KOL (*), London

I love Mexican food, and went in with high expectations. Creative and playful menu with a focus on British ingredients and Mexican heritage corn, with some risky decisions (not all of which worked well, unfortunately).

The stuff that I really liked-
* Langoustine taco- incredibly tender and fresh langoustine tail, great tortilla. You have to squeeze the brains out of the head yourself
* Wagyu huarache- supplementary, and probably the best dish. Incredibly flavourful meat, great crispy tortilla
* Nicoatole- Google says this is more traditionally a flan dessert. Here they have retained the flan as a base, but made it a savoury creation with fresh vegetables and caviar
* Mole- Not quite at the level of Pujol’s mole madre, but still very good.
* Barbacoa- great meat, great tortilla (again). I do wish they hadn’t toned down the level of heat.
* The snacks- my favourite was the one with mussel and pickled tulip.

As mentioned earlier, IMO a few of creations didn’t quite work well- scallop with rhubarb is the main one.

They also have a great selection of agave spirits. There’s a mezcalaria in the basement that I mean to check out sometime.

Staff were great; very friendly and informal while still maintaining a very high standard of service. They invited me on quick tour of the kitchen and offered to let me try my hand at toasting some tortillas on the comal.

Overall, not quite at the level of Quintonil or Pujol yet, but still a great restaurant and def one to check out in London.