Mexican Revolution

Joe Warwick

FOOD hacks and restaurant writers with bills to pay are often asked to throw together lists for magazines that promise to tell us what we’ll all be eating next year and - most of the time - not being equipped with a time machine or a crystal ball they miss the mark. In recent years I've snorted derisively as I've read about the unstoppable rise of Brazilian or Korean food based purely on a new opening with an expensive interior and a photogenic chef.  The thing about real restaurant trends – and by a real trend I mean something that makes a lasting impression on how, what or where we eat as opposed to faddish flash-in-the-pan here-today-gone-tomorrow novelties - is that they're slow-burners. The ostensibly recent Mexican restaurant uprising in London is a case in point - it hasn’t come from nowhere - and what we're seeing now is the tipping point of a trend that began several years ago with a handful of hardworking pioneers that knew Mexican food could be delicious. For a long time we didn't really get along with Mexican food in the UK - for many of the same reasons Americans don't really get on with Indian cooking - a lack of geographical and cultural proximity meant we had so little of it, what we did have really wasn’t very good and so as a result we didn’t understand it.

For a long time what we were sold as Mexican food was actually low-rent Tex-Mex in 'Mexican' themed bars, a bastardised mix of American and Mexican that often translated to piss poor chilli, disappointing fajitas and nachos smothered in cheap cheese and sour cream.

Not so the new wave of Mexican restaurants that have returned to Mexico for inspiration and deliver affordable food that is light, fresh and healthy and not just something to mindlessly soak up beer garnished with lime or shots of tequila.

London's not yet ready for an upmarket Mexican restaurant and Mexican food - or at least the sort of Mexican food we currently have in London - suits an informal setting. Accordingly the restaurants recommended below run the gamut from relaxed casual to takeaway shacks but please don’t let that put you off.

Where to eat Mexican in London

El Camino
The latest to join Notting Hill's unexplained Mexican quadrangle is El Camino, which calls itself a 'Fresh Mexican Grill'. Unpromisingly tucked under the Westway on Portobello Road, it's the brainchild of Sage Conran, Ned 'Youngest son of Terence' Conran's Californian wife. Charmingly chaotic, its modestly priced quesadillas, tacos and burritos deliver.   
272 Portobello Road, London, W10 5TY
T: 020 8960 8556. 

Daddy Donkey
From humble origins trading off of a wooden barrow, the lunchtime-only Daddy Donkey today operates from a 'burro-mobile' located in Leather Lane market and serves fresh burritos, tacos and salads and is as much fun as you'd expect from somewhere that describes itself as a 'Kick-ass Mexican Grill'.
Pitches 100-101, Leather Lane Market, London EC1N 7TE
www.daddydonkey.co.uk

Wahaca
Since winning Masterchef Thomasina Miers has become a poster-girl for Mexican food in the UK. Wahaca on which she oversees the menu describes itself as 'Mexican market eating' and certainly there's more to the menu here than just the usual burritos and tacos. Some find their no-reservations policy irksome but queues at peak times tend to move swiftly. Following the original Covent Garden branch, a second Wahaca has opened in Westfield in West London with a third branch - in Canary Wharf - on the way.  
www.wahaca.co.uk

Chilango
Cleverly branded takeaway focussed operation that describes itself as a 'Fresh Mexican Kitchen' and has a simple menu built around tacos and burritos. Looks set to expand to beyond the two branches it has opened in last year in Fleet Street, Holborn and Islington's Upper Street.
www.chilango.co.uk

Taqueria
Opened in 2005, Taqueria predates the current Mexican wave and with its 7-day-a-week all-day opening, corn tortilla machine, extensive beer, tequila list and agues frescas - it's as close to an authentic Mexican taqueria as London is as ever likely to get.     

139-143 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2RS
www.taqueria.co.uk

Crazy Homies
This pioneering, packed, quirkily decorated evening-only noisy Notting Hill Mexican-styled annexe to Tom Conran's Lucky 7 is painfully popular with American bankers who, whatever their faults, know their tequilas and tacos. The ground floor is atmospheric or claustrophobic - depending on whether you have personal space issues - and it fills up early. The more spacious basement is supposedly open most evenings from 7pm - the whims of the management notwithstanding. But there’s no faulting the cocktails or the well-put together menu of gentrified Mexican staples made with quality ingredients - except perhaps that they don't come cheap.    
www.crazyhomieslondon.co.uk

Santo
Another Notting Hill joint, this is a much more polished affair than its neighbours and - uniquely - is actually owned and run by Mexicans - brothers Fernando and Carlos De La Cruz, who look after the front of house and the kitchen respectively. The menu goes beyond tacos and burritos to take in more grown-up home style cooking in  Moles, Birrias and Cazuelas.
www.santovillage.com

Green & Red
Hip Shoreditch watering hole that doesn't let the fact that they sell lots of pitchers of margaritas and have a vast selection of tequila detract from a menu of dishes - such as slow roasted pork belly and ribs or lamb shank macerated in spices and beer - served with tortillas and designed to share.
www.greenred.co.uk