If Sat Bains likes the place then it must be all right. At least that what’s I thought when I saw that fine chef’s Instagram post about Taquero, a Mexican restaurant not too far from his eponymous Michelin two starrer. So off I set, past the English inner-city melancholy of vape stores, betting shops and Greggs, to Hockley, ten minutes from Nottingham train station, which very much seems the place to be. This is where the action is, where you can find anything from ramen and sushi to Goan fish curries, Shanghai dumplings, Jamaican jerk and Neapolitan pizza. Most are independent, as are the shops flogging bongs and macarons, goth rags and vintage trainers.
The seafood cocktail has ‘pert, beautifully cooked prawn and octopus’
Taquero, light and bright and airy, sits right in the middle, and is nearly packed on this Tuesday lunch. A very good sign, along with the sweetness of the service, a decent range of mescal and tequila and a choice of three micheladas. If you find these beer, lime juice and hot-sauce cocktails on the menu, you know you’re in the right place. Throw in five homemade salsas – ranging from a clean and verdant verde, through a nutty, gently spicy macha to a sharp, hot and fruity habanero beauty – and things are looking very good indeed. A taqueria is judged not just on the quality of the tortillas, but the salsas too.
Taquero’s seafood cocktail is very much in the Veracruz style, the pert, beautifully cooked prawn and octopus served in a thin, cool, mildly spiced broth. It could do with a bit more kick, but nothing a judicious spoonful of the habanero salsa can’t sort out. The same’s true of the tuna tostadas: immaculate fish sitting atop a smudge of avocado and a crisp tortilla base. Plain, they’re decent, if a little well behaved. A dollop of jalapeno salsa takes them to another level.
The best taco (which they make in-house, every day, just like everything else) is beef birra, the soft, slow-cooked meat enveloped in melted cheese that’s both gloriously crisp and wonderfully gooey. Dipped into a pot of rich, deeply beefy consommé, they’re excellent. Baja (with a crisp finger of battered fish) and carnitas (pork cooked for hours) are both very decent. So yes, Sat Bains was right. Of course he was. Taquero is not just good. It’s a cracker.
About £25 per head. Taquero, 6-8 Heathcoat Street, Nottingham; taquero.co.uk
Rating: ★★★★✩
