A new eatery has opened on the fringe of Borough Market, Southwark's most eclectic culinary hotspot. Folded inside a narrow railway arch, El Pastór offers a contemporary twist on a traditional taqueria, serving spicy tacos, quesadillas, tostadas and aguachiles from an open kitchen not much larger than a street food cart.
Acclaimed proprietors the Hart Brothers (of Barrafina fame) enlisted the help of Michaelis Boyd Associates to dress and shape the intimate space. They've kept things refreshingly raw and simple, so as to highlight the location's existing features - most prominently, the atmospheric curved ceiling.
Choice new additions from the designers include an emerald green conglomerate marble bar, repurposed stainless steel window frames, and a lighting design best described as a fiesta of fairylights.
Fiery small plates pile onto Pyrolave tabletops, of which the chargrilled stonebass and pineapple taco is a particular hit. To whit, a drinks menu boasts multiple mezcal choices. The smoother, smokier cousin of tequila is served in carafes and sipped from hardened pomegranate shells, sweetened by hefty wedges of blood orange.
The no-booking policy often sees a healthy line of customers snaking through the covered market outside, but with the promise of Mexican warmth and bottomless Mezcal ebbing from El Pastór's shutter-shopfront, who's complaining?
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
7A Stoney Street
-
Audi launches AUDI, a China-only sub-brand, with a handsome new EV conceptThe AUDI E previews a new range of China-specific electric vehicles from the German carmaker’s new local sub-brand
-
Inside Izza Marrakech: A new riad where art and bohemian luxury meetHonouring the late Bill Willis’ hedonistic style, Izza Marrakech fuses traditional Moroccan craftsmanship with the best of contemporary art
-
Clocking on: the bedside analogue timepieces that won’t alarm your aestheticWe track down the only tick-tocks that matter, nine traditional alarm clocks that tell the time with minimum fuss and maximum visual impact
-
First look at Belmond’s new ‘romantic and nostalgic’ luxury trainBelmond introduces the Britannic Explorer, the first high-end sleeper train experience in England and Wales
-
London bar Bauhaus Warehaus is a factory by day, drinking den by nightMixologist of the moment Remy Savage shakes up the world of cocktail-making with a hardworking sibling to A Bar with Shapes for a Name, his Bauhaus-inspired bar enterprise in east London
-
First look at 19 Motcomb Street, Belgravia’s iconic Pantechnicon reinventedFormer Nordic-Japanese design and dining hub Pantechnicon reopens as 19 Motcomb Street with a trio of food and beverage concepts
-
Where to eat Italian food in LondonFrom four-course blow-outs to the perfect pizza , food critic Ben McCormack recommends London's best Italian restaurants to have on your radar
-
Out of office: from Loewe loafers to volcanic views, the Wallpaper* editors' picks of the weekWhat the Wallpaper* team have been eating, seeing, wearing and crucially, enjoying, this week
-
Explore Cornwall's cosiest coffee shopsCornwall is known for its natural beauty and stunning landscape, here is our pick of coffee shops to enjoy the views and refuel
-
Out of office: What the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekTeam Wallpaper* are hard to pin down. Here's what our editors have been up to this week that might inspire your own downtime, from films to food, architours to musical interludes
-
First look at Soma 2.0: a new nighttime highlight in east LondonFresh from its Soho roots, this newly opened London bar is set to redefine Canary Wharf’s nightlife – not least with its Indian-flavour-twist cocktails, as Neil Ridley discovers
