I’ve always been fond of tacos, the generic kind, with the crispy shell, ground beef, lettuce and cheddar cheese. That’s what had always been available here in the Philippines, until some restaurants introduced the soft tacos, which had the same ingredients in a flour tortilla.

Now, I’ve never been to Mexico, but I sort of knew that the Mexicans wouldn’t be using ground beef as a filling, Mexicans never having been known as beef eaters. Pork, yes, because they had this animal that lived in their jungles, the tapir, which looks a lot like pigs. The Aztecs hunted and ate this and most probably used this in their tacos, if they had that back then. Of course, they used soft tortillas, because that’s how it’s supposed to be. They had no supermarkets back then, so they couldn’t buy crispy tortilla shells, and they didn’t have Caucasian mothers to make them “authentic” supermarket tacos.

Which brings us to Maya, which is kind of retarded because we first started talking about the Aztecs, which was a lost civilization, and now we’re talking about another lost civilization, and this is actually making me dizzy because we are going around in circles and kind of losing the point.

Which brings us back to Crossroads Arcade in Banilad.

Maya is this Mexican restaurant in Crossroads that doesn’t look anything like a Mexican restaurant. It actually looks like a high-end lounge, which is what it actually is, but hell, Maya serves fantastic tacos.

And yeah, they use roast pork and soft tortillas. People say the food is expensive at Maya, but that’s expected. If you got an international chef preparing the food, or at least supervising the kitchen staff, you’d expect to pay a bit more, won’t you? You’d know that your tacos has been made using the best ingredients available, and to the highest standards at that.

An order of tacos de la calle, which has three pieces, using either organic pork carnitas or angus flank steak, costs a bit less than three hundred pesos. Not bad, considering the quality and preparation of the food. Still, you’d argue, tacos are street food, but if you want to eat in the street, go ahead. Try finding authentic tacos being sold in the streets of Cebu, or even in the malls or anywhere else in the city, comparable to Maya’s, and if you do, I’ll spring for your tacos at Maya.

I got this photo from www.mayacebu.com, and this is the kind of taco you get at Maya. It not only looks great, it tastes fucking delicious.

My rating? I’ll take away one point for ambiance, because it really doesn’t look like a Mexican restaurant, and another point for making street food so expensive, so that leaves them with an eight out of ten. If we’re talking only about the food, however, I’d give them a nine out of ten, if only because street food shouldn’t cost that much.