Discover the best tacos and birria at Los Tacos MNL, which is located at the open kitchen of Magallanes Bistro Café in Makati. Chef Keith Curitana, "head honcho" of Los Tacos MNL, tells us how they make their tortilla and other things they have on the menu.
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LifestyleTranscript
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00:29 Hi, I'm Keith Curitana and I'm the head honcho of Los Tacos, Manila.
00:33 When I was elementary, I wanted to take Fine Arts actually.
00:37 In the high school, me, wanted to do music. I was in a band.
00:40 Into my early 20s, your typical Los 20, early 20 guy, didn't know what to do.
00:48 My grandparents enrolled me in a culinary school and then the plan was to be a seaman.
00:55 But when I had my internship with Black Sheep under Chef Patrick Goh,
01:00 I discovered this whole new world of high-level cooking.
01:05 So that's where the seaman plan ended. I fell in love with it. The rest is history.
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01:20 After working for Hapag, the pandemic hit and then everyone was trying to make ends meet.
01:27 I found this video online of Teddy's Red Tacos and I had zero clue.
01:33 I had no knowledge about Mexican cuisine. The final product was okay.
01:38 And I knew that this is something that the Filipino market would be into.
01:47 That's how Los Tacos started.
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02:00 Actually, we started as Los Tacos Birria Manila.
02:03 And then from there, three months in, I realized that I had to be more than just a place that serves birria.
02:13 So we expanded our menu. We researched about doing tortillas right, right formula for salsa.
02:20 And so we have other stuff now.
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02:31 As a chef, you need to find the balance.
02:36 There's salty, sour, sweetness, and there's bitterness. But if you notice, the dishes of Los Tacos is mostly my component of smoky.
02:46 Because this is what we do with Los Tacos. We love grilling stuff like charred cabbage, the grilled adomame with the ceviche.
02:57 We also smoke our sour cream to infuse smokiness when we don't have ingredients to grill.
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03:09 The dream for Los Tacos would be pioneering third world masa, which is working with our local farmers.
03:21 Having them grow our own breed of corn that's more flavorful, more corn-y compared to the ones that currently we have.
03:32 Because Philippines is abundant in land and corn.
03:37 It just so happens that dried corn is mostly not for human consumption. It's used for feed.
03:47 There's no demand for it. But hopefully in the future, it becomes something that we do here in the Philippines.
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04:07 Now we're going to try the biryo, which is the dish that they're known for.
04:11 The beef here is cooked for eight hours.
04:15 I like how the tortilla still has that bite. It's not soggy.
04:20 So I'm going to try the shrimp tacos here. It's in a batter that's deep fried.
04:27 I'm trying the sudero, which is like a very carnivorous almost kind of taco because it has beef brisket and it's cooked in lard.
04:37 It's rich, but it's not as in-your-face fatty as I thought it would be because the stuff on top is super sour and bright. I love it.
04:49 Mine is the same. Even though it's fried, it's still light.
04:54 And I love how the batter is still crispy, even though it has all that sauce on top of it.
05:03 I think it's unique because it has edamame, which is not what they usually sell in ceviche.
05:09 It's bright for sure, but it's not super acidic that it burns your tongue. It's pretty balanced.
05:16 It's a little sweet, a little creamy. It's so good.
05:21 Even the cabbage itself is so good. I think it's a little sweet because it's grilled.
05:30 I love that it's a little smoky. And then you get the peanut butter underneath, which is a little rich and nutty.
05:36 Next, Eliotte. I'm gonna try the corn. It has whipped butter. I'm just gonna make sure the piece I have has all that.
05:50 The smokiness is everything. It's the first thing that hits you, the smokiness of the corn.
05:57 So that's it for us. If you enjoyed this video, please don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so you get updated with all our videos.
06:07 And catch us on spot.th
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