What's the draw
While many of the new wave of Mexican joints play with larger plates, Del74 sticks to what it does best: slow-cooked, deliciously seasoned meat and/or veg in a soft flour tortilla. Oh, and tacos are £2 each on Tuesdays. Form an orderly queue.
What to drink
You could start with a beer, or a michelada – beer seasoned with lime juice, chilli and spices. You could grab a shot of mezcal, which you might well be offered on the house by your waiter. But if you don't grab one of the house margaritas, we're not friends anymore. We loved one made with smoky mezcal and freshly pressed watermelon juice – gluggable, sweet without being sickly, and totally refreshing.
What to eat
Pick and choose from the menu, or ask your waiter to bring a selection and keep eating until you can't eat anymore. Start with the guacamole and chips – the avocado so ripe and fresh it feels like it could have been made with freshly churned cream – and go from there. This is food to get your hands dirty to, but unpretentious doesn't mean unsophisticated: flavours rule, and there's a level of skill here that belies the grungy interior and the price point, too. The fish taco, made with river-dwelling tilapia, is all earthy flavours, a root vegetable 'slaw lending it crunch, too. Jackfruit is characteristically meaty for a vegan option, shoved inside a soft tortilla with crispy shoestring sweet potato. And the steak quesadilla is so good it probably shouldn't be allowed: pillowy rib-eye steak meat and squeaky Mexican cheese that form an oozing, hot pocket of salty, lip-smacking punch. Honestly, we'd eat it every day if we could.
87 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0RN; facebook.com/Tacosdel74
