Mrs G doesn’t like burritos.
She normally finds them a bit stodgy and bland in comparison to their lighter relative the taco.
Well, that was until Mrs G was converted by a visit to Rascal Burrito in Cardiff the other week.
When we arrived at this dinky Crwys Road takeaway, with just a few seats in the window for eating in, we planned to only order their tacos. However, a burrito evangelist in front of us in the queue rhapsodised about how good they are, and well, it would have been rude not to order one after that show of enthusiasm.
Rascal Burrito’s compact menu features burritos, tacos and nachos. If you’re veggie or vegan then there’s a vegan chicken substitute on offer instead of their beef, chicken and pork. On weekends there’s breakfast burritos available whilst on Friday evenings there’s a special of beef birria tacos.
Rascal's Venezuelan and Mexican owners make all of their salsas and marinades from scratch. One of the duo also owns the Venezuelan street food business Queen Pepiada, who make a mean arepa. So, they’re clearly well-schooled in Latin American cooking.
As Rascal Burrito doesn’t serve booze, I opted for a can of Remedy ginger and lemon kombucha. With a good warmth of ginger, hit of citrus, and zippy acidity, it was a lovely match for the spicy cooking.
An El Chapo burrito (£8.50), which was the approximate size of guinea pig, was a super combination of flavours and textures, which harmonised together rather than being disparate clumps of fillings. A soft wheat tortilla, which had been lightly crisped around the edges, due to a spell on the plancha, cocooned tender shreds of marinated chicken, distinct grained rice, creamy melted cheese, black beans with a nice bite, fresh salad, a vibrant pico de gallo, and a really good dollop of mild tomatillo-based salsa verde with a fresh fruitiness and acidity.
A trio of beef barbacoa tacos (£7) were probably my pick of the bunch. Double stacked corn tortillas were pleasingly soft and delivered on their corny complexity. They were loaded with juicy shreds of big flavoured spiced slow-cooked beef, more of that fresh and fragrant pico de gallo, white onion and coriander.
Based on the showing of these beef tacos, we’ll definitely be heading back to try their birria beef taco special.
Pots of Rascal’s three homemade salsas were delicious poured over the tacos, adding extra layers of flavour. There was more of the perky salsa verde, a medium spiced salsa roja with a tomato sweetness and hit of chilli, and a fiery salsa macha, which wasn’t too dissimilar from the salsa roja but delivered a bigger wallop of chilli.
A trio of Al Pastor tacos were enjoyable (£7) but probably the weakest of the dishes we ate. Whilst the shreds of pork were nicely marinated, the meat was a little on the dry side.
By the time we’d finished lunch at Rascal, I was as well-stuffed as their burritos. We had a delicious, generous and great value lunch and I’ll definitely be adding Rascal to my rotation of places to visit for a quick bite to eat. In fact, the previously sceptical Mrs G has already mentioned going for another burrito soon.
The Details:
Address – Rascal Burrito, 98 Crwys Rd, Cardiff CF24 4NQ
Web – https://www.instagram.com/rascalburrito98/
Telephone - 07462 612298
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