From a Night Market Stand to a Taipei Icon, a collection of awards and press for over 20 years in the Mexican Restaurant business!
The 500 Dishes Award
The 500 dishes award is awarded to restaurants in Taiwan for having a particular great dish!
We at Eddy’s Cantina were very happy to recieve this award for our Carnitas Enchiladas. Our Enchiladas are a unique story as when we had our first restaurant in Tamsui, they were the most requested item.
The recipe is an original Eddy recipe, combining Mama Gonzalez’ classic enchiladas, with the ingredients available in Taiwan, try them out!
Check out the list of all the dishes on the 2025 T
op 500 dishes in Taiwan!
Taipei Restaurant – Authentic Mexican Food in Tianmu: Eddy’s Cantina Celebrates Local Ingredients by Eating in Taipei
EatinginTaipei.com is an awesome English blog where they visit some of the best restaurants in Taiwan, check out the article below to check out their visit to Eddy’s Cantina
[食記][台北市] Eddy’s Cantina 艾迪墨西哥餐廳 — 天母高人氣墨西哥餐廳，道地墨西哥塔可、捲餅等多道料理。。
FamilyMart “FamiFun” Magazine (January 2009) Issue: Vol. 05 | Theme: New Year’s Carnival
The FamiFun magazine was the go to magazine in 2009. At this point in time we were still in Tamsui and we loved being there. You can see that we still used the green IKEA plates as we wanted to be different and unique. The decorations in the pics were provided by my family
“A passionate little restaurant born from football coach Eddy’s desire to fulfill his wife Jo’s dream of opening a restaurant. Upon arriving here, you can still see the food cart that originally sold burritos on Tamsui Old Street, a testament to the good reputation and long queues from that time.
Located on the 2nd floor, the shop faces the Tamsui River and has only 35 seats… Chef Eddy’s specialty dishes are Mexican home cooking inherited from his mother and grandmother. Centered around tortillas, he introduces an ever-changing variety of flavorful dishes… Recreating the hometown flavors of his grandmother’s recipes—it is worth a taste!”
Kadokawa “I Love Delicious Restaurants” (2009 Guide)
The iconic Taipei Walker Magazine in Taiwan approcahed us in 2009 to do a Restaurant story with Eddy’s Cantina. They had just launched a restaurant specific magazine called “I love Restaurant” so of course we were in. I asked if I was gonna get the chance to meet Rainie Yang 楊丞琳, i’m still waiting for that intro. Anyways, this was a great shoot and I wanted to share it with you.
“Boss Eddy loves the river view and the leisurely pace of Tamsui. It was also because of playing and coaching football, and establishing his own football school, that this destiny was tied in a small town in Argentina.
To fulfill his wife’s dream of opening a restaurant, the couple first set up a stall on Tamsui Old Street. Beyond mastering the authentic taste of Mexican burritos, he is now serving up the home-style recipes he grew up eating—memories from his mother and grandmother.
The tortillas in the store are all handmade by Eddy every morning; he kneads the dough balls one by one and bakes them fresh only when customers order. In Eddy’s own recipes, the flavors are mostly non-spicy or mild. As for customers who love spice, adding some homemade Mexican hot sauce will definitely make them shout with satisfaction!”
Taipei Walker (November 2008) Issue: No. 139 | Section: Brunch & Exotic Cuisine
Our first chance breaking into te magazine scene in Taiwan. Taipei Walker is one of the best local magazines for catching local news about food and entertainment.
We miss the days of magazines coming in and interviewing us then waiting in anticipation of the article. Nowadays its mostly blogs, vlogs and YouTube.
The Story:
“Eddy, who comes from Mexico… established his own football school while playing and coaching… To fulfill his wife’s restaurant dream, the couple first set up a stall on Tamsui Old Street. Relying on the customer base built over 9 months, they created long queues… This July (2008) they expanded into a storefront operation.”
The Food:
“Although ready-made tortillas are sold everywhere, in order to let everyone eat healthily, Eddy insists on making them by hand every morning. Kneading them into dough balls one by one, he makes them fresh when customers order.”
Taipei Times (November 2008)
This is the definitive English-language review from our first year in the Tamsui storefront. It captures the exact moment we moved from the “night market” stand to the restaurant.
For us this was an epic moment because the stand “Eddy Burrito” was an experiment. Eddy and Jo had just gotten married and instead of a big wedding, we opted to try our luck selling Mexican food in Taiwan. We moved from the stand to a small restaurant up the street in Tamsui. It was a very epic decision.
Centered on Taipei (Community Center Magazine) (2009)
This feature in the Community Center’s magazine gave the expat community a detailed look at our operations. It’s a rare record that mentions our original street stall name (“Eddy Burrito”) and our very first attempts at island-wide delivery.
Written by Scott Freiberger, a successful author whom used to live in Taiwan, we were honored to be mentioned in our 1st English Article at the time.
After hustling for a year on Danshui Old Street (淡水老街), Eddy and wife Jo Gonzalez, founders of Eddy Burrito (艾迪墨西哥捲餅), established a sizable following of both local Taiwanese and international customers. (“I’d originally praised this dynamic duo’s mouth-watering culinary creations in a blog post.”) Business grew to the extent that the couple decided to expand their stand offerings and open Eddy’s Cantina (艾迪墨西哥餐廳), an enticing Mexican bar and café a ten-minute walk from Danshui Station.
Jo’s disarming smile and warm greeting immediately puts customers at ease, as does the enticing aroma of the delectable Mexican dishes to come. Prices are reasonable, and all food is made immediately after being ordered.
“All food is prepared fresh and is not only homemade, but it’s also handmade,” commented Jo. “We work hard to ensure that our customers feel relaxed and are satisfied with their meals.”
Indeed, if you’ve ever visited a quaint, tranquil Mexican town, you’ll appreciate the new Eddy’s Cantina décor. The restaurant, patriotically painted bright green, red and white, boasts a full bar, spacious seating, live football (soccer) via satellite and leg room to relax.
Ed employs considerable effort to ensure that his family recipes remain authentic and his cultural heritage is preserved; therefore, as impressive as the dishes are the historic photos of the Mexican revolution, magnificent Mexican flags and traditional memorabilia that line the walls. Starting in the summer of 2009, patrons may also dine up on the third floor, with its beckoning balcony barbeque and glorious green garden that will include, of all things, home-grown jalapeño and habanero pepper plants! That’s right, to ensure his fresh food tastes fantastic, Ed plans to grow the world’s hottest pepper at his new Danshui restaurant (food can also be ordered not spicy). Due to growing demand, Eddy’s Cantina is now open seven days a week and offers sumptuous sauces starting from NT $250.
Experience a mouth-watering array of burritos including carne pollo (grilled chicken) (NT $150), carnitas (braised or roasted pork) (NT $160), or vegetarian (NT $140). Eddy’s fantastic fare also includes classic quesadillas, from cheese (NT $110) to carne asada (grilled steak) (NT $140). Also on the menu are terrific chicken tacos (NT $150), fantastic fajitas (NT $155), and choice chimichangas (NT $155 to 195), burritos filled with beans, rice, cheese, ground beef and shredded meat. Wash it all down with a variety of smoothies (NT $120) or a horchata, by glass or pitcher (NT $80/280), a Mexican-style milk tea bursting with rice, cinnamon and vanilla flavor. Set meals are available, and afternoon or evening adventurers could easily mix it up and try native nachos (NT $200) or chips and salsa (NT $100).
Delectable desserts include tortilla dolce (NT $100), ice cream topped with a smattering of sugar and chocolate sauce, or, for those that crave something unique and sinfully sweet, the author recommends Papas Burro de Cajeta (NT $170); Ed draws his inspiration from his father, who slowly savored the cajeta, or Mexican caramel-lined tortilla, stuffed with walnuts, chocolate chips and ice cream, a perfectly delicious dessert for a devilish date night out!
Eddy’s Cantina offers a wide selection of beers, ales and specialty drinks, such as margaritas by glass or pitcher (NT $150/1000), tequila shots (NT $90), Tequila Sunrise (NT $150) and Sombreros (NT $150) (Kahlúa and milk, not the huge hatted lids bedecking the walls). Local patrons are also pleased to find a hearty lunch menu consisting of Mexican rice and salad bowls starting at only NT $99.
“Although we built up a sizable following and worked hard to establish ourselves, we were somewhat limited in the dishes we could offer our customers at our Old Street stand,” commented Ed. “We continue to make everything fresh as soon as an order is placed; however, we’re excited that the new, larger location gives customers a wider variety of authentic Mexican dishes, as well as a relaxing environment in which to chill.”
“These well-honed family recipes have been passed down from generation to generation in the Gonzalez-Navarro family,” added Ed.
For a brief respite from the urban trappings of Taipei, take the MRT red line, depart at Danshui (淡水) and head up the hill to the intersection of Zhongshan North Road (台北縣淡水鎮中山北路) and Isongian Street (重建街) to experience an authentic taste of Mexico.
Eddy’s Cantina now offers an event catering service; in addition, aficionados around the island could also order up to twenty ambrosial burritos via a unique “freeze-and-deliver” 7-Eleven delivery service to experience Eddy’s well-seasoned Mexican food (add NT $150 for shipping). Your taste buds won’t be disappointed.
The Epic beginning of Eddy’s Cantina and Eddy Burrito
With a pocket full of cash from teaching English and coaching soccer, this newlywed couple Eddy Gonzalez and Jo Tzen were walking down Old Street in Tamsui, wishing there was Mexican or more exotic food. Actually, Jo’s dream was to open a coffee shop and because Eddy, although he enjoyed the occasional cup of coffee, didnt want to feel like an artificial coffee professional. So after discussion Eddy Burrito was born, the rest is history and here is the first article we ever had!