Last week, Mark and I had the absolute pleasure of dining at the newly opened, relocated and rejuvenated Santo Remedio Mexican Cantina in London Bridge. The original restaurant serving crispy grasshopper-topped guacamole and legendary tacos on Rivington Street in Shoreditch had to suddenly close back in 2016 and I was gutted that I hadn’t made it to eat there. Luckily, they’re back in business setting up shop on Tooley Street in the heart of London Bridge.

I’m not sure exactly how I heard about their crowdfund on Kickstarter – I think it may have been on Twitter – but I’m glad I did! The owners, Natalie and Edson, were keen to reopen as they had been so successful previously, and were looking for funding to make it possible. I thought I’d help out with what was no doubt a fairly small contribution, but I did what I could justify, and every little helps right? I was so excited when I received an email saying they had reached their target and would be reopening this September!

As a thank you, I was invited to their soft launch to sample some of the first dishes coming over the pass from their brand new kitchen! I met Mark after work and we actually arrived a little early so had a drink each in the bar before being shown to our seats. Mine was a Margarita with an interesting tangy, chilli salt which I couldn’t get enough of. That’s how I want every margarita from now on please!!

We were shown to our seats and settled in before starting with the guacamole topped with crispy grasshoppers and served with tortilla chips. It was rich and creamy and absolutely delicious, with the grasshoppers adding a really lovely toasty crunch and bit of depth of flavour – plus the element of intrigue, of course!

We followed that with a selection of tacos and my stand-out favourites were the beef barbecoa. The beef was beautifully tender in a deep, dark sauce that was almost black. It had an incredibly rich beefy flavour that was balanced really nicely by the pickled toppings and rustic tortilla. We also tried the potato flautas which were as pretty as a picture when they arrived on the table with a colourful crunchy salad, vibrant green chilli sauce and bright pink pickles. They were lovely and crisp without any of the slightly sickly oiliness you can sometimes get.

As if the tacos weren’t enough to impress us, we also ordered possibly one of the most delicious sides I’ve ever experienced. Elote: grilled sweetcorn still on the cob flavoured with butter and lime, slathered with a smokey mayonnaise and sprinkled with grated pecorino. My goodness – I couldn’t have cared less how messy it was to eat because it was SO. WORTH. IT.

We skipped on the churros for dessert, but only because we were so full! We did see plenty of them come out of the kitchen though and they looked and smelled fabulous. They will definitely be on my list for next time!

I’m so proud to have contributed albeit a small amount to a great restaurant and we had such a great time celebrating with them during their soft launch. They really were pulling out all the stops to make people feel welcome. They are open to the public from today, so definitely consider paying them a visit – you won’t be disappointed!