SA Weekend restaurant review — Masa at Bowden Brewing taking handmade tacos to the Mex level
What’s better than craft beer? Craft beer and delicious tacos, of course. And the handmade tacos at this trendy Mexican spot are next level, writes Simon Wilkinson.
SA Weekend
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Here’s something you won’t see at your run-of-the-mill restaurant or bar. We’re midway through a batch of next-level tacos at Mexican eatery Masa when a bloke walks in lugging one of those glass flagons known as a growler. He has a chat, orders a refill of his favourite ale, and takes it home.
It’s only six months since Masa opened as the food match to the craft beers of Bowden Brewing and it seems both are very much part of life in the surrounding community.
And what an appealing community Bowden looks like.
On a warm but windy Wednesday evening, a time when most Adelaide suburbs would be empty, the parks and playgrounds here are full of strolling oldies, squealing kids and everything in between.
At the old Clipsal building Plant 4, people are picking up supplies from the collection of providores and eateries or filling the outside tables for family dinners.
Bowden Brewing is next door, taking up a substantial chunk of Plant 3, and its stainless-steel tanks, wire cages and gantries look right at home in the industrial setting.
Masa is melded seamlessly alongside, its open kitchen tucked next to the bar and a combination of booths and high share tables with stools across the front.
This symbiotic pair are the latest venture from the Big Easy Group, a crew of young hospitality entrepreneurs who seem to have packed into a few years what others achieve in a lifetime. One of the team, executive chef Harry Bourne, has put together the food for Masa, fashioning a menu that, on one level, is filled with the type of simple Mexican-leaning snacks you might think of when chugging a pint.
Dig deeper, however, and you will find the kind of labour-intensive kitchen commitment and skill-set normally associated with the world of fine dining. Take the $13 pork taco. Not only is Masa making tortillas, they are grinding their own corn from a supply of dried Australian kernels.
These are cooked, soaked overnight, processed and, finally, rolled and pressed by hand. The result is a flatbread of substance and soul. And the pork isn’t the usual pulled shoulder. Whole pigs’ heads are boiled in a huge pot for eight hours before the cheek, jowl, tongue and other bits are stripped away and moistened with the reduced stock. The finished taco has the meat, a roasted apple salsa and puffed pieces of crackling. Boom.
Less divisive perhaps is a taco filled with beer-battered Port Lincoln flathead, fermented cabbage and a green salsa of spring onion, jalapeño, lime and herbs.
Another veg-based option has chargrilled broccolini, smoked almonds, a chunky almond mole, pickled onions and smoked chipotle.
The standout, however, is the crisp tostada (a fried tortilla) loaded up with whipped avocado, chunks of gently poached king prawn meat, habanero hot sauce and a sprinkle of fermented chilli powder. The fried head stuck on top is there for more than its good looks.
Those with the stomach for such things will find it adds crunch and a turbo boost of crustacean funk that makes this snack one for a repeat order.
Larger plates include a slab of brisket that has been smoked for six hours and then cooked overnight. Even the most irascible of barbecue men from the Deep South would be impressed.
A charred wedge of cauliflower shows the kitchen isn’t above taking a shortcut where appropriate with the punchy coating based on a packet mix from Old El Paso. It works.
Churros also are given a twist with rye flour included in the mix. I’m not sure of the science in this but these cinnamon-dusted batons are the epitome of crisp and light.
Along with the next-level tacos and 14 beverages on tap, they make Masa a dangerously tempting package. Bowden beware.
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