Day of the Dead Festival in London’s East End

Welcome the REAL Day of the Dead.

Last night I went along to London’s freshly opened Quiquiriqui Mexcaleria (which is pronounced ‘kee kee REE kee’ and means ‘cock a doodle doo’) for their very first event as part of a four day festival to celebrate Day of the Dead. The new concept bar is located beneath an unsuspecting Kebab shop called Golden Grill and specializes in supplying finest hand-crafted mezcal drinks from Oaxaca, Mexico. With a capacity of 77 they only let in 65 at a time, as rather than opening in the vain hope of a cash-cow version of success they saw it as an opportunity to share their passion for quality and authentic mezcals with genuinely interested and deserving patrons.

Unfortunately I arrived late to the event due to Google Maps fucking with my day and I missed the whole mezcal tasting, hosted by Thom Bullock from SpiritBear mezcals. Despite that I still thoroughly enjoyed myself as the event continued into the night with some amazing modern Cumbia music and an eclectic crowd of hipsters clad in their finest Day of the Dead fancy-dress flooding the pint-sized venue.

After tonight and the fact that Quiqiriqui has been billed as the only traditional Mezcaleria style (a concept directly taken from Mexico City) bar in London, I can safely say there literally isn’t another venue that will enable you to adequately embrace the true celebration of Day of the Dead festival. Check out the details for the events taking place all weekend via the Facebook event or their website.

And make sure you don’t pussy out and not dress up, because the best dressed scores some pretty wicked prizes!

Words by Jemma Cole.