Birria Shop, Glasgow

There’s a bit of a season finale vibe to this month, as the seasons change and we tie up a few threads from recent episodes. On the one hand, there’s the Mexican wave sweeping Scotland’s restaurants and bars which saw us eat many, many tacos back in the spring. On the other, we’re back on Cathcart Road in the south of Glasgow, literally two doors down from Kofi Kade, the Sri Lankan sandwich hit from a few months back.

Birria Shop – the new venture from the folk behind Finnieston favourite Rafa’s – was a mere Instagram account when we were last here, but now it’s a small but well-formed space that packs a lot in. That, friends, is food writing code for ‘there's a surprising number of seats in here’. As for the menu, that is also on the small side, and the focus is on the titular birria, which we will get to shortly.

But first, potatoes! The tacos dorados (£8) are effectively mashed potato tacos, accurately described by the staff as “like eating a hug”. It’s a big pillowy pile of yellow which pairs nicely with a big blob of salsa verde, but there’s a surprising level of contrast between the corn tortilla and its starchy stuffing. The scallop ceviche tostada (£5) is less of a hug and more of a very friendly but very real punch in the face – it’s very zingy, it’s very spicy, and it’s very very tasty. Scallop, pickled veg, flecks of herb, all piled high on a wide, flat, crunchy tortilla; eating it is a bit like trying to move a game of Buckaroo to another room part-way through. Pieces will go everywhere, you will embarrass yourself, but you’ll have a lovely time doing it.

Now to the aforementioned birria – a Northern Mexican taco made with stewed, slow-cooked meat, and served with a pot of consomme for dipping and, if you’re feeling particularly unctuous, slurping away like a little bowl of soup. Fittingly for a place with Birria written in enormous red writing on the wall outside, there are three permanent fixtures on the menu, and two of them are takes on the birria. Folks, the last few months of these food reviews have, apparently, all been leading towards these tacos.

The Traditional Birria (£13) is a blend of lamb and goat, and the flavour profile here is ‘hilariously meaty’. This thing is absolutely loaded with shreds of meat, topped with coriander and white onion, and served with a griddled chilli pepper that doesn’t seem super spicy to begin with but believe us when we say it will get you. Give your tacos a dip in the dark, oniony and super savoury consomme and things go up another notch. The Beef Birria (£12) is the juicier of the two, a little richer and heavier. The Traditional is more flecked and mellow; it has a fattiness but without the unctuousness of the Beef, if you see what we mean. If nothing else, it’s the mark of a kitchen that knows their business when two dishes that are functionally very similar provoke a small argument about their differences and which one is more excellent.

Birria Shop strikes as a passion project – from the lovely homespun decor to the deliberately truncated menu, this is a place that has a plan and is sticking to it. That plan: brilliant, simple, delicious and (crucially) very specific tacos, and the pursuit of getting those one or two dishes just right. Judging by the chaotic crowd coming and going as we chomp away at six o'clock on a Friday evening, we think they might be onto something.

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Birria Shop, 632 Cathcart Rd, Glasgow G42 8AA
Thu-Sun, 12-10pm
@birria_shop on Instagram