Brixton Village is the place to be seen in London at the moment. The food is tasty, the culture is vibrant and the hipsters are a-plenty.
I am not cool at all so I didn’t discover the delights of the Brixton food scene until very recently. We trekked south of the river on a windy Saturday just before St Jude hit England.
Overwhelmed by the very many food options, I resorted to a Twitter plea along the lines of ‘Help! What should I eat?’. Luckily my co-workers are food geeks too and I received several enthusiastic tips within the space of ten minutes. Yay for geekery! I was feeling a bit hungover tired and overwhelmed by the crowds so we nabbed a seat at ‘the mexican place’ and ordered up large.
El Panzon mexican
To start, we shared a platter of tortilla chips with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. Portion size isn’t an issue here – the platter was nearly overflowing onto the table. The tortilla chips were fresh, crunchy and delightful but the salsa was lacking in kick.
Our second starter (ooh naughty) was the fish tacos, adorned with regular-spice-level- sauce. Wish I’d gone for the ‘fuck I’m dead’ sauce as ‘regular’ should have been labelled ‘bland’. I’d heard rave reviews about these tacos and while they were lovely, I was a wee bit underwhelmed for some reason. They weren’t as zesty or tangy as similar dishes I’ve had before.
For a main I got stuck right into a pulled pork burrito with all the trimmings and hot-level hot-sauce. The meat was tender, the fillings were juicy and generous, but again, I wish I’d gone for the ‘fuck I’m dead’ sauce as the meal just wasn’t giving me the spice kick I was after. I mean, Mexican street food in a foodie jaunt that taunts you with it’s claims to spiciness? Can do better, El Panzon. The basics are there but the extras aren’t.
The verdict: 3.5/5
In a sentence: Nice, but give me a £6 Chilango burrito any day of the week: tastier with ‘zingier’ flavours and spicier sauces. Of course, now I want to go back to Brixton Village and try ‘the crepe place’ and ‘the seafood place’ that were our second choices. I’ve been reliably informed that El Panzon’s soups are ace.
Location etc: El Panzon, Brixton Village Market, 1 Granville Arcade, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, SW9 8PR, London
Listening to: Burn by Ellie Goulding