There is a day for just about everything. Biscuits are to be celebrated on May 29, or so the food calendar dictates. Fish and chips get September 4, while October 13 is apparently world egg day.
Margaritas? That’s Saturday February 22, a day to drink the famed Mexican cocktail. Though we can’t imagine many people need an excuse. Margaritas are loved in Britain, increasingly so. Which is understandable, because the simple but affirming blend of tequila, lime juice, and triple sec — recipes vary: many add agave; some replace triple sec with Cointreau — makes for a wondrous drink.
In honour of World Margarita Day, we’ve collated some of the best, from Quo Vadis in Soho to Decimo at the Standard hotel in King’s Cross. Did I hear margaritas? The answer is yes.
Shrub and Shutter is the Mary Poppins of cool, quirky cocktail bars. Only when one is in need — while waiting for a table in Brixton Market, say, or when wanting to continue the night after finding the place — does it present itself as a possibility, and then what a possibility it is. Staff greet everyone like they’re hosting a party and an old friend they’ve not seen in yonks has rocked up unexpectedly. The bar is always busy, yet somehow there is always a table, and the staff are as enthusiastic as they are fast. The classic marg is generously served straight up with fine salt (and chilli if you like) in a large coupe — though it’s worth trying their twists if they have any. Their inventive yet unpretentious blackboard menu of regularly changing specials is worthy of anyone’s money and time.
Quo Vadis’ classic margarita sets a very high bar. Most of this is down to the bartenders, who know their drinks. Yet part of this is also due to the tequila which, because of Quo Vadis’s relationship with El Pastor, is good quality. Casa Herradura Plata Tequila is a premium offering from 153-year-old agave house, Casa Herradura. Mix that with ice, lime, Cointreau, and the inimitable energy of the QV bar, and you’ve a near faultless marg. Exquisitely moreish.
The American Bar at The Stafford
American Bar at the Stafford
At first glance, The American Bar at The Stafford feels like a bar for martinis. It’s in a hotel — a very nice hotel, deep within St James’s — and there are mahogany panels, deep pile carpets and muted green leather chairs. Having a marg here might feel wrong. Then the staff arrive, beaming, and the sun sets over a cobbled courtyard where people sit even in the chilliest months; a margarita feels like a sensible thing — even more so when it arrives in a breathtakingly delicate coupe encrusted with an even more delicate smattering of sea salt. Boasting high-end Cenote Blanco Tequila, it is as sophisticated and smooth as those mahogany panels, as cheerfully fresh as the courtyard outside, and as bright and uplifting as the beaming team.
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Hacha is the home of the mirror margarita, which slips down like a silk slipper and looks like a glass one: crystal clear, created with Tequila Bianco and malic acid, a natural sour that occurs at nighttime during the lifestyle of the agave plant. It’s clean, strong and hopelessly ‘grammable. To ensure their food offering matches their drinks for quality and flavour, they’ve outsourced it to Tigre Tacos at Hacha Dalston and Nopalito at Hacha Brixton.
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Dressed to the nines and loftily perched on the 10th floor of the Standard hotel in King’s Cross, Decimo has the sort of swagger that rubs off on people. You could be a crumbling tower of existential angst, and within seconds of stepping into Decimo’s red velvet, polished wood and cacti-clad dining room, would know exactly who you are and what you want. The former, we cannot vouch for. The latter is their margarita menu, which is founded upon Tapatio Blanco tequila, Cointreau and key lime. One could go for the classic, and be very well pleased; but it would be a shame to overlook the Tepache marg, which boasts all the above plus the eponymous Tepache, which is a Mexican juice made with fermented pineapple.
Nick Hopper
Over totopos with salsa verde, soft-shell crab tacos zinging with fresh jalepeno peppers and grilled cheesy corn, count the margaritas. Play it safe with their margarita de la casa, or opt for their hisbuscus flower margarita, which is made fragrant with home-made hibiscus flower cordial, strong with triple sec and Cointreau and intriguing with the addition of both lemon and lime juice. The atmosphere is also on point: both the London Bridge and the Shoreditch Santo Remedios are colourful, cluttered and yet meticulously done.
Donovan Bar at Brown’s Hotel
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Bill Nighy has been known to drink here. The bar has a separate entrance to the hotel and is led by industry icon and master mixologist Salvatore Calabrese. The marg is elegantly served in a slender coupe with sweep of fine salt on the side (and a chilli if one orders spicy). The tequila, Casamigos Blanco, comes courtesy of George Clooney, and is suitably suave. All this sophistication is delightfully tempered by black and white photographs taken by the eponymous Terence Donovan himself, an iconic 1960s photographer; and by the bartenders who are having — and want to show you — a great time.
33 Albemarle St, W1S 4BP, roccofortehotels.com
Laurence Howe
Though the delightfully ramshackle El Pastor in Borough Market is the original and the best, all the El Pastors shimmer with vibe; that ever elusive and yet essential concept, particularly where margaritas are concerned. No surprise, then, that El Pastor’s margs are some of the finest in town. They come frozen, straight up or on the rocks. And they come flavoured with hibiscus and honeydew, spiced mango or avocado. There’s even a breakfast margarita made with marmalade. Those in the know go for the spicy diabolo, which is fiery and fun. The Carlito’s Margarita, above, features Tequila Herradura Blanco, Campari, Cointreau, lime, hibiscus, pineapple juice and is served in a highball on the rocks.
Side Hustle at the Nomad Hotel
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There’s an art to creating a good hotel bar. A bad hotel bar makes one feel shabby, as if trespassing on the hallowed ground of those who can afford to sleep there. A good one makes one either forget the hotel, or feel even more special for having graced it with one’s presence, just for a marg. The casually cool Nomad Hotel in Covent Garden has two bars, Side Hustle and Common Decency, and both are measured — but it’s the Side Hustle you want for the margarita. The buzzy, happy atmosphere lends itself to the drink, as do the bartenders who are having such a lively time. The salt rim is perfect — a feather dusting of salt around half the glass as well as the rim — and Patron Respado is a failsafe for tequila cocktails.
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Hanging plants, tropical flowers, bazaar cushions and wall murals: Wild by Tart screams marg even before you’ve considered the menu, which comprises a vibrant, seasonal medley of ingredients sourced locally or from the Tart farms in Somerset and Northumberland. There are £8 margaritas available between 5—7pm. Their regular serve is excellent, but look out too for seasonal takes featuring seasonal fruits like blood oranges, gooseberries and rhubarb.
Palate
Paladar is not Mexican, it is Latin American, and as dearly beloved by that community as it is everyone else who has sampled its crispy pork belly and nikkei tuna tostadas. Those and its margs, served straight up with a fine salt rim, are a major highlight in Elephant and Castle. Keen drinkers will nab a seat in their brick-walled courtyard, which is something of a secret garden filled with cocktails, green plaintain crisps and happy, chattering diners.
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The drinks list at Fonda is anchored in the paloma, but there’s a sounds margarita too. It’s made with either Ocho blanco tequila or Fonda’s own espadin mezcal, and either is mixed with verjus, rhubarb liqueur, and chinotto. If you ask for a classic, they’ll make it. Whatever the drink, it will be good, and it should be for £14. Those with a few extra quid might instead try Kol Mezcaleria, the basement drinking den below the Santiago Lastra’s main restaurant.