Restaurant: Ta Chido 
Restaurant type: Mexican, tacos, Latino
Prices: $4.50-$23 entrées, $10-$23 mains, $3-$10 desserts, $8-$13 cocktails
Date: Tuesday February 4th 2020
Table of: 2
My favorite dishes: al pastor taco + milanesa torta 

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of trying Ta Chido Mexican Snack Bar with my foodie friend @smarkfoodie, as their guests! Ta Chido has been opened for nine years now and is located on Park avenue, between Fairmont and St-Viateur. Ta Chido offers very authentic, true and flavourful Mexican dishes, like: tacos, tortas (sandwiches), quesadillas and more, in a casual setting. In fact, the decor of the place is very eclectic and eccentric; you kinda have to see it to understand. There are huge papier maché characters throughout the restaurant (these actually belong to the Mexican consulate in Montreal), as well as a bunch of toys and collectibles. It half feels like you’re in some toy museum lol.

Over the years, the place has expanded to now include more of a bakery side, where they bake their own bread (used for the tortas) and make desserts too. Here are the dishes and drinks we had the pleasure of tying:

• Torta Milanesa: pan-fried breaded beef cutlet, mayo, melted cheese, black bean spread, avocado, tomatoes and caramelized onions
• Tacos de chorizo con papas: Mexican chorizo sautéed with potatoes, coriander and fresh onions
• Tacos al pastor: achiote marinated pork, coriander and fresh onions
• Tacos de barbacoa de res : braised beef, coriander and fresh onions
• Huitlacoche quesadilla: Mexican truffle, melted cheese, onions, peppers and corn
• Zucchini flowers quesadilla: zucchini flowers sautéed with onions and corn, melted cheese
• Pastel de maiz con nieve: corn cake with ice cream
• Pastel tres leches: Mexican cake made of three types of milk [condensed, evaporated, normal]
• Margarita Pepe Pepino: cucumber, tequila, Triple Sec, lime
• Mexican sangria: red wine, mineral water, grenadine, lime and fruits
• 8 years old Mezcal, served with orange slices

We had a great meal at Ta Chido and the food was very good. The al pastor (pork) taco was my favorite; it was everything you wanted in a taco and more. The shell was great, the pork was super flavourful, perfectly seasoned, very juicy and tasty. I loved that it was served with small chunks of pineapple, for extra sugar, acidity and texture. I also loved the milanesa torta, which was also very flavourful and tasty. The sandwich as a whole just tasted really good, so good that I bought an extra to take home to Alex lol. I really liked the braised beef taco too, the beef tasted great and was very juicy, but it was missing a bit of seasoning to me; that extra kick to take it to the next level. We ended up using the jalapeno hot sauce on our tacos, which was very well balanced, tasty, flavourful and added a mild kick of heat.

I enjoyed both quesadillas too, they tasted great and were very cheesy, but I couldn’t really tell the difference between the two we ordered. Unfortunately, I think with the mix of ingredients involved, the huitlacoche and zucchini flowers, which are very delicate ingredients, got lost in the mix. The drinks were good too, but some refinements could be made to both, in the choice, quality and quantity of ingredients used (these were not mixologist quality drinks). Nevertheless, they satisfied our thirst. Desserts were good too and Stephane enjoyed his tres leches cake. On my end, I was expecting more of a dry corn bread type cake, so I did like that this one was very moist, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the chunks of corn inside. To cap off the evening, we enjoyed an 8 year old Mezcal which was very similar to a good, smokey whiskey.

Overall, I would definitely recommended Ta Chido. If you like true authentic Mexican food, you’ll surely love Ta Chido. The tacos and tortas are excellent and definitely worth trying. Enjoy!

*This restaurant post does not contain my usual restaurant review criteria of restaurants, as this is a sponsored post where I was invited to the restaurant as a guest.

*All photos and comments are mine