Tacos al Pastor in London: Where to Find the Trompo

Tacos al pastor are the most recognisable taco in Mexico City, and in London they are easier to find than you might expect, though not always in the form you would meet on a street corner in Mexico. In our London listings, 6 venues mention al pastor in their name or directory description. This guide lists them, explains where the dish comes from, and gives you the questions that separate a pork taco cooked on a proper vertical spit from one that only borrows the name.

We have not tasted our way through every venue below, and we do not rate restaurants ourselves. Google figures, where we hold them, are as recorded in our directory in October 2026.

What al pastor is, and why the spit looks familiar

Al pastor is pork marinated in a paste of dried chillies, spices, pineapple and usually achiote, stacked on a vertical rotisserie called a trompo, and shaved off in thin slices onto small corn tortillas. It is normally finished with chopped onion, coriander and a sliver of pineapple.

If the spit reminds you of a kebab shop, that is no accident. Vertical spit-roasting reached Mexico with Lebanese immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who brought shawarma with them. In Puebla, lamb was largely replaced by pork by the 1920s, and a related style, tacos árabes, served in a flatbread, is still associated with that city. Over the following decades, Lebanese Mexican cooks in Mexico City began marinating the pork in a chilli adobo and serving it on corn tortillas, which produced the taco al pastor as it is known today. The exact moment the modern version took shape is not documented, though its popularity is usually linked to the 1960s.

So a trompo in a London taquería is the far end of a long journey: from the eastern Mediterranean to Mexico and on to a British high street that, as it happens, already knew the doner.

Where al pastor appears in our London listings

The table shows every London venue whose name or directory description mentions al pastor or the trompo. Venues with a Google rating come first.

Venue	Address	Google rating (reviews)	Where the dish appears
El Pastor London Bridge	7A Stoney St, London SE1 9AA	4.4 (4,103)	in the venue's name
Angeles at Peckham Arches	Peckham Arches, Unit 6, Dovedale Business Centre, London SE15 4QN	–	in our directory description
El Pastor Battersea	Unit 21-22, Battersea Power Station, London SW11 8EZ	–	in the venue's name
El Pastor King's Cross	Unit 27, Coal Drops Yard, London N1C 4DQ	–	in the venue's name
El Pastor Soho	66-70 Brewer Street, London W1F 9UP	–	in the venue's name
Tacos Padre	Borough Market Kitchen, Winchester Walk, London SE1 9AG	–	in our directory description

Most of the rows belong to one restaurant group that has taken the dish's name as its own, with sites at London Bridge, Soho, King's Cross and Battersea. A name is not a guarantee of method, so if the spit matters to you, ask. The other rows are a Borough Market counter and a Peckham residency, both of which are smaller operations whose menus can change.

The venues in detail

What our directory holds for each. Market and residency hours vary, so check before you travel.

El Pastor London Bridge

Address: 7A Stoney St, London SE1 9AA
Google rating: 4.4 from 4,103 reviews (as held in our directory, October 2026)
Opening hours (directory listing): Mon–Sat 12:00–23:00 · Sun 12:00–22:00
Website: tacoselpastor.co.uk

On Stoney Street, at the edge of Borough Market, and the only venue in the table with a Google rating in our data. Its large review count makes it one of the most reviewed Mexican venues in London.

Tacos Padre

Address: Borough Market Kitchen, Winchester Walk, London SE1 9AG
Opening hours (directory listing): Mon closed · Tue–Fri 10:00–17:00 · Sat 09:00–17:00 · Sun 10:00–16:00

A counter in Borough Market Kitchen on Winchester Walk, a short walk from the venue above. Our directory description lists al pastor alongside suadero and carnitas, which makes it a good place to compare three classic Mexico City taco fillings in one sitting.

El Pastor Soho

Address: 66-70 Brewer Street, London W1F 9UP
Opening hours (directory listing): Mon–Tue 12:00–23:00 · Wed–Sat 12:00–24:00 · Sun 12:00–20:00
Website: tacoselpastor.co.uk

On Brewer Street in Soho, convenient for the West End and Piccadilly Circus.

El Pastor King's Cross

Address: Unit 27, Coal Drops Yard, London N1C 4DQ
Opening hours (directory listing): Mon 17:00–23:00 · Tue–Wed 12:00–23:00 · Thu–Fri 12:00–23:30 · Sat 12:00–15:00, 17:00–23:30 · Sun 12:00–22:00
Website: tacoselpastor.co.uk

In Coal Drops Yard, the converted railway buildings behind King's Cross and St Pancras.

Angeles at Peckham Arches

Address: Peckham Arches, Unit 6, Dovedale Business Centre, London SE15 4QN
Opening hours (directory listing): Mon–Tue closed · Wed 17:00–23:00 · Thu 16:00–23:00 · Fri 16:00–midnight · Sat 14:00–midnight · Sun 14:00–21:00

A residency at Peckham Arches in south-east London. Our directory description mentions tacos al pastor with pineapple and limited trading days, so check its own channels before going.

How to tell a good al pastor taco

You do not need to be an expert to judge the dish. Watch and ask about four things.

• Is there a trompo? The defining feature is the vertical spit, with the meat cooking in layers and the outer edge charring as it turns. Pork cooked on a flat griddle and called al pastor is a different, simpler dish.
• Is it shaved to order? Thin slices cut from the spit as you order keep the crisp edges that make the taco.
• What is the tortilla? Small corn tortillas, ideally pressed from nixtamalised masa. Nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime, is one of the techniques UNESCO named when it inscribed traditional Mexican cuisine on its intangible heritage list in 2010.
• Is there pineapple? A sliver of pineapple from the top of the spit is traditional in Mexico City, though it is not universal.

Al pastor beyond the taco

Once a kitchen has a trompo, the pork turns up in other formats too. You may see it in gringas, flour tortillas with melted cheese and al pastor, or in alambres, a griddled mix of meat, peppers and cheese. Both are explained in our taquería meat and cut glossary, which also covers suadero, carnitas and the other fillings you will find at the same counter.

If you want to try the flavours at home without a spit, our cabrito al pastor recipe shows the adobo, and the pasilla chilli salsa is a good partner for any pork taco. For a taco night with several fillings, our guide to hosting a taco night covers quantities and timings.

Other London guides

For London's Mexican restaurants ranked by Google rating, see our London ratings guide. For the slow-cooked side of the taco world, read our guide to birria in London. The area guides for central and west London and south London cover the venues near each of the sites above.

Frequently asked questions

Is al pastor the same as a doner kebab?

They share an ancestor. Both come from vertical spit-roasting, which reached Mexico with Lebanese immigrants. Al pastor uses pork in a chilli and achiote marinade and is served on corn tortillas.

Why is there pineapple on al pastor?

Pineapple is part of the marinade and is often placed on top of the spit, with slices added to the taco. Accounts differ on who first added it.

Which London venues use a trompo?

Our directory records which venues mention al pastor, not their equipment. If the spit matters to you, ask before you order.

Is al pastor spicy?

The marinade is built on dried chillies for colour and depth rather than heat. The heat comes from the salsas you add.

Sources

• Wikipedia, Al pastor (Lebanese shawarma, Puebla, the trompo): en.wikipedia.org
• UNESCO, Traditional Mexican cuisine: ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm (inscribed 2010): ich.unesco.org