Santo Remedio, London: Mexican restaurant review
Tacos that all that matters, isn’t it?
The boom of popularity for Mexican food around the world brings the opportunity for new Mexican restaurants to open their doors to new customers who want to know more about real Mexican food. But sometimes finding the “real stuff” is hard when the offer is plenty. Santo Remedio is a Mexican restaurant with two locations in London, one in London Bridge and the other one in Shoreditch.
Today we are going to talk about Santo Remedio the Mexican Café in Shoreditch. I’m Mexican, I was born in Mexico and grew up eating tacos, so I can tell you the difference between tex-mex and authentic Mexican food.
I recently moved to the UK and I’ve been missing real Mexican food. Cooking Mexican food abroad is not easy, it’s hard to find the proper ingredients and takes a lot of time if you need to make tortillas from scratch. So, I surrendered and shut the Mexican kitchen at home (but just for this day) to go and find a good Mexican restaurant in London. If you know Mexican food, or probably you’re Mexican and you want to discover where you can go to eat and enjoy real Mexican food, I’ll be scouting some of them and sharing with some reviews from a ‘Mexicana’ trying Mexican food abroad. So let’s begin!
I visited Santo Remedio Café in Shoreditch midweek, it was Tuesday around 7 pm. The place was a little busy and that was a good sign, right? I was greeted by a small menu: personally, I hate when the menu is almost like an encyclopedia and you end up choosing the first option after 20 minutes – not sure if it was the best one.
The place is small and cozy, the decoration is more tropical than Mexican, but either way, it’s appreciated when outside is gray and cold almost the whole year. It’s nice if you want to have a chat with your friends and enjoy some margaritas.
I tried the Hibiscus Margarita and the Mezcal Margarita. They are well served and I can tell you they are worth the price. As an entrance, I got guacamole and ‘totopos’ (blue and white corn-fried tortilla) they were good and plenty.
Then I asked for tacos, they come in pairs so if you are with company I’d recommend asking different ones to share. In Mexico, we use to say that a taqueria is as good as its salsas: unfortunately, Santo Remedio Cafe doesn’t serve salsas on the side and they put it into their tacos. As a Mexican, I missed more variety of ‘salsitas’ but for someone that is not used to spice, I think it is alright.
Even if they have a little variety of tacos, the selection that they were offering on the menu was acceptable. I tried pork belly tacos and Baja Style Fish Tacos and my favorite was the former. They were well cooked and well served, they came with a little bit of ‘salsa verde’ and ‘chicharron’. For all of you that don’t know what chicharron is, let me explain: this Mexican delight is deep-fried pork skin with a tiny layer of meat or fat; is soft, delicious, and really really tasty.
In general, Santo Remedio Cafe is a good option for all who want to have good drinks while you’re chatting tasting real Mexican food that is made for everyone. But overall Santo Remedio achieved to satiate my cravings.
Santo Remedio Cafe Cocktails: ★★★★★
Santo Remedio Cafe Food: ★★★★☆
NOTE: The images in this article are from Santo Remedio Instagram but I promise you, the food and drinks at the restaurant look the same!