Mexican chef Santiago Lastra launches his follow-up to smash-hit Kol next week. Fonda will open on Thursday (3 October) in Mayfair’s Heddon Street, opposite heavyweights Sabor and Ambassadors Clubhouse.
Named after a Mexican style of family-run local restaurants, Fonda will be more accessibly priced than ‘fine-dining’ Kol, with meals structured around the ‘coma’, a traditional clay griddle producing tacos and tostadas – but Santiago says he’ll be using the same British produce as at Kol and likewise giving it Mexican treatment.
The chef led Noma’s pop-up in Mexico, and has established himself as one of culinary London’s stars since opening Kol four years ago, with cooking hailed in the Harden’s guide as “a revelation”.
Following the success of Kol – along with other venues such as the Hart Brothers’ El Pastor – Santiago believes Mexican food in the capital is “having a moment“.
“London has this thing where the growth is exponential. If someone does something really good, others go ‘Why am I not…?’ Like, if someone does a fresh pasta restaurant and it becomes a really busy place, suddenly there are 20 others. Same with speciality coffee. It is the right time for Mexican food. After we opened Kol, there’s been some things, and the market has grown a little bit more.”
He says Fonda will be “a restaurant for people to really, really have the best time. I cannot wait to share it. Groups of friends, dates for sure, just whoever wants to have a good time. I want it to be fun! A place for people who just wanna go out. It’s the meaning of Mexican culture to celebrate life and just not be… stuffy. Just fun. That’s the vibe I want to have: margaritas, Mexican music. But everything will be really high quality, without being boring.
“It’s going to be a combination of home cooking, market cooking, then just a few things that I really like from different places in Mexico. Like street food — we have baja fish tacos but made with really high-quality fish [and] these massive scallops from Scotland, as a ceviche with cucumber and elderflower. And there’s this beautiful charred monkfish, with different chillis and sliced new potatoes and spicy seaweed and butter sauce. And there’s a rice pudding, a Mexican rice pudding, that we fold a crème anglaise made with mezcal, and we’ll serve it with cherries.”
