
I am not a particular efficiando of Mexican food, having never been to Mexico. I have heard tell (from reliable sources) that your common or garden road side shack in Mexico tends to beats the socks off anything the UK can offer and whilst I suspect this is true, I have no reference points there or here to make such a comparison. All I can thus do is eat the stuff offered over here and see if I like it.
I do, however, have little truck with people who claim somewhere or other is where to go to get the most authentic [Mexican] food this side of [Oaxaca] I mean how on earth would you know and, to be honest, I very much doubt it would be in South Wales. I suppose a Mexican could tell you, but based on the distribution of Mexicans around the globe (apparently there are 16,000 Mexicans in the UK, of whom 196 live in Wales based on ONS stats – will be revised up to 28 million next month based on a rounding error mind) good luck meeting one in the UK as they make up a mere 0.0002% of the overall population and 0.00006% of the Welsh population.
To be honest I only really care (as long as it is worded properly – don’t call it something when it is no such thing) if it is nice and I am generally more than happy with inauthentic as long as it doesn’t pretend it is authentic (an Itsamaaaaazingram “Let me take you to [add place]’s most authenic Italian restaurant where we had insanely good spaghetti bolognese [mince rather the tuna one], chicken parmigiana, garlic bread and pepperoni pizza that was to die for. It was just like being magically transported to Bolgna!!!” Editor : No, it really wasn’t).
Much like the Americanisation of Italian food, Mexican food has in many instances morphed into Tex Mex with the likes of chilli con carne and hard shells tacos (beloved in the UK, but not really Mexican).
Notwithstanding the seeming lack of Mexicans and the UK’s love of Tex Mex, over the last few years the Mexican staple that is the soft shell taco offering in South Wales seems to have upped its game, with the likes of the Babhaus, the Bearded Taco and El Cabron Tacos. It was the latter I found myself in on a Friday lunchtime in Pontyclun for a long postponed catch up with J.
The menu is short and to the point

with 3 breakfast and 5 lunch items.
With the title of the post it was always going to be the birria, but to add cheese or not to it was the ‘quesotion“.
With two of us, we decided to share and went for the quesabirria (£12) and the carnitas tacos (£11). J, entirely unnecessarily, decided to add tortilla chips
Pretty quick turnaround, with the quesabirria arriving first.

Very nice cheese crust on the taco, with the birria interior nicely tender, rich and well flavoured. Touch of heat and spice, with the predominate flavour profile being umami.

A squeeze of lime add a welcome touch of acidity and a side sala a touch more heat. Tasty, but quite tricky to eat with it being blisteringly hot with a lot of drippage
Next to arrive were a duo of the carnitas tacos

Nice touch of crisp to the meat, with a citrus zing running thought it. Fresh white onions adding a welcome textural contrast, as well as acidity, and slices of radish a pleasing pepperiness. Fresh herbs and a good guacamole added nicely to the mix, with a squeeze of lime lifting it all.
On balance I preferred these to the quesabirria, with just a bit more going on.
We had, from the off, decided to also order some nachos. Whilst I favoured a basic bitch approach (just adding a salsa), J wanted a fully (and I mean fully, fully) loaded approach. We, of course, compromised by J getting exactly what she wanted with an everybody in the pool level of extras (cheese crust, guac., salsa and chicken).

I shan’t give you an arthouse You Tube video piece called “Gurning imbecile, with cheese pull” (because I am not a twat, well not a total one) but off camera the pull from the cheese crust was impressively beard unfriendly. I enjoyed these with a good quality guac and the pollo asado having a nice level of smokiness and spice, all lifted by citrus. My only real quibble were a couple of rogue stale nachos in the mix.
J proclaimed it a bargain at £8 before I pointed out that that was the price of the topping with just another £6 to add for the basic nachos (so an not inconsiderable £14 in total).
They have a nice selection of condiments, which seemed to be graded in terms of heat by colour. The nigh on black (black cap front and right in picture) looked positively intimidating/volcanic so we steered clear and went for the Tapatio hot sauce (American, from California, rather than Mexican)

which had a nice level of tangy heat without putting on the after burners.
On the drinks front they have booze, with beers such as Modelo, as well as hot drinks.

I was driving so no booze and, in any event, I think with tacos a jarrito (Mexicos most famous soft drink producer) is pretty much mandatory. I spied a few flavours, but not my favoured tamarind (may well have been in there, if I had looked properly). I, therefore, decided to try a new one for me in the form of guava.

A lurid pink (barbie) colour, it combined sweetness with tartness and had a touch of strawberry flavour wise. Very refreshing and it worked well with the medium spice levels of the food.
The verdict
I have no idea if El Cabron’s tacos etc. are authentic or how they compare to those in Mexico, but I enjoyed what I ate there.
Food wise, good flavours and decent portion sizes tend to make me happy and that is exactly what El Cabron Tacos delivers.
On a side note, Pontyclun seems to have an interesting food scene with us noticing a couple of tap houses and numerous nice looking cafes on our way in to El Cabron. The free parking (take note Cardiff City Council – a measely free 30 mins in not enough for hospitality) a short walk from El Cabron was a real boon in terms of visiting the place.
The details
Address: Uned b, Heol Yr Orsaf, Pontyclun CF72 9TY
Website: https://www.elcabrontacos.wales/home