Mex this can on Monday, took her for a taco on Tuesday, we were making mole on Wednesday, and on Thursday and Friday and Saturday, we chilaquiles on Sunday…
Hmm, perhaps one of our more overly ambitious opening segments, but the point remains; in Brighton, there’s enough fantastic Mexican food to see you through the whole week if you were so inclined.
From hole-in-the-wall taco slingers to modern restaurants cooking Mexican food with British ingredients, the city has got you covered.
Yep, if you’re wondering where to eat Mexican food in Brighton, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve scooped the guac, sipped the mezcal and snapped the tostada to find these; the best Mexican restaurants in Brighton.
Taquitos Casa Azul
Ideal a warm Mexican welcome and a traditional taco experience…
Brighton’s Open Market, tucked away off London Road and close to popular Brighton park and meeting point The Level, is one of the city’s most underrated spaces. In this humble market, you’ll find purveyors of fresh local produce and a handful of excellent street food operations, patisseries and cafes.
Whilst we adore the delicate tarts and vibrantly coloured macarons from Real Patissiere, and can’t resist a Bangladeshi snack or two when passing the Spice of Life, our favourite spot here is most definitely Taquitos Casa Azul, a family-run, all Mexican joint serving the most authentic tacos in town.
A visit here is a must if you’re in the area, for their simple, stripped back menu. There’s no Tex Mex, ‘fully loaded’ stuff here, just four types of meat taco – a chicken tinga, a chicken mole, a shredded beef chile colorado and a shredded pork cochinita – and a vegetarian equivalent of each. The corn tortillas are made daily, of course, and the whole thing is just delicious. Pull up a pew at their sole table outside the shopfront and get stuck in.
What’s more, head honcho Gabriel Gutierrez is a fabulous host, offering a warm welcome and a sampling of Casa Azul’s selection of homemade salsas and hot sauces (available to buy by the jar) as you wait to pay the bill. He knows what he’s doing; once you’ve tried the Salsa Chipotle – heady with hibiscus and dried apricot – you’ll be hooked. We add it to everything now; it’s incredible.
Website: casazul.co.uk
Address: Unit 21 Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JG
La Choza
Ideal for crowd pleasing plates close to the station…
In the North Laine’s quirky tangle of narrow streets and independent shops you’ll find La Choza. Really, you’ll find it; the restaurant is rendered in vital shades of pink and yellow that you just can’t miss, with a clutch of tables outside continuing the eye-catching theme via garish floral tablecloths.
That’s not to say the food is brash or distasteful, here. Quite the opposite, in fact; since 2012 La Choza has been producing some of the finest Mexican food in Brighton, with the restaurant gaining national critical acclaim in the form of a glowing review from Tom Parker Bowles in which he wrote that ‘’in this tiny Brighton backstreet, there’s true Mexican magic‘’. You’ll have to find that review yourself; we can’t bring ourselves to link to it.
Where Casa Azul keeps the menu options narrow, La Choza is perhaps a more crowd pleasing offering due to the menu’s DIY format.
That menu is split into three sections – choose your base, choose your filling, choose your salsa – allowing for a fine-tuned feast. We just love the XXtra Hot Naga Salsa, which is mellowed by the addition of mango and will brighten up your order whichever direction you choose to take things.
The restaurant is a no reservations affair; just rock up and enjoy.
Website: lachoza.co.uk
Address: 36 Gloucester Rd, Brighton BN1 4AQ
Ideal Tip: If you’re in the mood for churros after a lunchtime Mexican feast in Brighton, head to Churchill Square where you’ll find a food van serving up freshly made churros until the early evening.
El Bolillo
Ideal for refined Mexican flavours with a fine dining twist…
On Hove’s bustling Church Road, El Bolillo (Mexican slang for ‘white boy’) occupies the former Los Amigos site with ambitious plans to take Mexican cuisine in a decidedly different direction to those brothers and their Tex-Mex leanings. While El Bolillo bills itself as as “not just a taqueria”, tacos are indeed the main feature of the menu, all give a fine dining touch and with a premium price tag to match. At £10-16 for a single taco, you’ll need deep pockets for the full experience. The tasting menu (£75, or £55 for a shortened version) feels like the right move, then.
Chef Greg Clarke brings his experience from Michelin-starred kitchens Midsummer House and The Ledbury to create technically precise tacos that are big on flavour and with enough intrigue in their combinations to keep you ordering more. The highlight of a recent meal here was a pork cheek with eel and meco XO sauce number, served on a hand-pressed masa tortilla. Visually striking, it delivered on flavour too, with an intricate balance that revealed Clarke’s deft touch.
The restaurant’s brutalist-inspired interior features lime-washed walls and earthy ceramics, with just 31 seats (including 10 at the bar) plus a private dining room for 12. Their cocktail menu shows a playful side – try the Cardi B Negroni with Campari, vermouth, gin, hibiscus, and cardamom (hence the name, we assume?) – that again showcases that keen grasp of balance and poise. El Bolillo might make your wallet significantly lighter, but it’s certainly bringing something new to Hove’s dining scene, and we can’t wait to watch it evolve.
Website: elbolillo.co.uk
Address: 60 Church Rd, Hove BN3 2FP
Halisco
Ideal for no frills Mexican drinking snacks and some excellent margaritas…
Finally, we’re heading to Halisco, on Brighton’s beloved ‘restaurant street’, Preston Street. Here, the menu is a little more expansive, with a selection of around salads and ceviche, small plates with a decent vegan focus, and six or so tacos you can really get stuck into. This place is just perfect for parties, we think, with the superb (and superbly strong) house margaritas certainly not harming that sense of conviviality.
Though the restaurant dining room is what an estate agent might charitably call ‘cosy’, there’s a few outdoor seats and benches too, and a raucous vibe that regularly spills out onto the street, too.
It feels like Halisco is getting more ambitious, and with it, national (and even international) recognition is following. Firstly, the restaurant was named by Time Out as one of Brighton’s best in June of last year. And, more recently, it was featured on Adam Richman (of Man v. Food fame) Eats Football. He bloody loved the place!
Website: halisco-brighton.co.uk
Address: 64 Preston St, Brighton BN1 2HE
If a taco craving hits but you’re in London rather than London-by-the-Sea, then fear not; here’s a guide to the best Mexican restaurants in London, too.
