Just like all great things, it happened totally by accident.
We had headed to Xochimilco (on the outskirts of Mexico City) for one thing – to ride the riverboats – but of course hunger always gets in the way. Unfortunately for me, something else also got in the way. One of my flip flops broke.
Yep, it was the second time in about six months I have had a pair of Havaianas break on me while nowhere near home (the last time I was walking around Belgrade). Maybe I’m doing something wrong with these damn things, if so, I’d love for someone to tell me, but either way it was pretty embarassing.
So even though my stomach was growling, I had to hobble through the streets of this small town looking for a shoe shop.
Even though there are no shortage of shoe shops in Mexico (there seems to be somewhat of a shoe obsession), I have big feet and nowhere in the town had anything remotely cute in remotely my size.
Long story short – I was screwed.
Luckily for me I have a wonderful boyfriend who offered to wear my broken flip flops for the rest of the day, while I “clunked” around in his big Reefs. (This isn’t quite as bad as it sounds – the flip flops were green and coincidentally, the same colour as Scott’s shirt that day! Plus, he managed to tie the thong so that he didn’t have to walk barefoot). Like I said, I have big feet, so Scott’s flip flops weren’t too big on me and vice versa.
After all of this hassle, I was hungrier than ever.
We headed towards the local market, where you are usually guaranteed to find some hot food stands and followed our noses. Immediately, vendors came rushing out with small pieces of meat for us to try, hoping that we patronise their stalls.
What happened next was something of a miracle.
I took the small piece of meat wrapped in kitchen paper and ate it, albeit begrudgingly, and something similar to a taste explosion happened in my mouth.
This wasn’t just regular “carnitas” (roasted pork); this was melt-in-your-mouth-buttery roasted pork. It was better than any carnitas I’ve had in Mexico before or since.
The only thing I can compare it to is a slow-roasted shoulder of lamb. You know when you first put your fork into the meat and it just falls away because it’s so soft? Well, this was just like that.
We immediately ordered two tacos each and out came the fattest tacos we’ve seen in our travels.
They were piled with tons of the pork and topped with raw white onion and fresh cilantro. Of course, I had to garnish them with a squeeze of lime juice, some chunky salsa and some jalapenos, and then they were ready to eat.
Hands down, some of the best tacos I’ve eaten. Ever.
All I can say is, if you are heading to Xochimilco to take a riverboat ride (as delicious as the tacos are, I wouldn’t suggest a two hour round-trip just to eat them! Well, I might….) then make sure you head into the large local market and grab some carnitas tacos at the stand opposite the seafood vendors. You won’t regret it.
I totally agree with you! Was in Mexico in 2010, and visited Xochimilco for the boats. I was surprised to come across so many food stalls serving Carnitas. And my goodness, their ingredients were simple, but flavour so complex. Hands down the best tacos I’ve eaten anywhere!