So there we were. Richard and I. On our first day out in Puerto Vallarta. And just two days after I’d written about hard shell tacos on my website.

Puerto Vallarta is in Jalisco and, when in Jalisco, your first breakfast must be birria. Off to the backstreets and at the corner of Francisco J Madero and Constitucíon (thank you PV for not updating your street signage), we spotted a legendary looking stand. It took a bit of shuffling to nab a couple of plastic tools. But we were soon bums down and ordering.

I like my juice on the side (with a sprinkle of oregano) when I have birria so I ordered a separate cup of consome and some tacos.

“Dorado or suave?”, said the server.

“Dorado”, I replied, thinking I’ve only ever heard that word used to describe hard shell tacos. But never had I been asked if I wanted “dorado” at a taco stand before. Were these really going to be hard shell tacos?

The plastic plates, covered, of course, in plastic bags, arrived and there were these gloriously golden, crispy and crunchy, burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth half moons.

The filling of melt-in-your-mouth beef was generous and juicy.

I told the chef how “muy rico” her taco shells were and she told me they were deep fried in lard.

Two hours and two Diet Cokes later, the fine taste of the grease still coats my mouth. We have plans to return for her “aún más sabroso menudo”.