Mexican Fusion Restaurants in the UK

Mexican fusion or contemporary Mexican has been the great movement in Mexican cooking in the UK over the past ten years. Restaurants that start from Mexican ingredients (dried chillies, herbs such as hoja santa or epazote, nixtamalised masa, artisanal mezcal) but combine them with European technique, local British produce, or Asian influences as in the case of Mexican-Nikkei cooking.

Among the most recognised projects in the UK are KOL (London, with a MICHELIN star awarded to chef Santiago Lastra for showcasing Mexican flavours through British produce), and a small but growing wave of fine-dining concepts in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. They work with seasonal British produce — Cornish crab, Scottish langoustines, Hereford beef, Welsh lamb — and reinvent it with Mexican techniques: aguachiles with native tomatoes, prawn tacos with chile de árbol, black mole with venison or wood pigeon.

Who it's for: diners after Mexican cooking that goes beyond the nachos-and-burritos cliché, prepared to spend £70 to £180 per person (à la carte or tasting menu with mezcal pairing). Most of these restaurants need to be booked 1-2 weeks in advance, sometimes longer for weekends.