Trejo’s Tacos UK:  Bad Hombre, Great Comida

His name is Trejo. And once you see his face, you will never forget it.

It is a face that carries its autobiography on the surface, every line and tattoo a chapter from a life that began in Pacoima, a rough pocket of the San Fernando Valley where options were scarce. He made his first drug deal at seven. His uncle introduced him to heroin at twelve. His teens and twenties ran through dealing, car theft, and armed robbery, with extended stays at San Quentin and Folsom prisons pulling the years from him one by one. He walked free in 1969 with a commitment to sobriety he kept for over fifty years, and went to work as a drug counsellor.

Then Hollywood found him, or rather he found Hollywood, on the set of Runaway Train in 1985 as a visitor who happened to look exactly like what every casting director in Los Angeles had been trying to manufacture. Four hundred screen credits followed: Machete, Heat, Con Air, Desperado, Breaking Bad, From Dusk Till Dawn. Even Anthony Bourdain was a fan. In 2016 he opened the first Trejo's Tacos on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, built around what he called mindful Mexican cuisine: sustainably sourced ingredients, recipes carried through generations of his family, the stuff that makes you feel good rather than punish you. Seven locations grew from that first one. The Trejos Tacos UK Portobello Road site, which opened in February 2024, is the first outside the United States.

Trejo's sits in a row of shops, eateries, and bars on Portobello Road.  On Fridays and Saturdays, when the market runs its full length from Notting Hill Gate all the way north and the street fills with traders selling antiques, vintage clothing, fruit and food stalls, the restaurant catches a different crowd: people who have spent the morning browsing and want to sit down properly before the afternoon takes them somewhere else.

For some it is a destination. Portobello Road pulls visitors from across the city, and the name Trejo travels further still. But most people who come on a Tuesday or a Wednesday walked from a few streets away and will walk home again after. It is that kind of place. Comfortable as your favourite joggers. Somewhere to meet friends, bend the elbow, have a good meal, and call it a night.

Décor, Setting & Vibe

You cannot walk past without stopping. The exterior is covered in a three-storey graffiti portrait of Trejo, black on black, the kind of image that looks better in person than in photographs because the scale of it only registers when you are standing on the pavement looking up.

Inside, the space is built around a long counter lined with tequila and mezcal from floor to ceiling, the kind of selection that takes a minute to take in properly. The decor reference Mexico with cacti and trailing plants and a southwestern patterned scatter of cushions. This is clearly Trejo banded with his face appearing  on the walls in murals, on the plates, on the napkins.

One wall carries a painting of luchadores in full ceremonial masks, caught in exaggerated romantic scenes with beautiful women, colourful and slightly surreal and entirely at home in the room. The music runs to acoustic guitar and indie at a volume that still allows conversation. Downstairs, a basement mezcal speakeasy with DJs runs until half past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Chow Time: It's about the Food

The menu is rooted in California-style Mexican street food and makes no apology for it. Tortillas, made in-house with masa ground fresh, are the foundation of almost everything. Starters run to chips with guacamole made from Hass avocados with jalapeño, lime, and pistachio, a cheesy bean dip of farmers market beans with three cheeses and escabeche jalapeños, elote served as proper street corn, nachos loaded with beans, chipotle crema, and pico de gallo, and a shrimp tostada. The taco menu covers OG beer-battered cod, carnitas with slow-cooked pork and fermented hot sauce, steak asada with pepita pesto (Anthony Bourdain's order, for those keeping score), roasted cauliflower, jackfruit, and a chicken tikka option that nods, lightly, to the neighbourhood. Mains extend to burritos, rice bowls, whole chargrilled sea bass, and ribeye. Churros with Mexican chocolate and caramel flan close things out. Portions are large. This is food that means it.

Shrimp Tostada

A flat crisp shell, properly made, bearing shrimp that are thick and fresh rather than the small frozen things that populate too many versions of this dish. The toppings sit on top rather than drowning what is underneath, so the shrimp actually read on the palate. Clean and sharp, the kind of starter that tells you the kitchen is paying attention to sourcing.

Spicy Shrimp Tacos, Diablo Sauce

The diablo sauce is not decorative. It brings real heat with persistence behind it, and the pineapple salsa that comes with the taco has enough acidity and sweetness to keep the heat in conversation rather than letting it run away with the dish. Pickled onion adds a sharp brightness, avocado crème brings it back down. The shrimp, again, are the thing: thick, well-cooked, holding their texture through the sauce rather than dissolving into it. The balance across all the components is more considered than the casual format suggests.

Beef Barbacoa Burrito

When it arrives, your first thought is that there is no way you're going to finish it. But as you dig in, you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or in this case, the possibility of returning an empty plate. It is as full of flavour as it is of heft, with well seasoned meat that is marinated through rather than just coated on the surface. Pico de gallo and salsa roja sit alongside it, the freshness of the tomato and onion cutting through the richness of the meat. The portions here are beyond the generous side of large. Arriving hungry is not optional, it is the whole point.

The Bar & After Hours

Trejo has been sober for over fifty years, which makes it quietly remarkable that he built one of the favourite Notting Hill watering holes. The margarita list covers jalapeño, Fresno chile, blood orange, frozen mango with a chilli-salted rim, cucumber and cilantro with a Tajin rim, and horchata with mezcal. The Lavender Paloma and the frozen OG Margarita are the signatures. Fresh citrus throughout, no synthetic mixers. The tequila and mezcal list behind the bar is serious enough to take its time with. Pineapple picante, for those who prefer the heat coming from the glass rather than the plate.

After dinner, the basement takes over. The speakeasy runs until half past midnight on weekends with DJs and dancing, and the transition between the two happens naturally because the space was designed for the whole evening rather than just the meal. It is the kind of place that is genuinely difficult to leave before you have intended to.

London restaurants come and go like the trains. They open full, run hot for a season, and disappear before the neighbourhood has finished forming an opinion. Portobello Road has watched a few of them. Trejo's Tacos is two years in now, with no signs of slowing down.  Here is to many decades more of it.