Mexican food in the UK

Is that on Gabriel Street, Chary?  We tried that place and I had some good nachos, but anyone can make nachos.  I wasnt impressed with the place as a whole especially b/c they kept calling a Quesadilla a "mexican pasty".... ugh.

Is that on Gabriel Street, Chary?  We tried that place and I had some good nachos, but anyone can make nachos.  I wasnt impressed with the place as a whole especially b/c they kept calling a Quesadilla a "mexican pasty".... ugh.

That's the one! I got the name wrong - it's The Mex. I'd glad to hear the nachos are good. Were the quesadillas OK, despite the stupid name? Mexican pasty! Heeee!

Why isn't Mexican food popular in the UK?  Well, let's see.  It could be the lack of availability of ingredients, the lack of cultural connection to Mexico, or, I don't know, maybe the fact that the UK is a different country than the US?  Honestly, I am baffled by how baffled you are about this.  If you want things to be exactly as you know them, it's probably best not to move to a foreign country.  

I said Mexican food is wide spread in the world, it wouldn't make much sense if i was talking only about the US. As for your other arguments i'm afraid they don't wash. Mexican food comes from Spain and Mexico shared a culture exchange with Spain. As for ingredients, beans, chili and tortilla's are not ingredients that are hard to get a hold of. So my question stands as it was originally given, why had Mexican food not caught on so well in the UK?

Moving to a foreign country that doesnt have the things i'm accustomed to? dont worry, I always find a way to get the things that i need. You see, i'm an American.

Oddly, where I grew up and where I spent most of my adult life thus far (Central NJ and New York City, respectively), it's much easier to find good Indian than Mexican food. Other than places like Chipotle and Baja Fresh, most of the Mexican places around here are on eh, if not downright pretty bad (I worked at one of the pretty bad ones for 2+ years so I know!). I never found a really great Mexican restaurant in the city. Definitely some not bad but not great, like I've had in SoCal and Arizona everywhere. Indian food, on the other hand, is prevalent, and I think pretty good, thanks to the large Indian population we have here. My home congressional district in NJ has the highest proportion of Indian-Americans in the country.

Oddly, where I grew up and where I spent most of my adult life thus far (Central NJ and New York City, respectively), it's much easier to find good Indian than Mexican food.

I had to move to Jersey to find that out unfortunately!! I'm drowning myself in guacamole while still in SoCal for another month.

I have found a great site in UK to order Tex Mex and Mex spices, chiles etc from. How hard is it getting tortillas? I need to maintain my taco sunday ritual once there. Maybe it will become taco salad sunday(?)

Oddly, where I grew up and where I spent most of my adult life thus far (Central NJ and New York City, respectively), it's much easier to find good Indian than Mexican food. Other than places like Chipotle and Baja Fresh, most of the Mexican places around here are on eh, if not downright pretty bad (I worked at one of the pretty bad ones for 2+ years so I know!). I never found a really great Mexican restaurant in the city. Definitely some not bad but not great, like I've had in SoCal and Arizona everywhere. Indian food, on the other hand, is prevalent, and I think pretty good, thanks to the large Indian population we have here. My home congressional district in NJ has the highest proportion of Indian-Americans in the country.

same here in LA, i see indian food places all the time. unlike mexican in the UK, hard as i looked i could never spot one lol. i assume when i move there wherever i end up i'll have to break out a phone book and look for a place, if its not in this thread

Mexican food comes from Spain and Mexico shared a culture exchange with Spain.

Mexican food comes from Mexico. Spanish food comes from Spain (I'm stating the obvious here, I think)... Spanish food is not the same as Mexican food.

If you want Spanish food, then there are plenty of tapas restaurants around, but I've never seen any beans, chilli or tortillas in a Spanish restaurant before. If you look on this Wiki page about Spanish dishes, you'll be hard pressed to find any dishes containing chilli, beans or tortillas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_dishes

As for ingredients, beans, chili and tortilla's are not ingredients that are hard to get a hold of. So my question stands as it was originally given, why had Mexican food not caught on so well in the UK?

And my previous answer stands: because the UK has had very little cultural influence from Mexico/Latin America, and so a lot of people here don't really have any reason or desire to eat Mexican food.

Plus, in general, apart from curry, the British tend to prefer blander food... they are even advertising 'extra mild' Old El Paso fajita kits in the supermarkets . I'm a Brit and couldn't stand spicy/Mexican-style food at all until I actually lived in New Mexico at age 20 and discovered the wonders of green chile and Mexican/New Mexican cuisine... I miss it so much !

My home congressional district in NJ has the highest proportion of Indian-Americans in the country.

Yay New Jersey!    I think I know just where you might be from.  I lived in Edison for a while, and if anyone were to take a stroll down Oak Tree Road, they'd find plenty of Indian restaurants, not to mention clothing and jewelery stores.

I've been to a chain called Las Iguanas (both the Birmingham and Nottingham locations) which describes their food as "Latin American"  which had some very tasty food (I especially enjoyed the Sweet potato, butternut squash & chickpeas chili mmmmm)

http://www.iguanas.co.uk/pdf_menus/las-iguanas-birmingham-food-menu.pdf

I've been to a chain called Las Iguanas [/url]

Ooh ive been to the Soho one and theres one in Reading and I thought it was yummy!

Theres plenty of mexican places around they're just not very good - you'd be better off making your own, thats what we do! You can get fajitas at places like Old Orleans and TGI's but again they're not great and the portions (especially sour cream!) are tiny

Mexican food comes from Spain and Mexico shared a culture exchange with Spain. As for ingredients, beans, chili and tortilla's are not ingredients that are hard to get a hold of. So my question stands as it was originally given, why had Mexican food not caught on so well in the UK?

I agree with those posters about the lack of Mexican immigrants as a big part of the reason there is not a prevalence of good Mexican restaurants.

A British friend was telling me that Thai food became popular in the UK, after Thailand became a popular holiday destination.  So, using that logic, perhaps another reason is I don't think that Mexico was a hugely popular tourist destination for Brits in years past.  However Mr. K and I went on holiday in Cancun last year and half the people at the resort were from the UK.  So, I wouldn't be surprised if Mexican food becomes more popular in the near future, as more people visit and enjoy the food.  

As for Mexican food and Spanish food...my experience has been that they are totally different.  A tortilla in Mexican food is a type of flat bread made from corn or wheat flour and a tortilla in Spain is a potato and egg pie, bearing more resemblance to a quiche than anything like a Mexican tortilla.  And Mexican chorizo is nothing like a Spanish chorizo.  In my opinion, Spanish food has more in common with its European neighbors than it does with Mexico.  

As for finding the ingredients...of course you can find them.  But other than flour tortillas, you are not just going to find them on the grocery shelf as easily as you do in the States.  And the further you are from a large metropolitan area like London, it is even harder. (Don't get me started on what Old El Paso tries to  pass off as corn tortillas.)  As my father used to say, if you want something enough, you will find a way to make it happen.  The Mexgrocer site is a great place to start.

I've been to a chain called Las Iguanas (both the Birmingham and Nottingham locations) which describes their food as "Latin American"  which had some very tasty food (I especially enjoyed the Sweet potato, butternut squash & chickpeas chili mmmmm)

http://www.iguanas.co.uk/pdf_menus/las-iguanas-birmingham-food-menu.pdf

I went to Las Iguanas in Notts last year and had a Chimichanga. I have to say it was pretty good! It filled that Mexican craving that I was having.

We used to have a very good Mexican restaurant in my town. It was owned by a doctor at the local hospital who usually did the cooking. My partner at the time knew him as she worked at the hospital.
The food was excellent, authentic to the area of Mexico he and his wife were from, lots of mole sauce.
It was open for about 18 months. I recall going in after about 12 months and he came to the table and said to us "although it's not on the menu, we've started doing chilli con carne and fajitas because lots of people ask for it", the look on his face was as though a part of his soul had died!
The last time we went in was for my ex-partner's birthday and I was thinking of a couple of dishes I'd never tried before but thought "I'll try that next time" and had something I'd had before and really liked. After we'd ordered his wife came up and informed us it was their last night and they were closing because trade wasn't good (it was packed on this night) and gave us some small ornaments that they'd used to decorate the place.

No matter how desperate, do not give into Discovery.

Around central-ish London there are quite a few Mexican-ish places springing up. Wahaca is quite good.  My favourite is Pachanga in Marlow, I have mentioned it before, really excellent food - Mexican owner & chefs.