When an invitation lands promising an evening of tacos, frozen margaritas and a DJ spinning until late, all in honour of David Beckham’s favourite Miami taco joint landing in London, you cancel your Thursday night plans and you dig out your stretchiest waistband. Yesterday evening, Carolina and I did exactly that, and we are still thinking about the pork.
Coyo Taco has taken over a sleek spot on The Broadway in St James’s Park, practically within waving distance of Big Ben, which feels wonderfully surreal when you have a frozen margarita in one hand and a taco in the other. The location is a gift. You can gaze at London icons while planning your next order, and believe me, you will be planning your next order.
I have eaten Mexican food across Mexico and California more times than I can count, which obviously makes me an insufferable enchilada and taco expert and I am absolutely fine with that. I know when tortillas have been pressed by hand and when guacamole has been smashed to order rather than sulking in a tub since Tuesday. So trust me when I tell you: this is the real thing. The corn tortillas are fresh and pillowy with just the right amount of chew. The guac is gloriously chunky and zinging with lime. But the meat, oh the meat. Whether chicken or pork, every single filling has been slow cooked to the point of collapse, juicy and deeply savoury and so generous that Carolina and I kept ordering “just one more to share” until the table looked like a taco battlefield and we had to undo a button.
We are not novices. We knew what we were doing. We simply chose to do it anyway.
The frozen margaritas are as lethal as promised. They need no introduction, as the menu says, but they do need a gentle warning. Slippery, slushy, dangerously drinkable and the perfect antidote to a warm London evening. Tequila and mezcal take centre stage in the hidden late night speakeasy, Bar Coyo, where the truly committed can even hire a tequila locker to store their own bottle between visits. That is either a stroke of genius or a fast track to becoming a regular, and I am not sure my liver needs the encouragement.
The vibe is pure Miami meets London. DJ decks are built into the bar, so the music thrums through the room without ever being so loud you cannot gossip, and the walls will soon host rotating murals from local artists, a nod to the brand’s Wynwood roots. By the time the bass kicked in and the second round of margaritas arrived, Carolina and I were plotting how to move in.
This is, quite simply, a brilliant night out. The daytime all-day dining with breakfast chilaquiles and Mexican coffee will no doubt make it a family friendly pit stop too, but last night was strictly grown ups behaving badly with napkins. David Beckham, Will Smith, Diplo and even Barack Obama have all given Coyo Taco their blessing, and now London finally gets a turn.
Go hungry. Wear stretch. Order one of everything. And if you see two women by the bar arguing passionately over the last al pastor taco, do be a love and look the other way.
Coyo Taco, The Broadway, St James’s Park, London. Open now for all-day dining with Bar Coyo keeping things lively late into the night. https://coyotaco.co.uk/
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
