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:La Perla, Tottenham Court Rd

I fear that we're running out of Mexicans!! or at least they're getting a bit thin on the ground now we've tried so many! I've been trying as much as I can not to retry ones I've already been too so Cafe Pacifico in Covent Garden was off the list because I ate there once with Mara after attending Iron Cupcake.  However, when I looked at their website I was pleased to see they had a few other bar restaurants around London so I thought we'd give La Perla on Charlotte Street a try.

Our meal started with free nachos! so of course we were loving that!

Mara saw they had Chimichangas on the menu so she was loving that!! Unfortunately when hers arrived the outside of the tortilla wasn't even crispy - which it should be if it has been properly deep fried, so it came off as a rather sad soggy enchilada rather than what it should have been!

I was super excited about their 'Street Taco's' option.  6 mini soft taco's filled with different meats: duck, pork, chicken, steak, prawn and beef.  Unfortunately, I was also left feeling a little disappointed as they were doused in onions and herbs that were a bit overbearing taste wise and they didn't quite meet up to my expectations!

We didn't bother to order dessert, their offerings were rather meager.  All in all it wasn't our favourite Mexican, I'm not sure I would ever go back in favour of all the other amazing ones we have tried recently! and I've gotta say we had much better food at Cafe Pacifico...strange considering they're owned by the same people! but it's always fun to check out somewhere new! and I guess they get points for the free nachos!!

Tex Mex Tuesday: Free Taco's at Wahaca, Westfield and some Waffle House action!

Last week we took our Tex Mex Tuesday back to where it all started for us in London - Wahaca.  The first time I ever ate at Wahaca in Covent Garden, long before this challenge ever began, I was blown away! I had the best enchiladas ever, I loved the feel of the place and I was sold...to me, Wahaca was THE place for Mexican in London.  

That was last June...how much has changed in a year! 

We had already decided on Wahaca as our chosen Mexican for the week, and then I saw via twitter that they were running an offer where you could win free steak taco's if you watched Thomasina's program that evening and filled in the missing ingredient for her tomato salsa.  Lucky for us, we already own her book so I just looked up the recipe and filled in the slip and handed it to our waiter when we ate at 6pm, an hour and a half before the tv program where you were meant to find out the answer actually aired! but fortunately he didn't seem to have read the competition details properly and he accepted the offer! 

So it was steak taco's for me...and you'd think they should have tasted even better, being free and all, but I was left feeling disappointed! Steak isn't a taco filling I would usually order so perhaps it was down to personal preference but I just felt these taco's were lacking.  Plus I still can't really get excited about soft taco's...for me it's all about the hard shell! 

Mara had a burrito which was infinitely better than my steak taco but still nothing on the one we had last week at Santo, and it was a little on the spicy side.

We had this rather strange cactus based side dish that came with tortillas.  We were expecting it to be more like tortilla chips but they were flat tortillas so that was a little bit odd.

We were hoping the Churros were going to pull it around for us, but unfortunately they left us with a bad taste in our mouth.  They were too gooey in the middle, again it seemed like a case of undercooked churros and so all in all it wasn't a great night at Wahaca.

It left me wondering why their restaurants are always so busy when I now know of a whole host of waaaay tastier Mexicans that London has to offer! but I guess it comes down to what's in and what's trendy.  Just like how hummingbird bakery always has a queue of people and I've never eaten a cupcake I like from there whereas there are other cupcake bakeries with far more delish offerings that never get a look in! 

Fortunately for me, two of my friends (Jo and Nat) took me to one of my very favourite places to eat when I went home last weekend.  The Waffle House is an absolute gem of a place and I have been there too many times to recall.  It was one of my families fave places to eat, my mom was always taking me and my sisters there and it became a firm favourite with my school friends too.  We even used to skip out on school to go there because it was just that tasty! They've been going for over 25 years so as long as I've been alive and with queues to get in any day of the week you know they're doing something right!

Like these...their milkshakes are some of the best you will ever have! Super thick, super creamy and super delicious! The flavours they offer are the basics: chocolate, banana or vanilla - but let me tell you it is the only place where I would be happy ordering a Vanilla shake because they are delish! but luckily for me on the day we went they had a daily special of a fresh strawberry milkshake so I picked that and it was amazing!! 

On to the waffles! You can get both sweet and savoury waffles, and on the day we went they were offering a daily special of an eton mess waffle! but sadly for us we were too full for sweet offerings! I had the daily special of their meatball waffle which was simply delicious! 

Jo went for the cheese and mushrooms and Nat got the ratatouille.  There is nothing better than catching up with your girls for a gossip, a shake and a waffle! It was a great day! 

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!

Tex Mex Tuesday: Taqueria and the best pulled pork in London @ Bodean's!

Last Tuesday we decided we should pay a visit to Taqueria, since it's so close to where we work and we pass it often.  Unfortunately it wasn't one of our smartest choices and I have got to say this was our worst Tex Mex Tuesday in London thus far.

From the moment we stepped through the door, I wasn't really feeling it.  It lacks atmosphere compared to alot of the Mexicans we've eaten at recently, and the seats weren't too comfy either! 

On Tuesday, their speciality is Tamales.  So we ordered one to check out what they are like, it was pretty good.  We weren't quite sure how to eat it but we got the hang in the end! just make sure you don't eat the corn husks it is wrapped up in! 

I tried the pork al pastor Taco's, which was the exact same dish I had at Lupita so I was able to make a direct comparison and they just weren't up to scratch.  My food was luke warm and it came so quick that it seemed like the meat must have been reheated.  The pineapples tasted a little funky, like they'd been in the tin for too long so all in all it wasn't a good meal! 

Mara opted for the Tostada after we'd had some really good ones at Whole Foods a few weekends ago, but it didn't quite compare either.

What surprises me is that with Crazy Homies in one direction and Loco Mexicano in the other, both just a few minutes way and both fantastic Mexicans - you would think Taqueria would up their game but they haven't and subsequently I don't know why anyone would choose to eat there when in the Westbourne Grove area.

We decided to give them one last chance to impress us by ordering their Churro's. Whilst we enjoyed the dipping sauce and the amount of cinnamon they were coated in, they were far too hard and crunchy and they didn't blow us away.  

Luckily for us we had a better dining experience ahead of us later in the week! 

On Friday we found ourselves in Selfridge's, our favourite haunt! Mara was stocking up on her usual supply of foodie magazines when in one of them we saw a picture of some drool worthy pulled pork.  I couldn't get that image out of my mind, and as we browsed some of the sales in the Oxford Street shops I decided I had to get a pulled pork fix! but where?! 

I googled on my phone to find out if there was anywhere nearby selling pulled pork and to my excitement I found there was a place called Bodean's just further down in Soho that had some on their menu! So we set off on my pulled pork mission and when we arrived at Poland Street I wondered why I had never heard of Bodean's before - it looked exactly like my kind of place! 

We hurried inside, just in time to watch the end of the Murray vs. Nadal semi final - Go Rafa! and were impressed with the menu we found...jerk chicken burgers, combos of ribs and chicken, and of course the all important pulled pork sandwich! so I ordered the classic...and imagine my delight when I got to the counter only to see that they were serving root beer too...and not just any old root beer A&W!!! could this place get any better? well yes, it could, I also saw they had Key Lime Pie on their dessert menu but unfortunately after our cupcake stop at Lola's we had to hold off on dessert...but definitely next time! 

Doesn't this shot just make you smile?? root beer makes me happy!

so does the little pig that's their logo! 

Just check out that pulled pork! pure perfection in a bun and a rather delicious bun at that.

This little basket of deliciousness will only set you back £6.95 so not only is the food super tasty but also super reasonable!

What are you waiting for...go check it out!