A Conviction, Not a Concept
Mextapas did not begin in Britain. It began in Boca del Rio, Veracruz, at a coffee shop and kitchen called Canela Cafe. That was where Julio learned what authenticity actually required. Not recipes from the internet. Recipes from the women who had made them for decades. Not industrial spice blends. Chiles ground by hand. Not shortcuts. Traditional methods, even when they took longer. Canela was where the food made sense because the context was still intact. The ingredients, the techniques, the people who understood why it mattered.
Years later, the frustration set in. Mexican food in Britain had been reduced to Tex-Mex cliches and fusion experiments. The moles of Oaxaca, the salsas made by hand, the regional recipes he had learned at Canela — none of it existed here.
So he started small. Not with a restaurant. Not with investors. With a pot of chipotle pork on the Home-Cooks platform. That single dish became the test. Strangers ordered it. Then ordered again. The feedback kept saying the same thing: this tastes different. This tastes real.
If people wanted the food this much, what would happen if you sat them down together and told them the story behind it?
The answer was the supper club. Intimate evenings in Oxford, a handful of guests, authentic dishes prepared from scratch, and conversations about where the food came from and why it mattered. The response was immediate. Guests did not just eat. They listened. They asked questions. They came back. Then they brought their companies.
The first private dinners followed. Each one built on the last.
Then came the mezcal. Through La Palma Trade, Julio secured exclusive UK distribution for Somos Pecadores and Sabia Maria, two artisanal mezcals from Oaxaca that no one else in Britain could offer. Somos Pecadores earned a 5-star rating from Difford's Guide. Sabia Maria found its place at Zapote Restaurant in London. The supper club now had a spirit to match the food.
Today, Mextapas operates across Oxford and London. Every event is built on three principles: the food must be authentic, the spirits must be exclusive, and the experience must leave guests knowing more about Mexico than when they sat down.
