Breddos Tacos Clerkenwell
Nud and Chris started in a Hackney car park in 2013, and the masa fried chicken taco is what the permanent room is for.12
Why go
The founders spent years on residencies and pop-ups, wrote a cookbook, cooked at Tacolandia in Los Angeles twice, and then took a room on Goswell Road as the first place that was theirs.1 They describe the food as influenced by the hundreds of roadside taquerias and restaurants we have encountered on our travels throughout America and Mexico
, built on local produce from named suppliers.1 The Infatuation's David Paw is direct about where that lands: they do reckless things like put kung pao pork belly and fried chicken inside corn tortillas, which might elicit fury from Mexican food purists, but doesn't bother us one bit
.2 The bar runs on mezcal and the room is small and loud, and Paw says so before you book.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the masa fried chicken taco. Paw:
It's not usually difficult to convince us to eat fried chicken, but shoving it in a soft, warm tortilla certainly can't hurt.
2 - Order: the kung pao pork belly taco, the second of the pair he names.2
- Avoid: loading up on the seafood plates.
Aside from tacos, Breddo's serves other dishes of questionable Mexican origin, like clam and uni tostadas and chilli pepper crab and langoustines. That stuff is quite expensive for what you get, so it's a good idea to stick to the tacos.
2 - Avoid: Monday, when the room is closed.3
What locals & experts say
- David Paw, The Infatuation:
Breddos is a taco joint in Clerkenwell that is most certainly not what one might call 'authentic.'... Because they are f*cking delicious.
2 - Paw, on the room, before you plan an evening around it:
the dining room is small and busy as hell. It's not somewhere you come for a relaxing evening of kissy times with a date, or for a big group dinner. But if you're coming to eat a good taco, you'll leave happy.
2 - Harden's has no survey feedback on this address:
not enough people have commented yet
.3
Good to know
- Timing: closed Monday. Tuesday to Friday, noon to 3 and 5 to 10:30.3
- Money: wine from 28 pounds a bottle, service 12.5 percent, bread free.3
- Booking: reservations for this room go to clerkenwell@breddostacos.com.1
- The other Breddos counters, at Swingers West End and Market Halls in Paddington, Oxford Circus, Canary Wharf and Victoria, are a different proposition and nothing here describes them.1
Verdict
could-visit — Nud and Chris started this in a Hackney car park in 2013, cooked their way through residencies and a couple of cook-offs at Tacolandia in Los Angeles, and landed a permanent room on Goswell Road. What they cook came off roadside taquerias across America and Mexico and then went somewhere else entirely, which The Infatuation's David Paw puts plainly: they 'do reckless things like put kung pao pork belly and fried chicken inside corn tortillas', and his verdict is that they are delicious anyway. That is the honest pitch, and the masa fried chicken taco is the dish that makes the case. Paw is equally clear about where the money goes wrong, since the clam and uni tostadas and the chilli pepper crab are 'quite expensive for what you get'. The room is small and loud and closed on Monday. Go for tacos and mezcal at the price of lunch, not for a long dinner.