Blind boxes are all the rage right now so why not for food, or in this case tacos? After all, part of the fun is the thrill of not knowing what you’re going to get.
At hawker stall Taco Liberation Co, which opened at Amoy Street Food Centre on December 6, there’s no menu or food photos, just an illustration of a taco and a sign that spells it out plainly: “I cook what, you eat what.”
The joint offers three meat tacos (two chicken, one pork) and three veggie options. The fillings change weekly, sometimes sooner if a batch runs out.
Ordering is refreshingly old-school: you pick a combo on a cai png-style price list (the two-meat + one-veg option, for example, costs $8.90) and wait to see what lands on your plate.
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Girlfriend worked at one Michelin-starred Candlenut restaurant
Behind the stall are Ong Ziqi, who prefers to be known as Z, 37, and his girlfriend Veronica Liew, 30. Both trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore, where they met.
After graduating in 2018, Veronica spent five years at Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant Candlenut, starting in the hot kitchen before switching to pastry. She later joined Mondrian hotel as a pastry chef but left in 2024 to take a long break due to health issues.
Z’s path was less conventional. He began his culinary journey as a cook in the navy, spending five years preparing meals on board ships before enrolling in culinary school. After graduating, he worked across a mix of kitchen and management roles, including stints at Dempsey Cookhouse, pizza joint Yeast Side, and BreadTalk.
Taco Liberation Co began as Z’s home-based business in 2025, run out of his family home in Yew Tee, with Veronica joining in to help. The couple initially planned to operate from home for a year, but an opportunity to open at Amoy Street Food Centre came up and they decided to take the leap, investing around $20K to start the biz.
They will be reopening their home-based business soon, operating in the evenings and weekends, with prices about 25 per cent lower now that they source ingredients from commercial suppliers instead of supermarkets.
Fun Asian tacos like bak kut teh
Why tacos? Well, it made sense on both creative and practical fronts, says Z. They’re versatile, easy to assemble, and work well for delivery or takeaway. It also offered a way to break away from what he saw as the sameness of most taco menus.
“A lot of places sell tacos, but their fillings are mostly the same like carnitas,” he tells 8days.sg, referring to Mexican braised pork. Taco Liberation Co’s fillings lean more Asian and local. Some unique toppings they’ve offered include bak kut teh, chicken rice and kimchi pork.
“Occasionally we will offer Mexican flavours like pulled pork but most of the time it’s local or whatever ideas or inspiration we get.”
Spontaneity is the name of their game
Despite their professional training, the duo run the stall with a free-spirited, anything-goes approach. They don’t keep track of past offerings, don’t plan menus ahead or do R&D — only deciding what to cook when a filling is running out… and winging it.
Inspiration comes from supermarket shelves and supplier catalogues. “Last week, we had trouble figuring out what chicken dish to cook,” says Veronica. “Then we went to the supermarket, saw a bottle of hong zao (red glutinous wine lees), and thought why not make hong zao ji (chicken in red glutinous rice)? We had never made it before.”
“That’s why I’m not worried about people copying me because I don’t even know what I’m going to cook next,” Z quips.
“Because of our experience, we are able to come out with things on the spot and it will still taste nice.”
And if it doesn’t appeal to customers, they can easily pivot, like when they recently changed bolognese pork filling to kimchi pork.
“The [taste of] tomato sauce wasn’t very strong, so after selling it for two days, we changed it to kimchi pork,” shares Veronica, “a lot of people liked it.”
Think of this as omakase, but less pretentious
While it may look like they are riding on the blind box craze, the idea wasn’t about following the trend. The real reason, Veronica says, is simple: they didn’t want to cook the same thing every day.
“In the culinary world, constantly changing menus are often framed as omakase,” she explains. “But that sounded too pretentious, blind box felt more fun.”
For Z, the concept also mirrors his time as a navy cook. “When we were on a ship, it was the same thing — I cook what, you eat what,” he says.
Operationally, it makes sense too. Instead of prepping large quantities and hoping everything sells, the pair cook smaller batches, sell until they run out, and then move on to something new.
This appeals to the indecisive, adventurous, or those who simply don’t want to think about what to eat. This may explain why 70 to 80 per cent of their customers are guys.
“Women tend to know what they want and just go straight to the stall to order. But guys will walk around and decide what to eat. They’re also more easy going,” notes Veronica.
The menu (well, sort of)
Don’t expect a conventional menu here. Taco Liberation Co operates with a cai png-style ordering system.
“Think of this as cai png-style taco. You can just choose two veggie tacos, or one meat + one veg tacos,” says Veronica.
Prices start from $5.90 for two veggie tacos to three meat tacos for $9.90. Mixed options begin at $7.90 for one meat + one veggie. What you actually get is up to the chefs.
If you really want to know, they will at least tell you whether it’s chicken or pork. And when they’re not busy, they’ll even name the filling, which is what happened during our undercover visit.
There are a few constants, though. Each day’s spread includes three meat options — always two chicken and one pork — alongside three veggie fillings. They are topped with shredded lettuce, cheddar cheese and tomato and onion salsa, wrapped in a soft flour tortilla.
There’s no beef and seafood partly due to cost and allergy considerations. Common allergens like nuts are off the table, and dairy is limited to the cheddar topping. Spicy fillings are also avoided, though hot sauce is available on the side.
“Because our concept is blind box, we have to be very careful,” says Veronica.
Add-ons such as nacho chips, avocado and tiramisu are available from $1.
3 Meat Tacos, $9.90 (8 DAYS Pick!)
We went straight for the three meat tacos, which on our visit featured bulgogi chicken, pulled pork and hong zao ji (chicken in red glutinous rice).
Our favourite was the pulled pork (pictured above). The meat was tender and flavourful, with the sweetness and smokiness of BBQ sauce coming through clearly. It pairs well with the salsa, which cuts through the fattiness. The flour tortilla, torched for a subtle smoky flavour, is soft and light, and complements the fillings well.
The tacos are assembled generously, with fillings that threaten to spill out with every bite. It’s a little messy, but the stall provides gloves, so you can dig in without worry.
The umami bulgogi chicken was enjoyable too, while the hong zao ji — something we would never have ordered on our own due to the dish’s signature intimidating bright red colour — turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
This was a milder, more subtle take on the dish, without the overpowering wine flavour or the “scary” red hue we were expecting. The chicken was tender and aromatic, making it one of the more interesting bites of the set.
3 Veggie Tacos, $6.90
On our visit, the lineup included potato with spiced mayo, sautéed mushrooms, and chickpea salad.
The standout was the potato (pictured above). Deep-fried potato cubes dressed in a spiced mayo that brought to mind Chinese BBQ skewers but without the cumin-heavy punch. Very moreish.
The chickpea salad was the most unexpected. Made with chickpeas, olives and cranberries, and gherkins, it delivered a pleasing mix of sweet and savoury, resulting in a flavour profile that felt almost Mediterranean — a refreshing contrast to the richer meat tacos.
The sautéed mushroom taco, featuring shiitake, shimeji and oyster mushrooms stir-fried in a soy sauce blend, tasted familiar and homely. Despite being vegetarian, the veggie tacos were pretty filling and held up well alongside the meat tacos.
Nacho Chips & Cheese, $2.50
The chips are made in-house by frying cut-up corn tortillas, then lightly salted, topped with salsa and bottled cheese sauce. While they’re a healthier alternative to store-bought nachos, the chips taste a little bland on their own. It’s nothing particularly memorable, but works fine as a side if you want something extra to nibble on alongside the tacos.
Tiramisu, $4 (single scoop)
The tiramisu is a nice bonus if you’re craving something sweet after the tacos. Made in-house, the dessert is creamy and smooth, with a good hit of coffee flavour. Also available at $13 for a box (around 230g).
Bottom line
Not your typical tacos, but that’s precisely why we like it. We leaned towards the meat options, but the veggie ones were enjoyable in their own right. The blind box concept adds an element of fun, especially for the indecisive or adventurous, and unless you come on consecutive days, you’re almost guaranteed something different each time. That said, if you like knowing exactly what you’re ordering, this might not be the stall for you.
Taco Liberation Co is #02-117, Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Rd, S069111. Opens daily Mon-Fri, 11am to 2.30pm. Closed on Sat & Sun. More info via Instagram.
Photos: Dillon Tan
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