At a glance...
Bad Manners: practical information
Bad manners in a few words: Bad Manners is a food kiosk in Hackney that serves some of the most interesting and tastiest Mexican inspired food in London – here’s everything you need to know for your visit, including a review.
Address: St John at Hackney Churchyard, Lower Clapton Rd, E5 0PD
On Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AWg7PKVDjYKpnmHa7
Website: https://www.instagram.com/badmanners.ldn/
How to get to Bad Manners: the nearest station is Hackney Central (Overground)
Such a perfect spot
Bad Manners is a small kiosk in the lovely gardens of the church of St. John at Hackney. Seating is an outdoors thing only, on slatted garden tables and chairs, in the shade of some ancient majestic trees and a few gravestones. Probably as perfect a spot as can be for three quarters of the year, which isn’t too bad. I mean, the place is crying out for outdoor heaters… In the meantime, if you’re visiting on a wintry day… wear your warmest layers!
Bad Manners have hot drinks and cold beers, and a menu that’s kinda Mexican inspired, in very interesting ways. The menu seems to be constantly evolving, too, as chef Rodrigo Cervantes play with ingredients and collaborate with other food places. Until very recently – barely a month ago – Bad Manners used to be known as The Quarter Kitchen. As The Quarter kitchen, they nabbed an award in 2022 for “Best Food in an Indefinable Setting” from influential site Eater London.
There’s a breakfast menu and a lunch menu, and -alas! – the breakfast one is not an all day one. So if you want to try the Tres Leche French Toast with crème fraiche (and optional bacon), do get there earlier than I did. You should also probably get there as soon as you read this, because it’s a collab with southern pop-up restaurant Decatur… and might not be there much longer?
The lunch menu is served from 12 to 3, and had a couple of seriously interesting choices when I visited: a pumpkin tortilla with fennel and cashew cream, and the choripapa: chorizo, mozzarella, candied chilli and fries, which you could have either as a taco or as a burrito.
Trying out the choripapa burrito
I’m not a pumpkin fan, so I had the choripapa burrito. It tasked fantastic! And not too spicy, but just spicy enough. Bonus points for oozing with melted cheese – you’d think that’s a given, but it definitely is not (I’m looking at you, substandard high street chains that serve “Mexican” food). The fries actually come in the burrito; personally, I would have preferred them on the side, because in my world, fries deserve better than to sleep under a cheese blanket, but hey, a chef’s vision is a chef’s vision, after all.
In conclusion
If you’re a Hackney local, how I envy you! Bad Manners is one of the most interesting food places I’ve come across so far, and I, for one, will definitely visit again. Possibly even in the middle of winter.
In the meantime, have you visited those other interesting places? For wraps that are not burritos (but also have fries inside), there’s Utopia in Farringdon. For yet another take on wraps, with an Indian flavour this time, there’s Paratha Inn in Croydon. Want fries that are very much on the side, and a very generous portion of them at that? There’s Roti Brothers in Crystal Palace. And finally, for a more traditional take on Mexican food, there’s DF Tacos.
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