Cafe Chula

Despite still being home to tattoo parlours, alternative fashion boutiques and a vibrant street food market there are plenty of comparisons to be made between Camden and the West End these days. A popular tourist haven, particularly at weekends when the area around Camden Lock can be as slow moving as Oxford Street, in terms of food it can be rather hit and miss.

Café Chula is perhaps Camden’s greatest unsung hero. While better known fish and chip shop Poppies and Honest Burgers attract lengthy queues, this unassuming Mexican easily rivals anything they can produce.

Nachos are the real deal, freshly made along with piquant salsa and chunky guacamole. The torta Cubana is the now hotly tipped Cuban sandwich, a deep filled baguette with ham, slow cooked pork, mustard, Emmental, gherkin and chipotle mayonnaise, and there’s certainly no scrimping on ingredients. Huevos rancheros is a substantial dish of beans and fried eggs on a tortilla, with melted Oaxaca cheese.

On a previous visit we had a classic burrito stuffed with tasty steak, rice, beans and salad, while the huevos a la Mexicana was a filling dish of scrambled eggs, chorizo, diced potato, peppers and buttered toast.

Service can be a little slow but gregarious; we’re given an extra half of a Bloody Mary (made with tequila instead of vodka naturally) as an apology for the delay. Our bill for brunch, which includes two cocktails priced at £8 each, comes to around £40. It’s a delightful haunt for Mexican food in Camden.