Mexican food van, The Bearded Taco, run by husband and wife duo Sian Miguel and Jake Barhram burst onto the Cardiff and south Wales street food scene seven years ago and have been impressing customers ever since. Selling fusion Mexican tacos The Bearded Taco is now settling down in Cardiff Market.
Opening on Saturday, February 4, Cardiff residents and visitors will be a treated to new lunch stop as The Bearded Taco open its first permanent base. We caught up with Sian to hear all about The Bearded Taco's success story so far.
Working with her husband Jake, who is the beard behind the taco, they started in their food truck touring their incredible Mexican food. Sian and Jake met while they were both travelling and teaching in South Korea, Sian is from Cardiff, and Jake is from California.
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They both decided to return to Wales and start their own business. Sian said: “We just didn’t want to work for anyone else anymore, we were passionate about food and travel and wanted to combine those things and the food truck just made perfect sense.”
There was never any doubt about what type of food they would serve as Jake grew up in California and became very familiar with Mexican food, especially tacos. Sian explained: "It was never a question of what we would do...it was always going to be tacos...a lot of people didn’t even know what tacos were…we’ve come a long way since then.”
As one of the original businesses of the quickly growing Cardiff and south Wales street food scene, The Bearded Taco joined the likes of Hang Fire Barbecue and Brother Thai. Sian and Jake have kept these early friendships strong and Sian described the foodie scene as "lush".
She said: “It is just lush. We have really good friends that we have made through working in the industry…it really is such a camaraderie...everybody always helps each other all the time…we get together, we help each other out, it is a really good friendly scene”
Soon The Bearded Taco began to get recognised for their amazing food and in 2022 became Welsh Street Champions in the Welsh Street Food Awards. They have also won the 2022 Best Vegetarian Dish at the British Street Food Awards.
Sian described winning the awards as a "big moment", she said: “That was a big moment for us. We’ve never entered before because we are not big on competing…it was an amazing accolade and made us feel really like ‘people do like it!’”
Another highlight of the business is the support they receive from customers with many Cardiffians welcoming their arrival in Cardiff Market. Sian spoke about how much setting up roots in Cardiff Market meant to them, she said: "Cardiff Market is an institution, I love Cardiff Market, I love that it is really growing now...there is lots of great street food there but it's still keeping a lot of its original traders…it is a real heart of Cardiff and a really great thing to be a part of.”
The Bearded Taco will be open in Cardiff Market from Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to roughly 3.30pm. They are aiming to serve more traditional Mexican tacos at Cardiff Market but customers will recognise some of their dishes.
Sian and Jake will still be running The Bearded Taco food van, appearing at some food festivals and private bookings. Their business is such a success from years of working together.
Sian said: “It is just really wonderful because we share a lot of the same passions when it comes to food.” and described their three-year-old son Llewyn as a "festival baby" who "loves tacos". She said: “It is great to be able to share that as a family, it has been really lovely.”
Looking forward The Bearded Taco has a cost of living crisis to face and although Sian described this as a "worry" she is very hopeful the business will continue to thrive. Sian said: "We just went through a pandemic and we managed to make it through that! We are hoping it will be the same."
The Bearded Taco has built an incredible business and become an institution of the Cardiff and south Wales street food scene. They will make a fab addition to Cardiff Market with their stall opening on Saturday, February 4 just in time for the Six Nations.
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