‘The food is truly astonishingly good’

There is no cutlery at Homies on Donkeys, a taqueria in Leytonstone, east London, that’s run by Sandra Bello and chef Erik “Smokey” Bautista. “No cutlery, no exceptions, we got napkins, get messy,” it says on the single-sheet menu, alongside descriptions of their abundantly stacked tacos filled with reversebraised bavette or confit pork topped with dripping, wobbling amounts of jalapeño relish.

This fork-free zone will come as a relief to some informal diners, who find all those butter knives, dessert spoons, cheese scoops and grape shears a bit bamboozling. It may, however, dismay anyone wearing a non-wipeable fabric such as cashmere. Homies on Donkeys is more of a sou’wester kind of place, with added salsa verde and chipotle on your chin when you pay the bill. It’s also a place for people who like 1990s hip-hop, graffiti-strewn walls and the sensation of eating in a suburban skate park: Naughty By Nature, Gang Starr and Grand Puba blare from the stereo as I sit at a table that is absolutely nowhere near big enough for all the tacos, large plates, sides and drinks that we’ve ordered; we’re also wedged in next to the till, where the servers are constantly ringing in orders. While the seating may not be ideal, 686 High Road Leytonstone,

London E11, 07729 368896. Open lunch Thurs-Sun, noon4pm (11.30am3.30pm Sun); dinner Thurs-Sat & Tues, 5-10pm (11pm Fri & Sat). From about £15 a head, plus drinks and service