There’s something we need to taco ‘bout. Canchita Peruvian Cuisine restaurant at Dempsey is holding a month-long cross-cultural taco party. Its premise, it seems, is that the taco is the white T-shirt of the food world: Everyone has a version of it, it’s the perfect blank canvas, and no one has ever met a taco they didn’t like.

Four acclaimed, Singapore-based chef pals of Canchita’s owners Daniel and Tamara Chavez have been roped in to put their own unique spins on the taco: Han Liguang of one Michelin-starred mod Singaporean restaurant Labyrinth, Dave Pynt (pictured above) of one Michelin-starred barbecue restaurant Burnt Ends, Mano Thevar of two Michelin-starred contemporary Indian restaurant Thevar and Kenjiro Hashida of Japanese restaurant Hashida.

And they’re relishing the chance to sneak out from fine-dining for a bit, let their hair down and get messy with the guac – figuratively speaking.

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

Dave Pynt’s Beef Birria marinated in herbs and spices. (Photo: Canchita)

Each guest chef’s gourmet spin on taco $14, available till Sept 30

From Sept 4 to 30, one of their creations will be available each week: Han’s prata taco stuffed lamb; Hashida’s wagyu tenderloin with chocolate, red miso, chilli and coriander; Pynt’s Beef Birria marinated in herbs and spices, with Burnt Ends’ signature Hot Sauce; and Thevar’s lamb leg taco.

The fact is that although tacos, thosai and tempura come from opposite ends of the globe, they can be friends.

Chef LG Han of Labyrinth with his tacos. (Photo: Canchita)

Chef Han of restaurant Labyrinth offers prata tacos 

Finding a link between Mexican and local food, Han, who champions Singapore cuisine at Labyrinth, shared how prata inspired his taco dish. “My favourite prata is the plaster prata with egg on top. And I like to put chicken curry on top of it, and fold it up and eat it – a bit like a taco! It’s a little habit of mine."

Prata inspired tacos from Chef LG Han of Labyrinth. (Photo: Canchita)

That’s why he decided to do "a marinated lamb neck with curry and egg and cheese and a bit of tomato paste on a prata – "basically, every single thing I like in one dish. It's a dish created for full-on flavour. Greasy, delicious”.

Chef Mano Thevar

Lamb leg tacos served by chef Mano of Restaurant Thevar  

Mano, who goes big on dishes that pack a punch at Thevar, drew some specific similarities between Mexican food and the food of our region.

Thevar's lamb leg taco. (Photo: Canchita)

“Having explored Mexican tacos and Asian cuisines, especially Indian and local flavours, I've noticed the shared emphasis on bold flavours using spices and fresh ingredients. Tacos' mix of textures mirrors Asian dishes' interplay of elements like crispy and saucy components. This inspired me to create fusion dishes, like infusing Indian spices into Mexican tacos or using Asian sauces in taco creations,” said the Penang-born chef.

Chef Kenjiro Hashida with his tacos (Photo: Canchita)

Chef Hashida creates wagyu tenderloin with ‘soba taco’

Hashida said he toyed with ideas like building a taco of beef sukiyaki, tempura or sashimi. “As you know, Mexican cuisine is far from Japanese cuisine,” he said, but the ingredients used can be connected.  

“Whenever I create a new dish, I think, ‘How can I make this fun for the customer?’” he shared. So, he went with a beef taco that’s “simple enough for a house party”, but made his taco skins out of soba.

Hashida’s wagyu tenderloin with chocolate, red miso, chilli and coriander. (Photo: Canchita)

His first inspiration, however, was chocolate. “You can get chocolate everywhere – but it originated in Mexico,” he said. He then decided to add red miso, because “I made an oyster miso pot before, with red miso and chocolate, and it’s a very good combination.”

No matter the taco, the chefs said the best part is that they had had a ball of a time creating their dishes. Aren’t tacos, after all, inherently fun? They just “make people happy”, as Han said.

“In a fine-dining restaurant, sometimes, we are a bit too serious,” he quipped. “The fun part of this event is having the absolute freedom to do what we want that best represents ourselves.”

Pynt echoed the sentiment: "Tacos are a fun, light and creative dish with millions of variations that can be made to suit any palate, culture or kid!"

Canchita Peruvian Cuisine is at 9A Dempsey Rd, Tel: 8028 1994. More info via website. Each chef’s tacos ($14 each) are available on these dates:

Sep 4 to 10: Thevar
Sep 11 to 17: Hashida
Sep 18 to 24: Labyrinth
Sep 25 to 30: Burnt Ends 

The original version of this story first appeared in CNA Lifestyle.

For more CNA Lifestyle stories, visit https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/