The old adage that London, while arguably the best city in the world for food and drink, just can’t do anything vaguely Mexican-related well has run its course. Treat peddlers of this myth with scepticism; their staunch refusal to accept how far London has come is a sign of how far off the epicurean pulse their fingers may be. Let El Siete add to the counter-argument.
Opened in March, it comes from Sam Hart and Crispin Somerville, co-founders of taco spot El Pastor, and sits in a basement beneath its Soho venue. For years, the space held potential, but they couldn’t quite nail down a concept that would fit.
With this new iteration, it feels like they have. It’s an agave-forward drinking den that already feels like a must-have in any Londoner’s Soho repertoire, equally as useful for a pre-dinner drink or a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency hideout to keep the night going afterwards.
In a past life during the 1990s, co-owners Hart and Somerville ran a nightclub in Mexico City called El Colmillo, and have gone to great lengths to make you feel like you could be in a Roma Norte basement, rather than on Brewer Street.
Equally as useful for a pre-dinner drink or a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency hideout to keep the night going afterwards
“UNAM was a big reference point, but the deepest influence is Luis Barragán and his use of that extraordinary pink and volcanic stone”, says Somerville. “As well, we were drawn to the CDMX cantina culture of the late 1960s through to around 1978, a very specific era of a certain kind of louche, unhurried hospitality”.
Designed by Macauley Sinclair, the studio behind Hawksmoor and Dishoom, the lighting is notably low, the walls are Barragán pink, and there is a clear reference to the brutalist and modernist traditions of CDMX.
Just as much thought has gone into the drinks. Even the most rudimentary GCSE Spanish knowledge will crack the code, which translates to ‘The Seven’. This has inspired a refreshingly streamlined menu: Seven versions of Margarita, seven agave-led classics, and seven more traditional cocktails with a house twist.
El Siete Martini
Charlie McKay
Three levels of Spicy Margarita
Charlie McKay
“We were determined to make the perfect Margarita”, Somerville says. “Ours arrives in frozen thermal shakers, with enough for around one-and-a-half glasses and is made using an in-house triple sec blend to achieve the exact balance we were after.”
The spicy margarita comes in three traffic-light levels of hotness, and the red one, the spiciest of the lot, is made with ghost pepper and habanero. At a time when the spicy marg feels like it has supplanted the Aperol spritz as Londoners’ summer drink du jour, this version will separate the real fans from the pretenders.
Enthusiasts of Mexican spirits will be fond of the agave section, which features different variations of Martini, from the eponymous tequila-based number to the ‘Máximo Sexy’ with mezcal, manzanilla and Lillet blanc. As Soho builds to a thronged summer crescendo, this might be your most valuable place of refuge.
66-70 Brewer St, W1F 9UP; elsiete.co.uk
