Crazy Homies , Westbourne Park, London

[brokentelephone]

I recently ate at Crazy Homies, a small mexican restaurant in Westbourne Park Area in Notting Hill. Considering the dearth of quality mexican restaurants here in London I was quite excited to try this place on the recommendation of my American friend (she attends Cordon Bleu in London... so I do value her opinion... plus she grew up in the States, where I believe Mexican food is probably more prolific than hamburger joints!).

Upon arrival I was already impressed. The place has a real Mexico-city trendster aesthetic. Sort of like the Mexican version of Hoxton, but far more fun and brighter... I really liked the look of the place, and the servers, etc., all looked very cool. The place is quite cramped, though, which fits quite nicely and makes it all the more fun.

The drinks are ALL tequila based, which is good if you like tequila (which I dont... usually) but despite this I found their margaritas to be excellent! They muddled lots of real fruit and were quite heavy-handed with the liquor, albeit premium varieties! I've never really tried premium tequila (aside from shots.. which i still find repulsive), and strangely, it is actually not as gag-inducing as Jose Cuervo, etc.!

As soon as we sat down we ordered chips and salsa, which were GREAT! They make their own chips which are very thin and crispy. Most tortillas in the UK are really thick and generally terrible, as is the store-bought salsa (usually low-quality american brands). The salsa was all freshly made and on par with anything I've had in the US.

Main course I had a Chicken Enchilada which is comprised of a fresh flour tortilla filled with soft-baked chicken, and then covered with enchilada sauce and cheese. It was served with beans and rice, both of which were quite tasty. I usually order beef in American mexican places so i cannot really compare, but hte chicken was very soft and very tasty.

Overall, I would definitely return and recommend this place to anyone that wants mexican in London. In my experiences, it is the best mexican in london, and possibly some of the best mexican i've had outside mexico/US.

JOsh.

[Hallie]

Amazing. Could it be? A good Mexican restaurant has actually landed on our doorsteps at last?

I'm really excited about this, but I've been excited (and disappointed) before. Sounds promising though.

[vytoh]

Sounds yummy - I'll have to try it out soon!

If you want an alternative, I strongly recommend that you get yourself to Green & Red, if you haven't already. It is a tequila bar and has a similarly impressive tequila menu (and yes, a lot of their cocktails are based on tequila, but their bar staff have a lot of years of experience in various high quality bars in London and will make almost anything you want, or didn't know that you wanted)

But it's their food that I love. They specialise in dishes from Jalisco (where tequila is from) and it's all just divine. Their mains are delicious and far from the sub-standard tex-mex fare that passes for authentic mexican in this city. I love the birria, the meltingly tender and delicious carnitas, the corn fed chicken roasted with achiote, and the fried sea bream - all served with wonderful little white corn tortillas freshly steamed, and all the sides (salsa mexicana, frijoles, guacamole)

and if i have room I try to sneak a bite of my partners Arroz de leche (rice pudding with fat raisins which are soaked in a tequila)

Mestizo does a broader range of mexican dishes (eg. a decent molcajete and mole) , but I love the feel of Green & Red (plus it's my local - it helps!) - I have a couple of friends who are mexican who rate it. In their words, it's not a good as you can find in Mexico, but it's the best they've had here in London!

[naebody]

I've been to Taqueria a couple of times in recent months, which seems to have sorted itself out after a shambolic opening that everyone assumed would prove fatal. Snackbar/fast food style, fairly cheap (in Westbourne Park terms), but with an interesting street food menu rather than the usual Tex-Mex. It's not going to compete with Green & Red in terms of consistency, but it still stands up well against the direct competition (ie: a burger, a curry or a Chinese). Anyone after pile of nopales and a Negro Modello could do considerably worse.

[Soapy Joe]

Red and Green at the top end of Brick Lane is a good (newish) Mexican restaurant. Definitely the best one i have found in London, at least.

[KristainLondon]

I really liked Green & Red, but if you are American and expecting Tex Mex, that's not what they're about. It's more regional cuisine. The chips and guac they served us were piddly. Chicago has the second-largest Mexican population after LA and I've never seen pork belly on a Mexican menu in Chicago. (Then again, I have yet to try Topalobampo.)

Crazy Homies is the closest approximation to Tex-Mex I've found (excellently large servings of chips and guac and three different salsas!), along with the dodgy Cafe El Paso on Old Street. (It's been ages since I've been there though. It was a pretty amusing experience to say the least: http://kristainlondon.typepad.com/dining/2...an_dirty_b.html

The other day, I checked out Daddy Donkey, the burrito stand on Leather Lane close to Farringdon Tube. It was very good. But not really a destination. Unless you, like me, are really hankering for a burrito.

I liked Taqueria for the cocktails. Our server explained that their food was very "local" and "authentic." This meant that their servings, at the time, were very "small." But still tasty.