covent garden | Fork & Talk

Friday night after work my friend asked me to meet her in one of the most exciting Mexican spots in Covent Garden. It was a little tricky to find it, disguised above La Perla bar, accessed through a narrow door. If you don’t have a booking, you must be feeling lucky – place is so small, you will feel like you’ve won a lottery if the hostess lets you go upstairs.

The size of this restaurant is one of the charms. It felt like you walk into someone’s living room decorated with a massive chandelier and stunning paintings. Being a Mexican restaurant, there was no cactus in sight, which was nice for change. Restaurant was fully booked so we perched by the tapas bar, which was perfect for a girlie catch up with my friend.

El Nivel is famous for agave spirits. In fact Tomas Estes, ambassador to Europe for tequila and owner of this establishment, was drinking with friends next to us. Unfortunately we didn’t get to try the tequila but settled for some very fancy frozen fruit cocktails.

So about 15 minutes into our time there the food started coming. We decided to sample a few dishes from every section – meats, seafood and vegetarian.

Food is Mexican with an Asian touch. You will find your usual tortilla is replaced by Chinese pancake. Which makes it a refreshing dish!

We also ate pork belly chicharones which were amazing, scallops were even better and garlic and creme potatoes were fabulous. Every dish was delicious, I just wish we didn’t pretend to be classy ladies but rolled our sleeves up and tucked in properly.

From the first bite El Nivel made it on my list of one of the best restaurants in central and I look forward to bringing all my friends here one by one.