Mexican
Want tacos and mezcal in East London? Head to Lucia’s. This Hackney Wick spot is small but mighty, and is always a vibe – it’s not a secret spot but the fact that restaurant is barely online (there’s a perfunctory website and an IG channel with no posts) makes it feel that way. It’s hard to order badly here but the cochinita pibil and beef barbacoa tacos are winners, and the rice pudding is worth saving room for. Wash it all down with several Palomas.
Photo credit: @charlottealicia1
Comalera is part of the “Mexican Wave” taking over London. Having opened at Crate St James’ Street in 2025, Sarai Caprille’s kitchen has already made its mark, cooking up dishes as vibrant as its shopfront. And it’s not just tacos on the menu, with tamales, flautas, chilaquiles, quesadillas and more also on offer. If that isn’t enough, the weekend-only spot also has a regular rotation of specials.
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.
Mexican–Japanese fusion spot Los Mochis has opened a second site in the City, taking up residence in a 14,000 sq ft space on the rooftop of 100 Liverpool Street, comprising a dining room, an agaveria bar and lounge, two private dining rooms and a massive 3000 sq ft covered and heated terrace. Not only is it one of the largest outdoor terraces in the capital, it’s got a 3am license, so after feasting on tacos, kushiyaki and rare tequilas, you can party until the early hours.
TAQUIZA
Under the arches and adjacent to the famous music venue Carpet Shop Peckham (sister site to Corsica Studios) is the Mexican restaurant Taquiza. The site is led by head chef Sam Tarneberg and his partner, who, through travels and previous roles have both obtained plenty of knowledge of authentic Mexican cuisine. It’s off the beaten track, and its cosy interiors and dim lighting give a neighbourhood feel to it, ideal for date night. As tacos go, Taquiza’s tacos are relatively large and packed full to the brim with filling. They come in singular portions and it’s recommended you choose two per person when dining. Their taco menu is short and sweet, consisting of five different variants, all their inventive takes on the classics. As for dessert, though there’s only one on the menu (the lime zest flan Napolitano), in our eyes, it’s so good you wouldn’t want anything else.
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.
Love kushiyaki? Then you’ll want to get down to Old Spitalfields Market and try out the skewers from Kushi. The Japanese-inspired kitchen comes from the same team behind Crunch (and is the unit next door) and centres around skewers, with the likes of chicken wings, chicken skin, smoked quail eggs, miso butter corn, lamb neck and grilled mackerel on the menu. They’re available individually, ranging from £2 – £5 each, or you can get a katsu meal box for between £10 – £13.
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.
ZAPOTE
What was formerly home to St Leonards, and before that Eyre Brothers, has been reinvented once again and turned into modern Mexican restaurant Zapote. It’s the debut restaurant from Mexican chef Yahir Gonzalez and hospitality veteran Tony Geary. Yahir is really putting his own spin on familiar Mexican dishes, including making tortillas in-house using native corn varieties. And what tortillas they are – truly some of the best we’ve ever had. Happily they make quite a few appearances on the menu, including folded into a delicate little quesadilla filled with smoky wild mushrooms; crisped up into a tostada topped with actually spicy chilli-flecked crab and ruby red slices of fresh yellowfin tuna; and served on the side of a superb dry-aged beef ribeye with salsa roja and habanero aioli to make tacos. Don’t miss the smoked aubergine with tamarind and chilli, the al pastor skewers with a vibrant citrusy guac and pork skin crispies; and the chorizo, potato and burnt cheese. Zapote delivers sophisticated, refined food without veering into super high-end territory, and it’s a great addition to the neighbourhood.
Brightly coloured vegan restaurant Club Mexicana is known for taking over your insta feed with some of the best plant-based Mexican food in London. It’s recently launched a new brunch menu, that’s available every weekend at its Spitalfields site. Living up to the name, the menu is banging and includes a selection of its vegan takes on the classics like the mex-shuka and a Mexicana fry-up (featuring probably the longest vegan chorizo in London). It wouldn’t be brunch without a cocktail, and all can be washed down with some of the special brunch tipples, our personal favourite being the marmalade margarita. Available Sat and Sun, head there for plenty of fun energy and a knock-out vegan brunch.
Do brunch Mexican style at Adriana Cavita’s namesake Marylebone restaurant Cavita. Not only does the place look the part, with exposed bricks, earthy colours and plenty of cacti, but it delivers her take on traditional dishes, including chilaquiles, aguachile rojo and tacos de cochinita pibil. If it just ain’t brunch without some eggs and the huevos rancheros is a winner, with two fried eggs on tortillas covered with red and green salsa, smoky bacon and Oaxacan style beans. And you can really get stuck in with DIY tacos de asada; a huge plate of rump steak, chargrilled spring onions and nopales, radish and cucumber, arbol sauce, and tortillas for you to fold up and chow down on. For something sweet, finish up with pan de elote, a traditional Mexican cornbread served with honeycomb ice cream and cajeta. All of that with a round of spicy mezcalitas (made with Ojo de Dios Espadin, fresh lime, homemade sugar syrup & fresh jalapeno), is how to do the weekend right.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
