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From street food stalls slinging incredible tacos to totally plant-based menus, these are the best spots to get Mexican food (and plenty of margs too) in London. OLÉ.
Santo Remedio, run by husband and wife team Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes, is one of the best Mexican restaurants in town. They’re famous for their grasshopper-topped guacamole but everything on the menu is legit great, especially the soft shell crab tacos, the beef short rib with mole negro and the churros. Club Mexicana has brought vegan Mexican grub to the masses inside KERB Seven Dials and at their first proper restaurant in Kingly Court. The restaurant, inspired by the street-side joints in LA and Mexico City, features a range of plant-based tacos, small plates and some Club Mexicana classics including the beer-battered Tofish tacos, BBQ short ‘rib’ tacos, and corn & black bean salad with jalapeno lime dressing.
Mexican chef Santiago Lastra, who worked at the Noma Mexico pop-up in 2017 and has cooked at the Tate Modern finally opened his debut solo restaurant Kol in London in 2020, after more than a year of looking for a location. Kol is broadly Mexican, drawing influence from across the country as well as making use of British produce.
Mexican Restaurants
From street food stalls slinging incredible tacos to totally plant-based menus, these are the best spots to get Mexican food (and plenty of margs too) in London. OLÉ.
Santo Remedio, run by husband and wife team Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes, is one of the best Mexican restaurants in town. They’re famous for their grasshopper-topped guacamole but everything on the menu is legit great, especially the soft shell crab tacos, the beef short rib with mole negro and the churros. Club Mexicana has brought vegan Mexican grub to the masses inside KERB Seven Dials and at their first proper restaurant in Kingly Court. The restaurant, inspired by the street-side joints in LA and Mexico City, features a range of plant-based tacos, small plates and some Club Mexicana classics including the beer-battered Tofish tacos, BBQ short ‘rib’ tacos, and corn & black bean salad with jalapeno lime dressing.
Mexican chef Santiago Lastra, who worked at the Noma Mexico pop-up in 2017 and has cooked at the Tate Modern finally opened his debut solo restaurant Kol in London in 2020, after more than a year of looking for a location. Kol is broadly Mexican, drawing influence from across the country as well as making use of British produce.
La Chingada is turning out some of, if not the best, tacos in London. We don’t like to play favourites but the al pastor – marinated pork, pineapple and diced onion – edges it for us (the al pastor quesadilla is also excellent) but the suadero (confit beef), carnitas (confit pork), chorizo and baja prawn tacos are well worth your time. Fresh tortillas, juicy fillings, great salsas, what more could you want? There’s no bells and whistles here (apart from the Comic Sans sign) but that makes it all the better because all the effort has been put into the food. Order as many tacos as you can physically eat because you’ll regret it if you don’t. And if they’ve got margs on the go, have a couple of those too.
After 20 years on Westbourne Grove, Taqueria has reopened as TAQ, complete with a new identity and an entirely new menu led by chef Eduardo Yishima and backed by Jackson Boxer. Yishima is doing tempura fish tacos, tuna tostadas and quesadillas stuffed with carnitas, mushroom or chorizo, plus a blackboard of specials. These include a fish torta inspired by Boxer’s old fish bun snack at Orasay, and a taco take on the Dove cheeseburger: the same secret blend of dry-aged beef but made in a thinner smashed style, basted in smoked beef fat, and finished with Red Leicester, fried onions and pickled jalapeno chillies on a freshly toasted corn tortilla. Drinks-wise, it’s straight to the point: £10 classic margaritas, plus palomas and mezcalitas, Mexican lagers and micheladas, and a short wine list designed for drinking, not overthinking.
Carousel co-founders Ed and Ollie Templeton have always recruited a strong line-up of Mexican chefs to come and do residencies at the Fitzrovia venue. Now they’ve taken things one step further and turned the Carousel wine bar space into a Mexican restaurant called Cometa. Led by Ollie, José Lizarralde Serralde (ex-Relæ and Nicos) and Alejandra Juarez (ex-Estela and Máximo), Cometa showcases British seafood through a Mexican lens, taking inspo from popular CDMX spot Contramar. As well as a range of raw plates, including ceviches and aguachiles, the menu includes dishes like crab chilpachole rice with brown butter and chive and lobster with chintextle and smoked butter sauce. The drinks list features tepache, agua fresca, spicy margs and mezcal Old Fashioneds.
This spot inside Peckham’s Rye Lane Market is doing some of the best tacos in the city. Owner Manny makes the corn tortillas by hand and as well as getting them as chips for the namesake guac, you’ll want to get the birria, carnitas and tongue tacos (yes there are veggie and fish fillings available too. Finish with a squidgy square of tres leches cake topped with whipped cream. And if you wanna try everything, head down on Tuesdays to take advantage of the £3 Taco Tuesday deal.
London Bridge’s much-loved Mexican restaurant Santo Remedio has opened a second site in Shoreditch. The Mexican joint run by Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes first opened in Shoreditch six years ago on Rivington Street, they were forced to close the restaurant after five months after problems with the building. Now the pair are back in the neighbourhood, this time on Great Eastern Street. The menu at Santo Remedio is a mix of tacos, tostadas and quesadillas, all designed to be shared amongst the table. Our faves are the baja fish tacos, pork carnitas tacos, hibiscus quesadillas and the prawn & padron peppers raja cazuela. You can’t go for tacos without having some margaritas, and Santo Remedio have plenty of them to offer, including the dangerously good peach mezcalita.
Mexican chef Santiago Lastra, who worked at Rene Redzepi’s Noma Mexico pop-up in 2017 and has cooked at the Tate Modern finally opened his debut solo restaurant Kol in London in 2020, after a more than a year of looking for a location. Kol is broadly Mexican, drawing influence from across the country as well as making use of British produce too with dishes like langoustine tacos with sea buckthorn, kohlrabi ceviche, lamb leg totasta cured in gooseberries with walnut oil, and tamal with corn husk ice cream. You can see some of the work that goes into the food thanks to the open kitchen, complete with tortilla station, right in the middle of the first floor dining room. As well as a biodynamic wine list, Kol also serves up mezcals, tequilas and less well-known Mexican spirits like whisky from Oaxaca, gin from the Yucatan and rum from Puebla in the dedicated mezcaleria on the lower ground floor.
Right in the heart of Chelsea, Ixchel is a modern Mexican restaurant bringing a taste of the Yucatan peninsula to London. The concept comes from restaurateur Fraser Carruthers and Mexican chef Ximena Gayosso Gonzalez (previously of Brat, Ella Canta and Madera at Treehouse London in the capital and at Dulce Patria in Mexico City) and borrows its name from the Mayan goddess of the moon and textiles – you’ll find hints of her influence throughout the restaurant, including moon motifs and contemporary macrame. The interiors at Ixchel are stunning, it’s been fitted out with furnishings made using natural materials and handcrafted artwork that draw both on London’s brutalist architecture and Mexican folk art. Fair warning: it’s beautiful and in Chelsea, so expect the full ‘influencers in the wild experience’, ring lights and all. Also expect a show-stopping food menu from Ximena that includes a selection of ceviches, tacos, tostadas and sharing plates. There are a lot of highlights, but you don’t want to miss the short rib with smoky adobo and pineapple salsa or the crispy potatoes with salsa verde. Drinks-wise, they’ve got a comprehensive selection of well-executed twists on the classic margarita, devised by bar manager Manuel Lema (previously of Cavita and Le Bodegra Negra). Plus, their bar boasts one of the largest collections of tequila in Europe, so if you’re a fan of agave-based liquor, this is a must-visit.
El Pastor is the mini-Mexican group from the Hart Brothers (the pair behind Barrafina and Quo Vadis), who are not only top restaurateurs but Sam Hart actually lived in Mexico City for many years, operating a cult nightclub El Colmillo, so he certainly knows a thing or two about tacos. The original El Pastor is under the railway tracks in Borough Market, a long thin room with high tables and a bar at the front, and a small dining room and kitchen at the back. Whilst you should start with some guac with chicharron and the tuna tostadas, tacos are the main focus on the menu and you don’t want to miss the namesake al pastor, the baja and the epic sharing short rib served on the bone and with a bowl of fresh tacos to roll up your own. Can’t get into the Borough restaurant? Fear not, there are El Pastor locations in Soho and Battersea, and a Casa Pastor in King’s Cross.
Run by husband and wife team Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes, Santo Remedio is one of the best Mexican restaurants in town. They’re famous for their grasshopper-topped guacamole but everything on the menu is legit great, especially the soft shell crab tacos, the beef short rib with mole negro and the churros. They shake up a great marg here too and if you want to get your weekend off to a flying start, their bottomless brunch featuring free-flowing said margs, is the way to do it.
Breddos slings some of the best tacos in London – tuck into classics like masa fried chicken, baja fish and braised beef shin & short rib, with plenty of Breddos’ salsas on the side. If you’re feeling hungry, there are mains like carne asada served with tortillas, Mexican green rice and black beans, and plenty of tequila and mezcal to wash it all down with.
After past lives as Pollo Feliz (specialising in grilled chicken), a tortilla delivery service and a Netil Market stall, Sonora Taqueria finally landed its first brick-and-mortar site up in Stoke Newington. Founded by Michelle Salazar and Sam Napier, Sonora centres around its menu of Northern Mexican food which includes the likes of carne asada, caramelo, lorenza, adobada, campechano or nopales from the grill, as well as a range of quesadillas and guisados (stewed) dishes. The plates are all made using their absolutely epic handmade flour tortillas. There’s usually a queue for this spot and with good reason.
Casa Pastor, sister to Borough Market’s El Pastor, serves up a similar Mexican menu – think dishes like cherrystone clams with lime, lamb barbacoa, soft-shell crab tacos and vegan coconut ceviche tostadas as well as a Mexican brekkie menu too. The (covered and heated) outside terrace, Plaza Pastor, has its own menu of tostadas, tortas and rotisserie chicken and an extended tequila and mezcal drinks list. They also have live music and DJs out there too, making it the perfect place for a fiesta.
Located in Borough Market, Tacos Padre is the Mexican spot from hot Irish chef Nick Fitzgerald who earned his stripes at Pujol, Mexico City (on the World’s 50 Best don’t ya know). The stall serves some of the best tacos in London, including beef short rib suadero with morita salsa, cauliflower al pastor with salsa macha and lamb barbacoa with gauc, alongside homemade bottled sauces, local beers and mezcal margs. And the annual summer residency, where Nick sets up on the terrace by the stall, has a bangin’ dinner menu with dishes like oysters divorciados, crab tostada with guajillo & tamarind, gilt head bream with shiso ceviche, confit pork chop cochinita with charred x-ni-pec, smoked celeriac with orange habanero glaze & macadamia sikil pak, and bueñuelos with morita cajeta.
Corrochio’s has been serving up some of the best regional Mexican food and cocktails in town since 2021 and now there’s even more to go around as a new 120-cover street-level bar and restaurant has opened above the original site. The Corrochio’s space has been turned into Cinco, a bar specialising in lesser-known agave and Mexican spirits, while the new upstairs area has become a Cocina & Cocteleria. The food menu showcase both regional Mexican specialities and modern bar food, including dishes like Enchiladas Verdes (from Puebla), Huaraches (from Mexico City), Tostada de Camarón (from Oaxaca), and Gobernador taco with prawns, octopus, poblano & pastor mayo, with tequila and mezcal featuring heavily alongside other Mexican spirits like Sotol, Raicilla, and Bacanora on the Cocteleria list.
