Welcome to the 12th Annual Vancouver Taco Challenge. Restaurants and food trucks from all over the city were invited to enter their taco creations into this challenge, most have created a special taco creation just for this challenge. Each restaurant will be featuring their tacos on their menu from May 1-25, 2025.
How Does this all Work? For the public challenge, you are invited to go out and order any or all of the Taco creations in this challenge, then you decide who you think has the best creation for the People’s Choice award winners.
Share your experiences: Share your photos on Instagram and TikTok throughout the challenge, our instagram and TikTok address is @vanfoodster and the hashtag is #TacoChallengeYVR please include this hashtag in all your social media sharing during the challenge.
Voting criteria – some things to help you judge your favourite taco creations – keep these things in mind: originality, creativity, uniqueness, traditional, non-traditional, price, value and most importantly taste.
How to VOTE :
- Look for our Taco challenge posters at each of the participating restaurants.
- Scan the QR code and Vote for your favourites from May 1-25, 2025.
Get some friends together and visit 2 places or more to taste the different Taco creations or go solo or with a friend– just remember to VOTE for your favourites
Here are the Taco creations in this challenge, listed in no particular order other than when they were received by us.
Vancouver Aquarium
Tempura Seafood Taco
Price: $18 (includes the 3 tacos)
Created by: Executive Chef David Lee
Description: Tempura Pacific Cod and Halibut, warm flour tortilla, spicy slaw, crispy pickled ginger.
Available: Daily all the time
Vancouver Aquarium Courtyard Cafe
845 Avison Way, Vancouver
Tel:(778) 655-9554
Instagram @vanaqua
Salsa & Guacamole
Birria Tacos A.K.A Quesabirrias
Price $23.90 (includes the 3 tacos)
Created by: Paola Hein & Dani Henriquez
Description: Get ready to meet your new obsession: our legendary Birria Tacos!
Tender, slow-braised beef, dripping with rich, savory flavor, tucked into crispy, golden corn tortillas, melted cheese oozing from the sides, and served with a bold, aromatic consomé for the ultimate dunk. Each bite is juicy, cheesy, and packed with deep, crave-worthy spices that’ll have you hooked from the first dip.
Warning: once you start, you won’t want to stop.
Ingredients: 3 corn tortillas stuffed with birria beef, cheese, onion and cilantro with a side of birria broth.
Available: Daily all the time.
Salsa & Guacamole
13483 72 Ave LOWER LEVEL, Surrey
Tel:Phone: (604) 597-0202
Web: https://salsaandguacamole.com/
Instagram @salsa_andguacamole
Miso Taco
Cochinita Shoyu Tacos
Price: $17 (includes the 3 tacos)
Created by: Diego Delgado
Description: Inspired by the renowned cochinita pibil tacos from Yucatán, traditionally served with pickled red onions and habanero salsa, this dish reimagines a classic with a playful, cross-cultural twist.
We took inspiration from the rich, savory notes of a tonkotsu shoyu ramen broth to create a unique braising sauce, blending achiote and traditional Mexican spices with deep, umami-packed Japanese flavors. The result is a tender, flavourful meat, topped with fun and vibrant elements to add exciting textures and bursts of flavour with every bite.
Overall, it’s an explosion of taste, marrying the warmth and soul of traditional Mexican cuisine with the depth, complexity, and elegance of Japanese culinary techniques, a bold fusion that feels both familiar and thrillingly new.
Ingredients: Corn tortilla, pork cochinita with soy sauce base, crispy shallots, chard habanero and mango dressing, fukujinzuke pickles, toasted sesame seeds.
Offered: Daily Tuesday – Sunday, closed Monday’s.
Not available for takeout or delivery.
Miso Taco
3456 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Tel: (236) 471-8011
Web: https://misotaco.ca/
Instagram @misotacoco
Those Indian Guys
Masala Fish Tacos
Price: $14 (includes the 2 tacos)
Created by: Vinnie
Description: Marinated fish tikka tossed in Indian spices & herbs assembled in a home-made paratha taco with a little slaw, avocado, pickled onions, carrot julienne and our signature mint chutney.
Ingredients: House made Malabar paratha taco, fish tikka, avocado, pickled onions, mint chutney, hot sauce, carrot, lime drizzle.
Offered: Daily, regular hours 11 am to 9 pm
Available: Takeout and delivery.
Delivery: uberEats, Doordash.
Those Indian Guys
120-1881 152 street. Surrey BC
Tel: 778-512-9556
Website: www.thoseindianguys.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/those_indian_guys/
Our Media judges for this challenge are:
Maggi Mei
Blogger and Instagrammer
Instagram: @magmei
Shelley Hayashi
Influencer/Writer for MyVanCity
Twitter: @shelleyhayashi
Instagram: @shelleyhayashi
Jacqueline Chui
Food and Travel Blogger
Instagram @jacquelinechui