After Sonora said sayanora to their taco stall in Netil Market, it wasn’t immediately clear when we’d be blessed with their sublimely delicious Mexican treats again.
Well, basically it wasn’t long. They almost immediately secured themselves a prime spot within Arcade Food Hall, and they’ve now about to open their very own brick-and-mortar restaurant. We can all rejoice.
It’s slated to open early next year, and is currently doing the rounds on Kickstarter to try and raise some funds so that they can actually do that. The ‘they’ in question, by the way, is composed of Michelle Salazar de la Rocha and Sam Napier. She’s from Sonora, Mexico, and came to the UK to study where she met future husband Sam. Together, they decided to make tacos in the traditional Sonora style, with traditional Sonora fillings.
Thus, they called their place Sonora Taqueria… and were then quite insanely sued for using the word ‘taqueria’ by another Mexican restaurant. Luckily sense prevailed, but there’s still a long way to go for the couple. They’re not backed by any major financier or restaurant group. The space they’ve secured is up on the long stretch of road between Dalston Kingsland and Stoke Newington stations, in what used to be an Indian Takeaway – but to convert it into a Mexican restaurant, they’ll need to spend a fair chunk of change that they don’t currently have. Hence the need to go to Kickstarter.
Once, all things going vaguely to plan, they open we can expect a lineup of first-class Sonoran taco fillings stuffed into house-made flour tortillas – the food in Sonora is characterised by its beef-heavy dishes such as puchero, or cocido – a riff on a beef casserole cooked with chickpeas, sweetcorn, runner beans, squash, carrots, potato and cabbage – and Machaca con Verdura – dried beef macerated and seasoned with onion, tomato and green chilli.
Let’s hope they can wrap it up.
NOTE: Sonora Taqueria is set to open in spring 2023. We’ll be back then with the full scoop. In the meantime, you can find out more at their website or Instagram, and donate to their Kickstarter right here.
Sonora Taqueria | 208 Stoke Newington Rd, N16 8BP
After some zingy tacos right this second? You’ll want to have a look at the best Mexican restaurants in London…
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