Alta Loma at Filthy XIII: 'This is exactly what doing a pop-up is for - to iron out the creases, to fine-tune the flavours, to tweak the tacos'
Tacos in Bristol's best cocktail bar
Filthy XIII (13 for those that, like me, never learnt to read Roman numerals) is the best cocktail bar in Bristol, and my achilles heel. It seemingly bears no relevance how busy or broke I am - I cannot turn down an invitation to Filthy XIII.
It’s hard to pin point exactly the origin of Filthy XIII’s gravity. The answer lies somewhere in the combination of an incredible art collection, exemplary service, just the right lack of light, the Shazam-worthy soundtrack and the Nitro Picante cocktail. The announcement that they had started serving tacos via the Alta Loma pop-up tipped me over the event horizon. Not just any tacos either - birria tacos. Sloppy, spicy strings of slow-cooked beef smothered in a layer of melted cheese and fried in a taco. Served with gravy. It just doesn’t get better than a good birria taco. Resistance was futile.
Alta Loma is due to open a permanent spot this summer opposite the BRI. Its pop-up menu is brief and filled with great lines like ‘confit pork shoulder’, ‘melted Oaxaca cheese’ and ‘roasted pineapple salsa’. It’s also filled with spelling mistakes like ‘melted Oacan cheese’, ‘served in a freid tortilla’ and my personal favourite ‘served with a red gold consumer for dipping’. Remember lads, it’s important to get consent before dipping your tacos in a nearby consumer. We don’t want to cause a scene.
But we mustn’t take the pico too much with spelling errors; this is exactly what doing a pop-up is for - to iron out the creases, to fine-tune the flavours, to tweak the tacos. Plus it would be shooting fish in a barrel to go after a chef for spelling errors, and fish taste much better when they’ve enjoyed the open water.
So, queso beef birria (£8) x 2, queso carnitas (£8) x 2, blue heat cheese melt tacos (£8) x 2, nachos (£4) x 1 and nitro picante (£11) x 2. Even one lot of nachos proved entirely unnecessary, as every taco came with a scattering of oddly shaped tortilla chips and the meagre nacho toppings were inconsequential. Give me some guacamole god damn!
In a lucha libre match between the two best birria tacos in Bristol, the title would ultimately go to Gourmet Warriors who are usually in residence at The Plough. Though it would be a very entertaining fight; Alta Loma’s have more muscle but Gourmet Warriors are both physically and metaphorically the GOAT, and goat is better than beef. Watching from behind the ropes would be the venison creation from TnT Tacos at The Scrandit which I have yet to try.
Confit pork queso carnitas had taken after their beefy cousins and were similarly suck-ullent (pronounced a la Claire from Come Dine with Me). Both were served with a little pot of consumer, more consomménly known as gravy, and a good one at that. Honestly, the only thing restaurants need do to impress me is serve everything with a good pot of gravy for dipping. Water for the table? No I’ll have a jug of gravy thanks.
The Blue Heat cheese tacos were the evening’s special. Oaxacan cheese deep fried in breadcrumbs and Blue Heat Takis. What the hell is a Taki? Well I’m glad you asked, but you won’t be. They are a god-awful attempt at a crisp that the Mexicans seem to love. They did so well with tortillas and then ruined it with Takis. Imagine concentrating the flavour of Doritos until they were one hundred times more potent, throwing in a few Toxic Waste sweets, chewing it all up into a mulch and then throwing it up. That’s what Takis taste like.
Surprisingly I quite liked the Taki taco. Oaxacan cheese is a textural sensation but is quite mild, so a light sprinkling of Taki in the breadcrumb made for an interesting combination. Though it did still leave my mouth feeling like I’d binged on fourteen bags of crisps and forgotten my toothbrush at a primary school sleepover. It was my least favourite of the three tacos but I am very on board with the concept of using crisps in cooking. The Monster Munch oysters at Whyte’s are calling my name. I hope more Bristol restaurants embrace the trend before it becomes passé.
£8 for one taco is too much. Even with a generous filling you’d have to be seriously flirting with the Michelin man to command such a price. And you can’t fool me by bulking it out with tortilla chips. My completely unsolicited advice would be to get rid of the chips, lose ten to twenty per cent of the filling and serve two tacos on each plate. For comparison, the venison tacos at The Scrandit are three for £11 and Gourmet Warriors are two for £8.
Opening a spot opposite the BRI could prove tricky, but at least the customers who have a heart attack upon seeing the bill won’t have far to go. My money (what’s left of it) is still on Condesa to be the Mexican opening of the year round these parts, but I will look forward to paying a visit to Alta Loma when they open in a few months time. And in the meantime, I’m volunteering to proof-read the menu.
Alta Loma, currently in residence on Tuesdays at Filthy XIII, 208 Cheltenham Road, BS6 5QU
Words and photos by Meg Houghton-Gilmour