Shoreditch, Mexican Restaurant Guide

These “lively, colourful” Mexican street-food joints are, say fans, “great for a quick bite” – “the food remains pretty good (if not where it was several years ago)” and “you can’t complain at the prices”. That’s the majority view anyway, although there is a small minority who feel it’s “very average” now (and its ratings risk heading that way). Founded by MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers in 2007, the group hit the buffers during the pandemic and halved in size to 10 sites in London, with Dick Enthoven of Nando’s taking a controlling stake.

“Bringing an affordable higher-end Mexican experience to London, with inventive cuisine” – chef Yahir Gonzalez and co-founder Tony Geary have taken over the Shoreditch site that was St Leonards (RIP) to open this colourfully decorated and attractive 60-seater. It has received some up-and-down reports in the media (The Guardian’s Grace Dent, a fan, thought it “a date-night kind of place, or for dinner with a client you’d actually like to talk to”; but it’s “a modern Mexican muddle” according to the FT’s Tim Hayward; or with “basic errors” in the view of online restaurant maven, Andy Hayler). But we’ve rated it positively on our initial reports of “knockout Latino food with imaginative and perfectly judged sharing plates”, “interesting cocktails and wines” and “warm and attentive service”.

“Proper home-made nachos” backed up by “awesome margaritas” top the “short but focused menu” at Edson & Natalie Diaz-Fuentes’s authentic Mexican cantina in Bermondsey (with an offshoot in Shoreditch). Top Tip – “the reasonably priced pre-theatre menu is perfect before going to the Bridge Theatre”.