Taqueria – Westbourne Grove – London – 5.5/10

I felt terribly trendy walking down Portobello Road with The Bear to meet some friends last Friday night. It’s not often we’re in this part of the world, where a shabby one bedroom flat is the same price as a three bedroom semi in good old Surbiton. And Mexican food was the order of the day.

Having dragged my arse round London in the rain all afternoon, I was very happy to be going to a restaurant that boasts the best margaritas in town. Not that tequila is my friend. It’s my enemy. But I heard somewhere that it’s good to keep your enemies close. Let the cocktails begin!!

Taqueria serves tacos and antojitos (which means a little of what you fancy) in a small, crowded restaurant. The tables are tiny, marble affairs plonked everywhere they can be squeezed in. And there are a lot of people!

Everywhere you look the glitterati of Notting Hill are waiting, crowding the room, vulture-like, groaning for you to finish and piss off so they can swoop and conquer your little marble nation. It says it’s a restaurant and bar, but really it’s a restaurant and a small counter with delusions of grandeur.

Apart from the annoying spectators the restaurant is quite pleasant. There is a bustling energy about the place. We ordered nachos, which were served with guacamole, re-fried beans and spicy salsa. The nachos were non-greasy, golden and crisp. There was a mere dusting of grated cheese, which is just the way I like it. They were heaven compared to the Odeon nachos with orange gloop I had the other day. Never again.

It was kind of down hill from there really. The food was tasty and fresh. We had a combination of tacos (Pollock, prawn, steak, chicken, stuffed chillies) and antojitos. But the service was a little off. The food wasn’t that easy to share (which I thought was the whole point) and there is only so much avocado and tomato that you can eat without it getting repetitive, whatever is put on top of it.

Although the restaurant was crowded with waiting diners, we conspired to keep them waiting by ordering more margaritas and churros. If you’ve never tried churros before then you must get your lips round some soon. They are essentially long fried doughnuts covered in sugar and cinnamon, and on this occasion served with chocolate dipping sauce. And they are yummy! I had them every morning for breakfast when I went on holiday to Valencia, and the ones at Taqueria are just as good.

Taqueria is nothing special. The whole meal for four people with a drink or two each came to £112. If you like Mexican food then its worth giving it a go the once, if only for the margaritas and churros. It would have been better if there had been a little bit of crowd control.