knowing that my food is all freshly made in a clean kitchen where I can observe all their hygiene practices first hand.
Pretty drinks on display.
So as mentioned before, finding seating was a pain. Fran and I circled the canteen area a few times before deciding to target people who looked like they were about to finish their meal and leave. Which is probably the best technique to apply in this kind of situation!
It all looks SO good! They also are all a great size with a generous amount of filling.
Front: Beef Fajita taco w/ grilled skirt steak, red and green capsicum, bacon, onions, and oaxaca cheese $5
This is the first taco we tried and we both LOVED it. The beef is nicely pulled and quite tender and while we didn't physically spot any bacon, the taco tasted a bit like bacon but overall, mostly like pizza. It's got lots of spice and lots of punch. So so memorable. I don't like eating capsicum but I feel like it really added a lot of dimension into this taco so thumbs up!
Bottom taco: Tinga Chicken w/ guacamole, sour cream, iceberg lettuce, and queso fresco $5
This taco looks quite boring and washed out compared to all the other tacos and unfortunately it also tastes that way. While there was a generous amount of shredded chicken underneath the iceberg lettuce, it was all very bland. It ending up just tasting like a iceberg lettuce and sour cream taco.
Front: Pibil Pork w/ caramelised pineapple and latin pickles $5
How cute is the name of this taco! The pineapple and sweet-savoury flavours particularly stood out in this taco which reminded us of Cha Siu (Cantonese BBQ pork, and if you're Vietnamese like your girl here then you know it as Xa Xiu). The pork was tender and perfectly pulled and the pickles which I've only ever had at Los Vida, were as good as ever! I'm kind of biased when it comes to pickles because I love pickles at any time and any place so you can take that into account.
Just a note this taco drips a lot of juice out so be careful!
Right: Guajillo Lamb w/ guajillo sauce, mint mayo, and latin pickles $5
While this was what I honestly believe was the prettiest looking taco, it was also our least favourite taco. Parts of the shredded lamb were so dry while the other parts were mushy. Could not taste any guajillo sauce or spice or heat. It mostly tasted like bland and flavourless solidified lamb fats with the mint sauce and fried mint leaves on top. Lamb and mint seem to be a good combination but its a shame this taco didn't live up to its full potential.
Front: Los Vida Famous Fish Taco w/ beer battered barramundi, zesty lime, cabbage slaw, 3 styles of jalapeños and chipotle mayo $5
We always hear people going on about how good fish tacos are and while we've never had one before, we honestly thought that idea sounded kind of icky. Now we admit we were wrong because we're converted! This fish taco was our first and we think it was THE BEST TACO. Everything adds its own special element to the taco. The crispy barramundi (that stays crispy) is actually bland on its own but together with the slaw, sauces, jalapeños - it is an amazing harmony. I'm not sure what the 3rd style of jalapeño was (we saw normal, and deep fried) but it was all good.
Front: Adobo Mushroom taco w/ chicharron de queso, peppers, queso fresco and chipotle mayo $5
We thought this was going to be like Filipino adobo but it wasn't. It was more like a deep, spiced up mushroom gravy. My first few bites of this made me think it was soooo delicious. But when I came back to it after a drink of water, I found it to be extremely salty. The mayo did not help as it added a strange tanginess to the taco flavours, and the chicharron de queso (crispy cheese) did the same. Texturally it was all quite soggy and mushy which seems to get worse as you leave the taco aside for a bit.
So there we have it! My review of the 6 out of 7 tacos available at Los Vida, Barangaroo. I hope this has been helpful and that you give Los Vida a try. We both felt very content after this meal because the taco's were so generously filled up. It would be an amazing option for lunch even if you can only afford 1-2 tacos at a time because 6 to us was slightly pushing it! I think that the bowls sound like a fun meal with even more variety available. Would love to come back for those.
Los Vida in Westfield is one of my favourite places to recommend to people when they ask me so I'm really happy I got to try out their Barangaroo store. Do let me know if you guys visit these places, I would love to hear about your experiences 💕
Thank you for reading! xx
TL;DR:
Price: Decent
Quality: Fresh
Service: Friendly
Ambience: Vibrant and fun section in the canteen
Los Vida
Tower 2, The Canteen
Barangaroo Avenue,
Sydney NSW 2000
Open Monday - Friday
7 AM - 5 PM
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