Tacos in Halifax: Filipino Tacos at Barrios Kitchen & Bar
Barrios Kitchen & Bar in downtown Halifax serves five tacos from a Filipino kitchen. Sisig, beef, pulled pork, fish, and cauliflower bites, all in soft shells. At 1571 Barrington Street.
Barrios Restaurant & Bar
6/15/20265 min read
Tacos in Halifax
Barrios Kitchen & Bar at 1571 Barrington Street serves five tacos from our Filipino kitchen: sisig, beef, pulled pork, fish, and cauliflower bites. Every filling is made in-house. The sisig taco — crispy roasted pork with soy sauce and chili in a soft shell — was selected by Tasting Plates Food Tours for their Halifax Multicultural Taco Crawl. This post covers what is in each taco and what makes them taste the way they do.
How the Sisig taco started
Sisig was on our hot plates before it was ever in a taco shell. It has been on the Barrios menu from the beginning — crispy roasted pork, soy, chili, served sizzling with a side of garlic rice. When we looked at putting it in a shell, the reasoning was straightforward: sisig is already a dish you eat with your hands. The crispy pieces, the layered seasoning, the way the heat builds as you eat — all of it travels. The shell does not change what the dish is. It just changes how you hold it.
From there the rest of the taco lineup followed. The question for each filling was the same: can we make this properly in our kitchen, and does it belong in a shell? The answer had to come from the cooking, not from what a taco menu is supposed to look like.
The five tacos
Sisig Taco
Crispy chopped roasted pork, seasoned with soy sauce and chili pepper, in a soft taco shell.
Sisig is a traditional Filipino dish from the province of Pampanga. The pork is roasted until the outside builds a real crust, then chopped into small pieces so every bite carries the seasoning. The soy sauce goes in during cooking, not as a sauce on top. The chili heat is the same — baked into the pork rather than added at the end. What you get is a taco with crunch, layered heat, and a savory depth from the roasting. No cheese, no crema, nothing borrowed from another tradition.
Tasting Plates Food Tours — a curated food crawl that runs across Canada and the United States — chose this one for their Halifax Multicultural Taco Crawl. We are proud of that, and we think the taco makes the case every time it goes out.
Order the sisig taco at barrioshfx.ca/delivery.
Beef Taco
Tender slow-roasted beef, garlic aioli, crispy jalapeños, and fresh pico de gallo in a soft shell.
The beef is slow-roasted so it stays tender. The jalapeños are crispy, not pickled — that changes both the texture and how the heat lands. Crispy jalapeños have a clean bite to them. The garlic aioli adds richness without making the taco heavy, and the fresh pico cuts through it.
Pulled Pork Taco
Slow-cooked pork confit, BBQ sauce, mayo, pico de gallo, and crispy onions in a soft shell.
Pork confit means the pork cooks slowly in its own fat at low heat, which gives you meat that is deeply tender and still moist. The BBQ sauce brings sweetness, the pico de gallo brings acid, and the crispy onions on top bring back the crunch that the soft filling does not have on its own. This is the taco with the most going on. It rewards a big first bite.
Fish Taco
Beer-battered haddock, fresh pico de gallo, and chipotle mayo in a soft shell.
We use haddock because it stays firm inside a crisp batter and holds its texture from first bite to last. The batter is light and crunchy rather than thick. The pico brings freshness. The chipotle mayo adds smoky heat that stays with you after the bite.
Cauliflower Bites Taco
Crispy cauliflower bites, fresh pico de gallo, and chipotle mayo in a soft shell. Our meat-free option. The cauliflower is properly crispy — it earns its place on the menu the same way the other fillings do. Worth ordering alongside a meat taco, not just instead of one.
Tacos are available to eat in, for takeout, and through delivery on Uber Eats and DoorDash.
What to order first
If it is your first visit, start with the sisig taco. It is the one most specific to this kitchen, and it gives you the clearest read on what Filipino seasoning does.
From there, the fish and the beef are the most different from each other — the fish is lighter and brighter, the beef is richer and more layered. Ordering those three covers the range of the menu. If you are at a table with others, order one of each and pass them around. That is how we think about most of the food here.
Kitchen recommendation: the sisig taco pairs well with a cold beers or one of our house cocktails. Ask the server what is on tap.
Alongside the full Barrios menu
The tacos sit next to everything else we make — kare-kare, crispy pata, pancit guisado, lechon kawali. You can order a sisig taco and a plate of crispy pata at the same table. They are coming out of the same kitchen, made by the same Filipino chefs.
If you are new to Filipino food, the taco menu is a good entry point. The portions are smaller than the main plates and the flavours are direct. But the full menu is worth exploring, and the tacos are a reason to come back.
Explore the full menu at barrioshfx.ca/menu.
FAQ
What tacos does Barrios serve in Halifax? Five tacos: sisig (crispy roasted pork with soy sauce and chili), slow-roasted beef with garlic aioli and crispy jalapeños, pulled pork confit with BBQ sauce and crispy onions, beer-battered haddock with chipotle mayo, and crispy cauliflower bites. All in soft shells.
What is sisig? A traditional Filipino dish from the province of Pampanga. Pork is roasted until the outside crisps, then chopped small and seasoned with soy sauce and chili pepper. At Barrios it is made the same way it has always been — the taco shell is just how we serve it here.
Is the sisig taco spicy? It has heat from the chili, which is built into the seasoning during cooking. The heat builds as you eat rather than hitting all at once. Let your server know if you are sensitive to spice.
Is there a vegetarian taco option? The cauliflower bites taco is our meat-free option — crispy cauliflower in a soft shell, on the menu every day.
Can I get the tacos for takeout or delivery? Yes. Takeout from the counter at 1571 Barrington Street, or delivery through Uber Eats and DoorDash.
What should I order if it is my first visit? Start with the sisig taco. Add the fish or beef taco for contrast. If you are with a group, order one of each and pass them around.
Key Takeaways
Barrios serves five tacos in downtown Halifax: sisig, beef, pulled pork, fish, and cauliflower bites, all in soft shells, all made in-house.
The sisig taco is built on a Filipino technique — roasted pork, chopped fine, seasoned with soy sauce and chili. Sisig is a traditional dish we have always made; the taco shell is simply how we serve it here.
Tasting Plates Food Tours selected the Barrios sisig taco for their Halifax Multicultural Taco Crawl, choosing it from every taco available in the city.
First-timers: start with the sisig taco. The fish and beef are the most different from each other if you want to try more than one.
The tacos sit alongside the full Filipino menu: kare-kare, crispy pata, pancit guisado, lechon kawali, and more.