Authentic Mexican Taquerías in the UK

A proper taquería isn't judged by the length of its menu but by how well it does three or four things: the tortilla, the cooking of the meat and the salsa. Across the UK there are now 86 verified Mexican taquerías, from small family-run sites led by chefs from Mexico City, Puebla or the Yucatán, to contemporary projects that nixtamalise their own maize in-house and import chiles directly from Oaxaca or Puebla.

Most serious taquerías in the UK work with their own nixtamalised masa (increasingly made from imported Mexican maize: white, blue, yellow or cacahuazintle), rather than industrial tortillas. The most common preparations are al pastor (pork marinated in dried chilli adobo, achiote and pineapple, cooked on a vertical trompo), suadero (a cut of beef between brisket and flank, browned in a copper cazo with lard), birria (a beef or goat stew from Jalisco, now hugely popular in quesabirria format), cochinita pibil (pork marinated in recado rojo and slow-cooked in banana leaf) and chicharrón en salsa verde.

How to spot a good taquería: look at the tortilla (it should be soft, freshly made, with the aroma of nixtamalised maize, not industrial), the salsas on the table (at least two: a green tomatillo one and a red one, ideally a habanero one as well), and the service style (long shared tables or high bar, not formal tablecloths). Taco prices in the UK typically range from £3 to £6; below that, shortcuts are usually being taken.