Breddos, Clerkenwell

The guys behind Breddos Tacos are on a mission, and a well-timed mission at that. Starting out as only a street food truck, just as the taco revolution in London was starting too, they brought the exotic and quirky into one and made it entirely accessible. 

I remember trying Breddos at Street Feast’s Dinerama for the first time a few years ago, and it blew my mind. The delicately piled taco had all the bright colours you’d associate with Mexico; purple corn tortilla, your chosen filling, and then a whip of green avocado, sprinkles of bright white sprouts and some picked radish or onion. Biting in to one gets your mouth incredible excited because of all of the textures and flavour hits as you get through the various ingredients. 

Now, with their own bricks and mortar spot in Clerkenwell, they are well and truly continuing on the up. With their very own and very precise 12cm corn tortilla maker and the creative space to be more adventurous, this place is usually pretty packed out with an average waiting time of 1hr in the evenings. 

Inside they’ve made clever use of the space, with booths, a communal table and a bar stool side before the open kitchen. The decor is kept simple so the fun art work on the walls are the focus; it all feels very hip and now without being too weird and intimidating. 

As is my standard when having tacos, I always go for one beef, one fish and then either a chicken or a pork. The beef short rib is a staple with them and I’m guessing one of the most popular with it’s softness and richness. The fried chicken is still good though I felt like something was missing this time, maybe I just didn’t get quite enough of the pico de gallo to add some more moistness. For the fish, I opted for the octopus tostada and that was a special one indeed! Loaded, and I mean loaded, with diced tangy octopus on a perfectly crisp tostada I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get it all in, but I managed! The meat was on the right side of chewy and incredibly moreish even though it wasn’t something you could really scoff quickly. 

We also ordered the Queso Fundido with chorizo, well because you’ve always got to have some of that incredible Oaxaco cheese when having Mexican. It was perfectly stringy and tangy and soft, but to my surprise I really couldn’t find any or much chorizo in there. The potato crisps served with it which have also been nixtamalised are good but a little odd, only because they’re massive (not ever really a bad thing) and also they’re quite thick and hard. It might be my inauthentic self here but I would have really enjoyed them with some plain odd tortilla chips instead. 

I loved visiting Breddo’s first restaurant and I’ll definitely be returning, I’m just not sure if either the taco game in London has gotten so good that the previous set-the-bar Breddos’ Good is now just good or if I just prefer their tacos sitting outdoors in a busy food market. I best go back again just to double check!