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    Tacos
    Photograph: Shutterstock / Drazen Zigic | Tacos
    Photograph: Shutterstock / Drazen Zigic

    The 15 best taco joints in Vancouver

    Hand-pressed tortillas, dripping birria, spinning trompos and fish tacos with crunch: Vancouver does serious tacos

    Written by Isa Tousignant
    Editor, Time Out
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    There was a time when finding a great taco in Vancouver required optimism. Those dark days are over. Today after a day of visiting attractions or frolicking in parks you can chase properly nixtamalized tortillas, Mexico City style al pastor, Michoacán carnitas, Baja seafood, blue corn, birria dunked in consommé and tacos so overloaded with cheese they have developed their own gravitational field. Some of these places are polished, rivalling the best restaurants in Vancouver for date nights and celebrations. Others barely bother with furniture. All of these listed spots understand the essential equation: warm tortilla, great filling, sassy salsas = happiness.

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    Best tacos in Vancouver

    Chancho Tortillería

    Tortilla obsessives, your temple awaits. Chancho imports ancient non GMO corn from small Mexican farms, nixtamalizes and grinds it, then presses tortillas fresh daily. The menu is deliberately narrow, letting excellent pork do most of the talking. Carnitas come in cuts including shoulder and belly with beans and house salsas. Vancouver Magazine gave Chancho a 2026 Latin American honourable mention, and it was much deserved.

    Los Sapos Tacos

    Los Sapos understands that restraint is sometimes overrated. Al pastor gets fire roasted with pineapple, birria slow cooks into beefy submission and carnitas keep things classic. Then come the Coronados: tacos with melted cheese inside and a crispy cheese skirt extending around the tortilla like a delicious Saturn ring. Order birria with cheese and consommé. Wear something forgiving.

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    Machete Ancestral Mexican Food

    Machete goes deeper than standard taqueria greatest hits, making delicate tortillas from organic ancestral blue corn and pulling recipes from different Mexican regions. Pumpkin flower and chorizo tacos are excellent, but seek out the tacos de canasta, steamed together until soft and deeply savoury. Vegetarians get above-average choices here too, including huitlacoche, nopales and rajas poblanas.

    Taquería Chicatana

    Want Chicatana? Check the calendar. This Chinatown spot has a very limited schedule, but has built a following around their al pastor meat sliced straight from the trompo, where achiote seasoned pork and pineapple acquire exactly the right char before meeting onion, cilantro and avocado salsa. Vancouver Magazine previously named this taco one of its essential Vancouver eats. 

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    Taqueria Jalisco Mexican Restaurant

    Here’s a birria not to miss. Taqueria Jalisco’s Golden Taco takes birria, carnitas or veggies, stuffs them into a corn tortilla, and griddles the whole business until crisp. The others are great, but the birria is your top choice here, especially with the rich, flavoursome consommé for dunking. You’ll want to double up on napkins.

    Pinche Taco Shop by La Taqueria

    La Taqueria helped teach Vancouver that tacos needn't arrive buried under shredded iceberg lettuce. The current Pinche Taco Shop keeps the lesson going with pollo al carbón, lechón and vegetarian beauties like the indulgent papas con crema (potatoes and cream) and acelga con huevo (Swiss char and egg). Visit its sister concept Comedor for traditional trompo de pastor (corn tortillas with charred pork, pineapple, salsa and lime) or a bevy of burrito choices.

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    Baja Racing Sports Bar

    The name says sports bar. The menu screams coastal Mexico. Baja Racing does tempura fish and shrimp tacos, carne asada, pastor, carnitas, pan fried tripe and a taco gobernador involving shrimp and cheesy excess. Its light, crisp Baja Sur style seafood tacos pair to perfection with a Clamato cocktail. Prepare to be transported to the playa.

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    Puerto Mexico, Tacos and Mexican Products

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    Part taqueria, part Mexican grocery store, Puerto Mexico is dangerously convenient for people susceptible to both tacos and impulse buying. The compact menu hits carnitas, chorizo, suadero and shredded chicken in mole, all tucked into double corn tortillas. Feeling ambitious? The Taco Norteño is a hearty flour tortilla loaded with beans, chorizo, carnitas, onion, cilantro and salsa.

    Maizal RMF

    At Maizal, you can watch tortillas being made fresh before your eyes before they get stuffed with their scrumptious fillings. Pastor, carnitas and carne asada are reliable winners, while plantain gives the meat free contingent something more exciting than consolation beans. Add homemade horchata for the full experience.

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