Flora

Similar to my dream that one day mimosas will cost 2 EUR, I also hope for cheap good tacos. The closest Amsterdam currently has is Taco Tuesday – a more and more common concept. If you live around West, Flora may be your best bet to indulge in a couple of tacos for only 2 EUR each!

This week was my first Taco Tuesday attempt in Amsterdam, and I picked Flora mostly due to convenience. Its location in Bilderdijkpark is pretty unique, and I cannot wait to try out their brunch menu, during a sunny Sunday, on the beautiful terrace. However, during the winter, we all have to gather together inside, in a pretty small place. They take reservations via Facebook Messenger, but not for Taco Tuesdays – good to know, but not mentioned anywhere.

Flora uses its Facebook page as a website too, something that I have seen before but personally, still not a fan of. For example, no menu anywhere to be found, except for the Brunch menu, which is a different one.

Anyhow, so Hayden and I arrive there around 20:15 and take the last table for 2. The place got pretty quite around 21:00. Keep in mind that the kitchen closes at 21:30. On the Tuesday menu, there are 4 options for tacos and you can only buy them this way (not 2,3 or 5 – 4 or 8 and so on). These can be a certain kind or a mix – one of each. We both went for the mix to see what’s what.

They come with a mix of 3 salsas: a Green Salsa (good one), a Pineapple Habanero Salsa (spicy, exactly as I like it), and a Red Salsa (which is basically a tomato paste for people who cannot actually handle Mexican flavors).

Above you can see the following: an Achiote Chicken Taco, a Calabacitas Taco (courgette, corn and cheese), a Nopales Taco (pickled cactus and jalapeno, queso fresco) and a Black Bean Taco (guess the main ingredient, with chipotle mayo. queso fresco).

What you can also probably see is that they are tiny (10cm). While Taco Tuesday may have found its way to Europe, the taco sizes apparently did not.

The Black Bean Taco and Calabacitas Taco were my favorites by far. Hayden agreed that the Black Bean one was the tastiest. He also really loves Chipotle though, so that mattered. The Chicken Taco was missing a “side” in my opinion, while the Nopales one was lacking the strong flavors I found in the other options, even with the cactus and jalapeno.

The quality of the ingredients seems to be high, they taste fresh and the combinations are uncommon, which I appreciate. I was happy with the party of flavors I got to enjoy for 8 EUR. However, in order for this to be high on my “value for money” scale, there should have been 5 tacos there for that price.

Good news! If you visit Flora on another day, the tacos are 12cm. Bad news though, 4 tacos will cost you between 13.5 EUR and 16.5 EUR. I cannot judge the worth of this deal, as the taco options are different, the ingredients used are different, and they have much “fancier” choices on their regular menu. For example, they make an almond salsa macha for their vegetarian tacos!

Now, Hayden is pretty much twice my size, so 4 tiny tacos won’t really do it for him. Okay fine, I wanted more food too. We ended up getting the Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Mayo to share.

The fries were nothing to write home about, not fresh, but the toppings made the dish really nice. Again, Chipotle really saves everything.

We washed everything down with a couple of beers. I opted for the Modelo – a Mexican, light beer.

Verdict time! Flora makes good tacos, they really do. If you’re hungry, however, you should probably look somewhere else, or order a variety of things on the menu. Taco Tuesday starts at 18PM, but I would not consider that portion fit for dinner. After adding the fries to the table, we both left full enough, and at the end of the day, spent less than 40 EUR.

I’d return to Flora, but not for Taco Tuesday. Happy to give that brunch menu a try. Did someone say Fried Chicken Biscuit and Micheladas?! Seriously people, why are Micheladas so rare here? Truly annoying.

Value for money: 7

Food Quality: 8

Location: 9 (Bilderdijkpark)

Service: 8

Website:https://www.facebook.com/floraamsterdam/

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