Mirtala

Editor’s note: since my visit where I pointed out this issue, the wine list has been reprinted and now has full producers and vintages.

This restaurant opened in September 2026 in the busy Turnham Green terrace in Chiswick. It was set up by Rishad and Benaisha Mehta, and grew out of a local supper club. The restaurant is named after a family friend whose cooking first sparked Rishad's interest in Mexican food. It serves dishes that draw on the cuisine of Monterrey in northern Mexico. This area, close to Texas, emphasises grill and open-fire cooking, with wheat flour tortillas rather than the corn ones used more in central and southern Mexico. The menu here was fairly short, with four snacks, four starters, four sharing plates, various taco platters, or a tasting menu for £69. The a la carte had snacks at £15, small plates at £19 and sharing plates at £25. The dining room seats 46 and occupies the site that was formerly Sam’s Kitchen. 

The wine list had 16 labels and ranged in price from £36 to £98, with a median price of £50 and an average markup to retail price of 3.65 times, which would be steep in Mayfair, never mind Chiswick. Sample references were Sauvignon Blanc Havelock at £40 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £12, Malbec Saurus from Patagonia at £62 compared to its retail price of £9.60, and Champagne Pommery Brut Royal at £98 for a wine that will set you back £49 in the high street. No vintages were listed, and the wine “Nerello Mascalese” is ambiguous, since this is just a red grape variety (mostly near Mount Etna, though also in Sardinia) rather than a producer. There are many wines of widely different prices made using that grape. 

We went for the full tasting menu this evening. This began with a pair of dips. Guacamole with crisp tortillas had ripe avocado and nice balance (13/20). Sikil pak is a Mayan dip from Yucatan made from toasted pumpkin seeds and charred tomatoes, a kind of pumpkin seed salsa. This was spicy, served with crudites of carrots, radishes and cucumber. This dish was new to me so I don’t have much to compare it with, but it was quite smoky and earthy with a hint of sourness (12/20). 

Roast beef tostada had slices of beef, cooked pink, resting on a crisp corn tortilla and served with chimichurri, a sauce of fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar. The beef was from Aurox Beef, a British company based at Lyons Hill Farm near Sherborne in Dorset. It uses mature, female cattle from rare breeds, and their beef is used by some well-known London chefs including Phil Howard at Elystan Street. The beef itself was very good, served with a little chilli oil (13/20). Crab tostada was even better, using excellent Devon crab with good natural sweetness (14/20). 

Hand-dived Orkney scallop was sliced thin and served on its shell, with chipotle butter poured over the shellfish. Personally, I’d rather see a scallop served whole, but it was nicely cooked and had good sweetness. The seafood supplier here is Fin and Flounder in Hackney, a high-quality supplier (13/20). A trio of grilled tiger prawns had good natural sweetness and were accurately cooked, being tender and served with a lively green salsa (13/20).

Grilled cod tacos featured very nicely cooked cod served with a pair of salsas, a green salsa that was roasted and a red one that was boiled. Both had pleasing levels of spice. Ribeye tacos used Black Angus beef from the Australian farmer Jack’s Creek, a producer based in Victoria and New South Wales. The tacos (wheat flour tortillas) were used as a base under the beef and also the cod, and had inevitably become a little soggy with the cooking juices. I wonder whether the tortillas would be better rolled up and served to the side. Still, the beef was of high quality, carefully cooked and came with a lively salsa (14/20). 

Roasted pineapple came with helado de canela, or cinnamon ice cream, made with milk, cinnamon, vanilla and light brown sugar. The small pineapple cubes worked well with the ice cream (13/20). Coffee was from a supplier I have not come across before, imported from an American speciality roaster called Brandywine Coffee Roasters, based in Wilmington in Delaware and run by Alisa Morkides; it is named after the nearby Brandywine Valley.  This was quite bright, with reasonable acidity, and was certainly a step up from the industrial coffee served in most London restaurants. Since my visit it has been changed to Origin Coffee Roasters.

Service, led by owner Benaisha Mehta, was charming, and indeed all the staff that we encountered seemed friendly and capable. The bill came to £107 with beer to drink. If you ordered a la carte rather than the tasting menu then a typical cost per person might be nearer £85. The one thing that really came across was the emphasis on high-quality produce, with a lot of care being taken over the choice of the seafood and beef suppliers, and even the selection of coffee. This is a rare and welcome trait in London. It would be interesting to see if they switch to making their own tortillas at some point. The menu here is appealing and the service was good, and it is no surprise that the place is already very busy indeed, with tables being turned on the evening that we visited. Overall, Mirtala is a most welcome addition to the area; I hope that it continues to prosper.