6.351 Shrimp + Fish + Octopus Tacos

6.351

22 (Tue) December 2015

Fish + Octopus + Shrimp Tacos

3.25

at Little Baja

-Itaewon, Seoul-

with HSK, JJ, SWK, CC

The Prodigal Son Returns for Xmas, Day 7 (see previously 6.350 Nanja Wans).

In Seoul. Here through Christmas. Going back on the 26th with the family to Manila, where we’ll finish out the year.

Located on the northeast hill of Itaewon linking the main drag to Gyeongridan.

As the name would suggest, Little Baja specializes in deep-fried seafood tacos.

Simple decor, as a taco joint should be.

Simple set-up, as a taco joint should be.

The original plan had been to eat at a Middle Eastern restaurant next door (Petra — FYI), but we backed out in a hurry when we discovered that they didn’t serve booze (which would seem to make sense, given the Islamic prohibition against drinking, though Jordan itself is relatively progressive/secular, even producing various types of alcoholic beverages (see generally 6.159 Memories of Hummus).

3 condiments : creamy (2.5), verde (3.5), picante (3.0).

Dinner with the guys, whom I haven’t seen in nearly a year (see most recently 5.359 Jaengban Ban).

Chips & Salsa (3.0) — excellent chips, respectable salsa; perhaps overpriced at 5,000 won, but forgivable in light of the reasonably priced tacos.

The tacos were very good, a tad shy of excellent. Texturally sound in every bite : tender yellow corn tortillas; lightly battered, delicately deep-fried chunks of seafood; razor-thin cabbage and minced salsa. However, the flavor of the main component didn’t really come through, each taco tasting pretty much like the next, discernible only by different mouthfeel : fish = fluffy, octopus = chewy, shrimp = plushy. Overall quite satisfying.

Not as exciting as the new-fangled options at the original Vatos (see generally 3.181 Kimchi Carnitas Fries), better than the poorly constructed knock-offs at the Vatos branch in Galleria (see generally 3.328 Chili Lime Shrimp Tacos).