Mexican

Peyotito Notting Hill

31 Kensington Park Road, W112EU

www.peyotitorestaurant.com/020 7043 1400

Notting Hill is fast turning into a dining destination with new openings coming thick and fast. Next into the frame comes Peyotito offering a tapas style take on modern Mexican cooking.I’m excited to have been invited to review as the menu has been shaped by Executive Chef Eduardo Garcia, the chef of Maximo Bistrot, one of Latin America’s top 50 restaurants. The restaurant majors in tequila and mezcal cocktails which is always a good thing in my book – we opened the show with a couple of Peyotito Margaritas (£11). It’s really a classic Margarita with a twist featuring Tajin lime, chilli and salt spicing around the rim to give the drink a real kick. Even more ennervating was the shot of smokey mezcal perched in a little bottle on top of the ice that gave a real depth of flavour to the drink experience.To soak up the alcohol we ordered some blue corn tortillas with a fiery trio of salsas (£4.50). I named them hot, hotter and bloody hot!…The first was a looser take on a guacamole blending avocado, lemon, lime, chilli and coriander, salsa tatemada was a poky take on roasted veg and the salsa negra kicked my gringo ass way out of the ballpark with its Habanero chile. We cooled things down with a Jitomate salad – tasty juicy Heirloom tomato, cured Nopales cactus, spring onion, salad leaves and Hass avocado (£7.50) – which was full of taste, with a zingy dressing and lots of textural interest.From the Crudo (raw) section of the menu we tried the Laminado de Hamachi (£12.50) – raw yellowtail, ginger vinaigrette, huitlacoche corn mushroom and Serrano chile. The rather poetically named huitlacoche corn mushroom added a wonderful earthy taste to the delicacy of the fish. It’s other more prosaic name is corn smut as it is a plant disease that grows on maize but with a great flavour!As I’m trying to drink less I ordered a sweet and spicy Chile and Passion Fruit Margarita (£11) that hit the sweet spot and several other spots simultaneously.Ceviche – raw fish ‘cooked’ in a citrus marinade – is a Mexican staple as well as featuring in Peruvian and Brazilian cuisines. Verde Vuelve a la Vida (£11) featured market seafood; prawn, octopus, scallop, celery with green apple and pumpkin seeds for a fresh and not too citric-tasting take on the South American classic.Also from the Ceviche menu came Pulpo a la Mexicana (£10) octopus, salsa mexicana and homemade clamato (spicy tomato sauce mixed with clam juice). Keeping octopus tender is an art form that the Peyote kitchen has clearly mastered and the sauce added piquancy to the rich flavour of the the celaphod.From the hot dishes area of the menu we ordered Cochinata Pibil (£8.50), a wonderfully smokey, salty dish of tender braised pork, axiote seeds, black bean purée and habanero sauce. Farmed sea bream is a feature on most restaurant menus because of its price, flavour and availability. In Peyotito’s Pescado con Mole Verde (£11) the perfectly grilled fish had been marinated in a homemade adobo – a sauce of paprika, oregano, salt, garlic, and vinegar – which really pimped up the flavour with a green sauce (Mole Verde) on the side adding a vegetal counterbalance to the fish. Simple food brilliantly delivered.Fiona insisted on ordering Churros con Chocolate (£5.50) – a deliciously light deep-fried pastry baton dusted with cinnamon sugar with a rich chocolate sauce for dipping. As a true gentleman I helped her finish them…With good-looking but friendly staff, an on-trend interior and fab food at a reasonable price point Peyotito ticks all my boxes. A neon sign declares ‘Tequila is to wake the living, Mezcal is to wake the dead’ and with late-night DJs for non-stop party people this is a place that buzzes well into the night. They are running a Casamigos Tequila masterclass and tasting every Tuesday evening (4th, 11th, 18th and 25th July) throughout July and from July 1st (my birthday – make a note) are opening in Ibiza.If you want to explore beyond Tex-Mex or the too often disappointing Wahaca it’s well worth a visit.

Pink Chihuahua Soho

25 – 27 Brewer Street, London W1F 0RR

020 7734 7711/http://elcamion.co.uk/cocktail-bar/

Open Mon-Sat – 6pm-3am

A great barman should be a scientist, artist, chef, manager, entertainer, whirling Dervish, social worker and best friend all blended into a singular personality whose facets are only fully realised in the most bespoke of drinking establishments. The late Dick Bradsell, the ‘Godfather’ of the contemporary London bar scene, was such a barman. You might not have heard of him but you have almost certainly drunk one of his cocktails. The Bramble, the Espresso Martini and The Treacle are all his creations. One of Dick’s final gigs was at Soho Mexican Cantina El Camion and its underground bar, the Mexican-themed agave bar the Pink Chihuahua.

In a post-Dick world the El Camion team have rather cleverly poached one of Tony Conigliaro’s top lieutenants to create the bar’s new drinks menu. Tony has been called (by me) ‘The Dark Prince of London Mixology’ and is probably the most creative voice in the contemporary drinks scene. The new Pink Chihuahua drinks list is called ‘Fun With Dick and Jane’, and is a lubricious take on the children’s books. It features a ‘collection of luscious libations …a mixture of brand new creations, twisted favourites, and adored classics.’ Dick B’s creations are listed in the …’Fun With Dick’ section and includes the eponymous Pink Chihuahua cocktail.

A chapter elegantly titled ‘Wanky Bartender Drinks’, features the Tequila Solero, a tropical mixture of Olmeca Altos Blanco, Passion fruit, Vanilla, Lime juice, Milk and Cream). A classics list includes the Tequila PX Manhattan made with Olmeca Altos Reposado stirred with Pedro Ximenez Sherry and bitters, and the strong and smoky Mezcal Sazerac.

The bar itself is a dimly-lit psychedelic cantina with an appropriate soundtrack playing at inappropriate levels-the sort of place you might stumble into if Tarantino’s ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ was an immersive VR experience and where a zombie apocalypse might be a common occurence.

The drinks are expertly blended by posh-boy-dropout types servicing the needs of the most devout drinkers with a missionary zeal. The Pink Chihuahua (£9) is a blend of tequila, lime juice, orgeat, pomegranate juice and egg white beaten to deliver a fluffy top. It’s an elegantly sexy little number with a hint of sourness that is perfectly balanced by the almond sweetness of the orgeat. The Hemingway Daiquiri (£10) is rum based with lime and grapefruit juices counterpointed by a maraschino liqueur to deliver a dry and complex flavour. Most outstanding was the Mezcal Sazerac (£11)- a medicinal blend of Alipus San Baltazar Mezcal, Absinthe, and Peychaud Bitters that takes you on a trip to the dark side from which you may not return.

The Pink Chihuahua is now my go-to place for late night fun, cutting some shapes (there’s a DJ) and serious drinking. To ensure entry it’s probably best to blag a membership and just remember that ‘Tequila is to wake the living-Mezcal is to wake the dead.’