Northern Mexican Food Coming to Turnham Green Terrace
Restaurant Mirtala moving into former Sam's Kitchen premises
Rishad and Benaisha with their 1-year-old daughter Ella
May 18, 2026
A new restaurant specialising in Northern Mexican cooking is set to open on Turnham Green Terrace in the former Sam’s Kitchen site. Mirtala, run by Acton-based couple Benaisha and Rishad Mehta, is aiming for a July launch, with work on the premises already well underway.
Although the space still looks mid-renovation, the couple say the concept is firmly in place: a contemporary Northern Mexican café built around exceptional British produce and traditional techniques from the region around Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León.
“It’s Mexican food, but not Tex-Mex,” says Benaisha. “We’ll be serving sharing plates with different cuts of meat, and everything is made from scratch.” Pride of place in the new kitchen will be a tortilla press shipped over from Austin, Texas, which will be used to make the Sonoran-style flour tortillas that accompany many of the dishes.
At the heart of the menu is Mirtala’s signature plate: a 16-hour British Wagyu barbacoa, slow-cooked in bespoke handmade limestone pots and served family-style with tortillas, house pickles and fiery salsas. The team is also developing dry-aging, pickling and fermentation programmes to bring deeper flavour and nutrition to the menu. One of the early dishes they are testing is a dry-aged tuna tostada with chipotle mayo.
The restaurant’s approach to sustainability and technique comes directly from co-founder Rishad, who previously produced ClimateStory, a video-podcast and documentary series featuring people working at the forefront of sustainability and regenerative food systems. As a result, he spent years learning from progressive chefs across the UK and Europe. “Those values are at the core of what we’re building at Mirtala,” he says.
The drinks list will follow the same philosophy. The bar is developing a modern cocktail menu built around rare mezcals and fresh British ingredients, and is collaborating with a tequila producer in Juárez on a set of regional cocktails. For non-drinkers, there will be Mexican mocktails, authentic tiger-nut horchata, and iced coffee brewed with Mexican beans roasted by Tanat in Paris.
Local residents may already be familiar with the couple’s cooking: Benaisha and Rishad have previously run supper clubs at The Post Room café, giving Chiswick diners an early taste of what’s to come.
The restaurant is named Mirtala, after a family friend whose cooking first sparked Rishad’s interest in Mexican food.
They hope to open in around six weeks, starting with evenings and weekends before expanding to daytime service.
The team is currently recruiting; anyone interested in joining the opening staff can contact Rishad at rishad@mirtala.co.uk.
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