Casual-yet-high-reaching, the Church Road restaurant offered a menu of contemporary Mexican cuisine that utilised high-quality British produce.
Centred around tacos, the menu included tuna tostada with lardo, achiote dressing and finger lime; Graceburn feta churros with jalapeños and chipotle crema; barbacoa short rib beef with Mayan red cocolate and salsa criolla; and tres leches flan with lacto raspberries and herbs.
“El Bollilo won’t be traditional taqueria but we’re going to be respectful to Mexican cuisine,” Clarke said ahead of the launch last year.
“The menu is based on our own experiences of being over there but I’m also going to throw in some techniques from my background in fine dining restaurants.”
Clarke - who ran the restaurant with his Italy-born partner Matty Salvetti - has a top-flight cooking CV that is largely made up of one and two star restaurants including those run by chefs Martin Wishart, Brett Graham, Tom Aikens and Daniel Clifford.
His flair for development saw him employed as a development chef for the latter at his two Michelin-star Midsummer House restaurant in Cambridge.
More recently, Clarke has headed up top kitchens including Hackney’s Pidgin. Originally from Italy, Salvetti has a background in five-star hotels working in F&B and operational roles.
The pair met while Clarke was doing a residency at South Lodge hotel in 2021 (Salvetti was GM at West Sussex hotel’s The Pass restaurant).
Both Clarke and the restaurant’s directors have been approached for comment.