Tigre Tacos doesn’t serve meat.
Despite the name.
Instead, this is an all-fish & veggie outfit that takes inspiration from the laid back beach vibes of ’70s Southern California, then pack it all into hyper-fresh and creative tacos. You might have caught the team plying their wonderful trade from a food truck mored up outside Nine Lives cocktail bar in Borough. Now, they’ve expanded to man the pans at The Gunmakers in Clerkenwell, a classic pub which, despite being 300 years old, manages to remain cutting-edge in its choice of kitchen residencies.
The venue itself is tucked away on a back street, in the ‘you have to know it’s there’ fashion that make you look cool when you take someone who’s never been. On the inside, it’s a three story rabbit warren that clips together a lounge, a dining room, a saloon bar, and a hidden little garden out the back. It’s this latter part that’s the real gem here, and it couldn’t be more suited to the food: an intimate, shaded set of table wrapped around a palm tree, dotted with cacti & other greenery, and lit by candles. Wonderful.
On the menu, you’ll find a rotating selection of tacos, that will nevertheless always feature some meltingly good classic beer-battered Baja fish tacos (they also come as vegan banana blossoms), a plate of gorgeously zingy butterflied tiger prawns ceviched in a vibrant aguachile sauce, and some fragrant camarones with habanero & roasted pineapple salsa. But the real showstopper? A whole damn octopus served with a stack of tacos & trimmings.
On the drinks side of things, they’re also quite well set-up, thanks chiefly to the facts that a) they’ve bussed in Victor Barascu, the Head Bartender of Nine Lives, to create the cocktails and b) it’s in a pub. That means you can score a tequila & tonic (give it a chance, trust us), a punchy Paloma, and a smokey Mezcalita, as well as a pint of Beavertown. And all of them will go with your tacos.
This tiger has certainly earned its stripes.
NOTE: You’ll find Tigre Tacos at The Gunmakers for the foreseeable future. They’re open Open Tues-Thurs 5-11pm & Fri-Sat 12-11pm (closed Sun-Mon). You can find out more, and make a booking at the website right HERE.
The Gunmakers | 13 Eyre Street Hill, EC1R 5ET
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