A Michelin-Starred Mexican Pop-Up Is Coming to London

Mexican food has gained momentum in London after years of criticism for limited quality tacos. New openings have improved the city’s reputation, including KOL, a two-Michelin-starred Marylebone restaurant offering a seasonal tasting menu that blends British produce with traditional Mexican flavors and techniques. KOL expanded its mezcal bar into a dedicated dessert-and-drinks space due to rising demand. Popular taqueria-style spots such as La Chingada and Sonora Taquería serve traditional street-style dishes like birria and nopales with homemade horchata. Bad Manners draws weekend queues for loaded burritos. Mexican influence also extends to drinks, with tequila surpassing gin, margaritas appearing widely, and mezcal bars multiplying. Los Félix plans a month-long residency at The Ned to bring its Miami voice to London.

"The popularity and commercial success of Santiago Lastra's KOL is perhaps the clearest example of how far Mexican food has come in London. The slick, two-Michelin-starred Marylebone restaurant serves a tasting menu built around seasonal British produce, interpreted through traditional Mexican flavors and techniques. Last year, thanks to growing demand, it even transformed its downstairs mezcal bar into a dedicated dessert-and-drinks space."

"And it's not just high-end restaurants like KOL that are thriving in the capital. More informal taqueria-type spots like La Chingada and Sonora Taquería have built loyal followings for traditional-style Mexican street cooking, serving everything from slow-cooked birria to nopales, all paired with a glass of homemade horchata, while breakfast spot Bad Manners - a shiny Airstream parked in the front garden of Shoreditch Church - regularly draws weekend queues for its loaded burritos."

"Mexican influence has well and truly spilled into London's drinking scene, too. This year, tequila overtook gin as the UK's spirit of choice, while margaritas have become a fixture on cocktail menus, and mezcal bars continue to pop up across the city."

"Hoping to tap into the Mexican momentum is Los Félix, a Michelin-starred restaurant from Grassfed Culture Hospitality led by chef Sebastián Vargas. Hailing from Miami, this June the restaurant will cross the pond for a month-long residency at The Ned, popping up at its restaurant Cantina Malibu. "This felt like the right moment to share that voice outside of Miami," affirms chef Vargas."

Read at Elite Traveler