Where to Eat Birria Outside London: Manchester, Leeds, Newport, Luton

Birria tacos took the UK by storm a few years ago, and London still has the largest choice; our guide to birria in London covers the capital stall by stall. But you do not need to go to London for a plate of crisp, cheese-filled tacos with a cup of chilli broth for dipping. Our directory lists 5 venues outside the capital whose name or listing ties them to birria, in Manchester, Leeds, Newport and Luton. This guide covers them, with the Google figures our directory held in October 2026.

We include a venue if birria is in its name or its directory listing names the dish. That does not guarantee birria is on the menu every day, so check before a special trip, and remember that other venues may well serve birria without our directory saying so.

The venues

Names link to each venue's page in our directory, with address, listed hours and website. The last column shows where the dish appears: in the venue's name or in its directory description.

Venue	Address	Google rating (reviews)	Where the dish appears
FUZSE Birria	11 Suffolk Cl, Luton LU4 0NY	4.9 (37)	in the venue's name
Birria Birria Leeds	74 Victoria Rd, Headingley, Leeds LS6 1DL	4.8 (262)	in the venue's name
El Jefe Birria NORTHERN QUARTER	8 Dale St, Manchester M1 1JA	4.2 (37)	in the venue's name
Bab Haus Mex Newport	Newport Market, High Street, Newport NP20 1FX	–	in our directory description
Don Tacos	61-63 Wilmslow Road, Rusholme, Manchester M14 5TB	–	in our directory description

Leeds

Birria Birria Leeds

Address: 74 Victoria Rd, Headingley, Leeds LS6 1DL
Google rating: 4.8 from 262 reviews (as held in our directory, October 2026)
Opening hours (directory listing): daily 15:00–21:00

On Victoria Road in Headingley, the student and residential district north-west of the centre. As its name says, birria is the point. It has the strongest Google record of the venues on this page, a high average on a solid number of reviews, and it heads our Leeds ranking. If you are only going to try one birria venue outside London, this has the numbers behind it.

Manchester

Manchester has two venues on this page, and an argument attached. Don Tacos on Wilmslow Road, on the Curry Mile in Rusholme, is described in its directory listing as the home of Britain's first birria tacos. A stall in Camden Market in London makes a similar claim in its listing. We have no way of checking either, so we report both and take neither as settled. What is clear is that the Rusholme venue's listing also mentions habanero lamb chops and tinga de res, a beef version of the chipotle braise better known with chicken, so there is more on the menu than birria. It has no Google figures in our directory. Its Bolton sibling is listed in our North West guide.

El Jefe Birria NORTHERN QUARTER

Address: 8 Dale St, Manchester M1 1JA
Google rating: 4.2 from 37 reviews (as held in our directory, October 2026)
Opening hours (directory listing): Mon–Thu 12:00–21:00 · Fri–Sat 12:00–22:00 · Sun 12:00–21:00

On Dale Street in the Northern Quarter. Birria is in the name. Its Google average rests on fewer than fifty reviews, so treat it as provisional. For the rest of the city, see our Manchester ranking.

Newport and Luton

In Newport, Bab Haus Mex Newport is a vendor inside the revamped Newport Market on the High Street, described in its listing as Welsh-Mexican fusion with loaded tacos, birria and homemade salsas, and with a sister site in Caerphilly. It has no Google figures in our data. Our guide to Mexican restaurants in Cardiff and Wales covers the rest of South Wales.

In Luton, FUZSE Birria on Suffolk Close has a very high Google average, but on a small number of reviews, short of our fifty-review threshold for rankings. It is worth knowing about if you live in Bedfordshire or are passing through the airport.

What birria is

Birria is a regional variation of barbacoa from western Mexico, made mainly with goat, beef or lamb. The meat is marinated in an adobo of vinegar, dried chillies, garlic, herbs and spices and then cooked in a broth. Originally, birria was the name used in and around Jalisco for a form of barbacoa; today, especially in the United States, it is treated as a dish in its own right.

The version that conquered social media comes from Tijuana. In 1950 a taquero called Guadalupe Zárate set up a taco stand there, and Tijuana is where the quesabirria was first developed: a taco stuffed with birria and cheese, often served with a cup of the broth, the consomé, for dipping. It became popular across North America in the 2010s and reached the UK not long after.

What varies from menu to menu

Birria on British menus is not one dish. The meat varies first: beef is the most common in the UK, following the Tijuana style, but lamb appears too, and goat, the meat most associated with birria in western Mexico, is rare. The cheese varies next: some venues serve plain birria tacos and charge extra for the cheese that makes them quesabirria. And then there are the spin-offs that birria's fame has produced, from birria ramen and birria pizza to birria nachos and burritos; birria ramen and nachos, for example, appear in the listing of a London stall. They are not traditional, but they are fun, and our recipe collection has versions of most of them, including birria ramen and birria pizza. If you want the classic, ask for birria tacos with consomé and decide about the cheese yourself.

How to eat it

• Dip, then bite. The consomé is not a soup to be eaten later. Dip each taco and eat it straight away, before the tortilla goes soft.
• Add onion, coriander and lime. They cut through the richness. Most venues put them on the side.
• Drink the rest. Whatever broth is left at the end is meant to be drunk from the cup.
• Look at the tortilla. If the tacos have been griddled, the corn tortillas should be crisp at the edges rather than soggy.

Making birria at home

Birria takes time but very little skill, and it freezes beautifully, so it is a good weekend project for a British kitchen. Beef shin or brisket from any butcher works well, and so does lamb shoulder.

• Our birria tacos with consommé recipe, the Tijuana-style version.
• Our quesabirria recipe, with the cheese.
• Our lamb birria recipe, closer to the goat and lamb versions of western Mexico.
• Our vegan mushroom birria, if you do not eat meat.

For the background, our history of birria and our comparison of barbacoa and birria go deeper.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I eat birria in Leeds?

The birria specialist on Victoria Road in Headingley, which has the strongest Google record of any venue on this page.

Who served Britain's first birria tacos?

Two venues' listings claim it, one in Manchester and one in London. We cannot verify either.

Is birria halal?

It can be, if made with halal beef, goat or lamb. See our guide to halal Mexican food in the UK.

Where can I find more birria?

In London, see our birria guide; elsewhere, our restaurant directory lists every venue we have mapped.

Sources

• Wikipedia, Birria (western Mexico; goat, beef or lamb; Tijuana and quesabirria in the 2010s): en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, Barbacoa: en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, Consommé: en.wikipedia.org