A Mexican round up: My top 5 Mexican restaurants in London

This summer (if you can call it that!) I found myself living in London and my sister and I took it upon ourselves to find the best Mexican food we could!

In doing so we ate at 15 different restaurants taking us from our neighbourhood area of Notting Hill right down south to Balham, up north to Angel and everywhere in between! These included Wahaca, Chilango, Taqueria, Tequila Tex Mex, Santo, Crazy Homies, Lupita, La Perla, Cantina Laredo, Whole Foods, El Camion, Loco Mexicano, Desperados, Tacuba and Navajo Joe.

It was a good thing we did so too, because having just moved to Bangor this week I have discovered there are NO Mexican restaurants in the whole of North Wales so it could be a while before I get my next taco fix!

I thought I'd sum up what we found out and where we think are the best places to eat should you ever find yourself hungry in London and in need of a chimichanga or two! 

These are the restaurants we thought should make the top 5.  They aren't really in a particular order but our clear front runner was Santo in Notting Hill - we even ate there twice this summer which shows you just how yummy we thought it was! We had a one time only policy to try and fit in as many Mexicans as possible but we just had to break the rule for Santo and here's why...

 

Hands down the best nachos you will ever taste, we could quite happily go back and order only nachos all night long and have the best meal ever! but I wouldn't advise you do that because you would be missing out on the amazingly delicious burritos they serve (and remember I'm not even a burrito fan!) The service was fantastic, I think if my sister wasn't married she would have quite happily tried her luck with our cheeky little waiter! They had an extensive and interesting juice and smoothie selection like my raw tropical juice that came topped with a slice of Kiwi, and to top it all off it's located bang on Portobello Rd so it's perfect if you want to check out some awesome shops post meal! p.s did I mention you get free nachos and salsa to start? :)

Next up was Crazy Homies in Westbourne Grove.  They were a close contender for first place, but unfortunately we had some pretty bad Churros that let them down.  

 

 The rest of our experience at Crazy Homies was pretty cool though.  Their ambience was one of the best and I loved their decor inside.  Their menu was even called 'The Bible' and Bible it was, have you ever heard of a Mahi Mahi Tostada? That's an option freshly returned people from the Caribbean like us love to see! I had butternut squash and chorizo tostadas...both were completely inventive flavours and completely delicious!

A fun filled night at Desperados in Islington made it a firm favourite.

 

They had an excellent drinks menu, and you gotta love mocktails with curly straws! It was packed the night we went but the hustle and bustle didn't equate to slow service fortunately.  Their portions were pretty mega, and refried beans as a side always wins me over.  I had beef enchiladas which were pretty amazing and the colourful and decorative interior really gave it that old school Mexican feel! 

Loco Mexicano in Westbourne Grove was our first Mexican we went to way back in May, so the fact I can even remember what it was like speaks volumes!

 

This was the only Mexican we ate at that came with a Sombrero attached to your chair and that makes it pretty special in my book! Another huge plus was they did hard shell taco's...which is a bit of a rarity these days and they're one of my fave Mexican dishes.  They too had some rather impressive mocktails and their portions were on the hefty side which is always a bonus!

Finally, a late entry (and the last Mexican I managed to squeeze in before I left London) was El Camion in Soho.  I'm so glad we did manage to fit it in though because as you can see it made it to the Top 5 and is definitely somewhere I will be returning to in the future!

 

They have 2 branches, one on Portobello Rd (just a few metres away from Santo actually) and the one we ate at in Soho.  We had seen the one in Notting Hill lots of times before but it is much smaller and not quite as cool as the one we ate at so I was glad we made it to Soho.  We nearly sat upstairs but it was full, which was lucky for us, because I had no idea how cool their basement area is! and I would choose to sit there every time now I know.  Check out all those cute little tealights in the picture! Our waitress was super friendly and our fajitas and enchiladas were cooked to perfection.  The best part of the night - introducing Jade to their amazing Churros.  You may recall if you follow my blog that I have shared many exciting firsts with Jade, like Shakeaways, Krispy Kreme's, S'mores, Conch, Root Beer Floats and more recently pulled pork so I was excited for Jade to experience that Cinnamon-y goodness of deep fried Churros! It was the perfect ending to an oh so yummy Mexican! 

I also thought it would be fun to award a best starter, main and dessert.

For the starter there was really no question, it had to be Santo for their nachos as I've already mentioned...but don't just take my word for it - go and try them out - it will be the best money you can spend!

The best main was far trickier with many contenders, but in the end the mammoth sized portions of Tequila Tex Mex made me think they deserved this award! along with the fact they make a mean chimichanga and served the most enormous stuffed peppers ever!

 

I have a small obsession with Churros, you may or may not have noticed! Anytime we found Churros on a menu, which wasn't all that often surprisingly, we would have to order them.  We were on a quest to find the best, and whilst the rest of our evening and meal at Lupita was less than favourable, their Churros were hands down the best we've tried in London.  They were really warm and soft with tons of yummy chocolate sauce for dipping and they are lucky they make such a good Churro because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't go back there for anything else! 

 

So there you have it! What did we learn from our Mexican quest? that Wahaca and Chilango didn't make the cut! Are you surprised? I'm not.  I've learnt that branding is everything, people love names and so Wahaca has grown into this super popular Mexican (that does a decent meal don't get me wrong) but you can eat at far better Mexicans than Wahaca that's for sure and hopefully now you all know where they are! and all you had to do was read this blog! Simple!

Tex Mex Tuesday: A little taste of California in the middle of Notting Hill!

Right now, my two sisters and brother in law are roadtrippin' it up in Californi-a.  I am beyond jealous and it's something we're not going to dwell on! Swiftly moving on...so the night before they all left we had a night out in London town (but secretly I pretended I had joined them on the Cali trip!)

Mel, who currently lives in Yorkshire, is an avid follow of my blog and has been watching and drooling over our past few months of Mexican madness.  So when she arrived in London she wanted to be taken to the best Mexican we had eaten at so far.  Mara and I both decided it just had to be Santo on Portobello Road...if for no other reason to try some of their amazing chile nachos again!! and this time I got a better shot of them on my camera too!

I opted for Enchiladas, as this is usually my fave Mexican dish, but I have to say I was left craving some burrito loving once the girls dishes arrived...

and that's saying something because I've made it clear before I am not a burrito fan but the burrito's at Santo are hands down amazing!

Mel was definitely impressed and being the veggie she is, she was pleased at their choice of veggie dishes too!

Afterwards we ended the evening with something sweet at Lucky 7.  We toasted to a great Cali trip with our milkshakes (again I was pretending I was in on it too!) Oh how I wish I was milkshaking it up with them right now! Last I heard they had rented bikes along Santa Monica boardwalk, eaten at an amazing Mexican restaurant and found a cupcakery with a frostinator machine where you could make your own cupcakes!!!if that doesn't scream perfect holiday I don't know what does!

I had a mint Oreo shake, while Mel grabbed a double thick chocolate malt and Mara had her old favourite of banana. 

It was a great night out, and whilst I'm missing them all loads I'm even more excited for their return because of all my favourite American goodies they have promised to bring me! Roll on A&W, mint Oreo's and maybe just maybe a few cupcakes!!

Tex Mex Tuesday & Thursday! Santo & Desperados

This week was a double Mexican whammy...and both were a success! We began with Santo which is just around the corner from where we work on Portobello Road.  Unfortunately it was a pretty rainy afternoon when we stopped by but once inside our spirits were soon lifted.

I ordered a sparkling tropical juice, the main ingredient seemed to be Kiwi which was a pleasant and tasty surprise, and they also brought over some complimentary nachos and salsa whilst we perused the menu which is always a thumbs up for us! 

They claim to have the most amount of Mexican dishes to choose from this side of the Atlantic, and their menu was certainly alot broader than most.  We ordered some nachos with chili con carne as a starter, shown in the out of focus picture above, but it was too good not to feature! This had to be the highlight of the visit for me.  Piled high with chilli, sour cream, guacamole and refried beans...we literally finished every last crumb and both unanimously agreed they were THE best nachos ever! 

What followed was a burrito that, for me, knocks spots off any burrito Chilango can rustle up.  Even the outer tortilla appeared completely homemade and was almost pancake like in texture as it was lovely and fluffy.  Mara declared it the best Mexican she had ever eaten.

I ordered a chicken quesadilla and again was so impressed with the actual tortilla used, I literally could have eaten 10 of the things! The ingredients are fresh, inventive and most importantly delicious! Unfortunately they didn't have a dessert menu per se and only offered a few different ice cream options when we enquired about if they did do dessert so that was a bit of a let down...we all know dessert is my favourite part of the meal! but somehow that didn't dampen our spirits as we left Santo because we had been left so completely satisfied with what we had eaten! 

Thursday presented another opportunity for Mexican as I met up with some friends in Islington, and I'm of the mindset the more Mexican the better! Desperados describes itself as a Mexican Cantina & Bar and from the second I arrived I fell in love with it.

From the chilli bunch hanging on the wall...

to the table decor...

to the awesome curly straw and my non alcoholic cocktail! 

Desperados cocktail menu was as extensive as their food menu, so if Mexican and cocktail is your thing this is definitely the place to go! and there were about 6 or so non alcoholic cocktails on offer as well!

One thing we weren't too sure about was the service.  In the 10 minutes after we arrived, whilst waiting for 2 more friends to join us, we got asked by no less than 7 different waiters for our drinks orders!!  The first couple of times we were impressed by how on the ball they were, but eventually it got a bit ridiculous! and we felt they should have somehow had waiters assigned to tables to avoid this happening.

The service was quick though, and we were served our main dishes very promptly.  

Amy's steak fajitas were still sizzling away in the dish as they arrived and we were loving the huge portions! 

I had side dishes of rice, beans, guac and sour cream...along with an actual salad too! It's definitely the place to come on an empty stomach.  I went for an enchilada, and usually would always order chicken but apparently they had run out of chicken that night! so I went for beef...which turned out to be just as well because it was SO delicious and something I may just have to order again in the future! Jade also had to go for a beef burrito...after trying to order a chicken one (it had been a long day for her!)

There was a great vibe at Desperados, and it was pretty packed all night long...the people didn't stop coming which is always a good sign in my book! and it was a great place to spend the night catching up with old friends.

The nacho starter which Pip had as a main course was more than adequate and we thought pretty reasonably priced considering how much you got, check out those awesome nails as well - I couldn't resist! 

When the bill came they brought everyone little shots of one of their exotic cocktails.  The girls were all suitably impressed and if it hadn't been a 'school night' would have probably indulged in some more! 

All round, a great week of Mexican munching!