(Update - the upstairs cafe and taqueria is open now and the downstairs restaurant will open on Friday 16 March)
New York restaurateur and nightclub owner Serge Becker has surprised everyone with a wholly new project which is going to open in Soho in February. La Bodega Negra will be a new Mexican restaurant project opening in a prime Soho location in March 2012.
For his first London opening, Becker has teamed up with Will Ricker, the restaurateur responsible for Eight Over Eight and E&O and British entrepreneur Ed Spencer Churchill. Becker you'll probably know, if you've been to New York anytime recently, is the man behind La Esquina, Miss Lily’s, Joe’s Pub, The Bowery Bar, The Box and The Mercer Hotel. "He's not a designer," said Manhattan hotelier André Balazs, who's also rumoured to be heading to London too, "he’s a cultural engineer...It’s his sense of the bigger ebb and flow of culture that is remarkable."
The venue which comprises of two linked locations - La Bodega Negra taqueria and cafe on Moor Street and La Bodega Negra restaurant and bar on Old Compton Street will feature a subterranean 100-seater restaurant and bar, a road side taqueria, and all-day contemporary Mexican café.
As for the food, La Bodega Negra’s menu will include ceviches, tacos and tostados, as well as rotisserie dishes from the wood burning grill. There'll also be a selection of bespoke cocktails including margaritas such as the Hibiscus Margarita and Tamarind Margarita as well as a special Tequila menu.
