www.chilango.wordpress.com

Everyone’s got a favourite food. What gets our mouths watering is Mexican food. We love the stuff. Unfortunately, living in England means there’s precious little in the way of Mexican inspired food, and what there is, in our humble opinion, just isn’t the real deal.

One of our founders, Eric, grew up in Chicago, where he developed a real passion for Mexican cuisine, regularly dining out on tacos, burritos and the like. But when he came to work in London, there was nowhere he could go to satisfy his cravings. Things were looking desperate. Then Eric met Dan, our other founder, discovered he was also a Mexican food fanatic, and the pair made it their mission to bring the fresh, delicious flavours that they both love to the UK.

Eric and Dan gave up their jobs and embarked on a gastro adventure, looking for culinary inspiration. They went to Mexico City, Zihuatenejo, Ixtapa (and a few other places that we can’t spell), as well as Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco – home to three of the largest Mexican communities in the USA. Along the way they met everyone from street vendors to high-class restaurant chefs, family cooks to fellow foodies.

Their quest? To find out what makes Mexican cuisine so amazing. Inspired by the sheer energy and lust for life they encountered in the Mexican people, not to mention the colour, variety, and unbelievable flavours of the food they tasted, they went into the kitchen and didn’t come out again until their recipes were good enough to share.

At Chilango, what you see is what you get. We don’t hide our chefs away in the kitchen. All our food is prepared in front of you while you wait, using quality, fresh from the market ingredients that are literally bursting with flavour. We take the time and effort needed to make great food. For example, we marinate our tender chicken, and juicy, succulent steak in a tempting blend of chillis and secret spices before grilling them to perfection before your very eyes. And our pork is oven-braised for hours until it’s pull-apart tender and then pan-seared. If you can’t taste the difference in our food, we’ll eat our hats (and remember, sombreros are pretty big).

One more thing, if you’ve ever wondered about our name, Chilango is Mexican slang for someone who’s moved to the bright lights of Mexico City looking for fun and adventure.

We think that sums us up. Passionate, daring and with a large dash of cheeky Latin spirit.