In this article we share our date experience at the hip and happening and hidden treasure restaurant Tanqueria Bacalar at Amsterdam North.
We planned our Sunday afternoon date with a visit to one of the most impressive visual and sound museums we’ve ever been; NXT museum. A place that’s really worth visiting (we will write about this in another article later).
For a long time, there weren’t so many Mexican restaurants in Amsterdam, but over the years their food became more and more popular in the Netherlands.
Restaurant Bacalar was opened by chef Joachim de Buck who was the previous chef of Restaurant Coba, where he created a huge passion for the Mexican kitchen.
He makes traditional Mexican food with his own twist.
And before all that he was a former chef at Restaurant De Goudfazant, also a very good restaurant!
Knowing all this gave me more security that the food must be of a certain high standard.
Location and how to get there
After our museum date, we had a reservation at one of the best Mexican restaurants, according to many fellow chefs and food lovers.
Restaurant Bacalar is located in a more industrial – not so busy area of Amsterdam.
It’s located around the corner at the museum so it’s perfect to combine these two! (because it takes a bit of effort to visit the restaurant because you have to take the ferry F3 – it’s free! – to Buiksloterweg from Amsterdam Central Station to the other side of the water and have a 15-minute walk to Bacalar)
See the route with the ferry from the Central Station to Bacalar here.
After our museum experience, we went to our two o’clock reservation at Bacalar.
The restaurant is not hard to find because of the big yellow capital letters above the entrance of the restaurant.
We went in the fall so the Dutch weather wasn’t that great and it started to get cold.
As I told you before they have a large ‘front door’, more of an old garage-style opening, so they hung thick plastic curtains to keep the wind and cold outside. Not the best look but probably the best and fastest solution.
It must also be amazing during summer when you can have your cocktails and tacos on their cozy terrace.
Make a reservation first
It’s really recommended to make a reservation upfront because this place is very popular.
On their website, they ask for a 10 euro deposit per person.
If you want to cancel your reservation you only can get the money back four hours before your cancellation.
| Wednesday | Closed |
| Thursday | Closed |
| Friday | 18:00–22:00 |
| Saturday | 12:00–22:00 |
| Sunday | 12:00–22:00 |
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | Closed |
The first impression
We were welcomed by a flamboyant friendly young man and guided to our seats at the bar.
My first impression was that the place was completely full and the open kitchen, which I find a plus, really caught my eye.
They were very fast with serving us to hand out the menu. Another thing that was interesting is that the restaurant doesn’t have a Mexican interior but a very raw, messy, underground vibe but still very cozy.
But first, let’s start with a drink
The bartender looked like a professional cocktail shaker so we definitely wanted to try a cocktail and choose a margarita and a Mexican beer.
They were both super good and also very compatible with food!
They offer you free tap water which can come in handy if you are not used to spicy food. They also have a large variety of wines and cocktails. If you love Mezcal (a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave) this is your place.
They offer several types of this amazing drink.
Food
We went there for their best-selling point: tacos!
When we eat out we always like to share dishes so we can taste several dishes per visit.
I have to say that it wasn’t super easy because they serve portions in uneven numbers and don’t provide you with cutlery by default.
Tacos are very difficult to eat properly, so maybe not be recommended for a first date but they can also break the ice 😉
For a starter, we ordered Tostada de Atun (1 piece, 14 euros)
This is a crispy taco with raw tuna and fish eggs on top. I really would recommend it if you love fish.
It has a very good taste experience because it has a soft taste because of the avocado cream, crispy because of the deep-fried tortilla, a glaze of the sauce that is super well seasoned, and freshness of lime juice and the finely chopped spring onions.
For our second round we ordered three pieces of Tacos de Molleja (3 pieces, 17 euro)
They were with a crispy sweet bread of veal , salsa roja, salsa macha, and pickled beetroot.
The meat was so incredibly soft and had such a deep taste. With some spiced salsa roja on the side, fresh lime juice and the sour taste of the pickled beetroot.
For our next round, round number three we ordered Tacos al Pastor; roasted pork, pineapple, and chipotle (3 pieces, 14 euros).
First of all, it looked very appealing.
The porc was crispy and juicy at the same time, and the freshness and sweetness of the pineapple were very nice to combine it with the taste of the pork fat. Chipotle is a bit spicy and sour. Overall all your taste buds are pleased.
Prices
We paid 64 euros for our lunch at Restaurant Tanqueria Bacalar and we got the following things:
- 1 piece of Tostada de Atun
- 3 pieces of Tacos de Molleja
- 3 pieces of Tacos al Pastor
- 1 beer
- 1 margarita
- tap water
- tips
Overall conclusion – is restaurant Bacalar worth visiting?
Yes, if you love Mexican food.
We really had a good time during our lunch.
The staff was friendly and open, made eye contact, and asked a couple of times if we needed anything and if everything was okay.
Eating at the bar has something very cozy, but is more social if you are with two people, otherwise talking is a bit harder.
It is very nice to see the chefs working in the open kitchen and gives you a more transparent feeling of how they make their food.
The place was packed, as it probably always is.
Because of the raw and messy interior, it feels very hipster and the loose vibe makes you instantly more comfortable.
It’s very hard to not like their food.
It has something of everything but not too much.
It’s a real pleasure for your tastebuds. I would recommend if you want to have an overall experience to order a fish, beef, and pork dish.
I still don’t understand why you can only order one piece or three pieces of tacos.
They serve the tacos in one plate so it’s very inviting to share your tacos but it makes it harder if you are with two or five people.
For example, it’s a better experience for a couple to order 3 different dishes with 2 tacos than 2 dishes with 3 tacos. Now because of that, we had a faster dinner experience while we would have loved to try more different types but unfortunately, we were already full.
