Viva Mexico

The oldest Mexican restaurant in the city, offering authentic dishes among more familiar options.

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When it opened way back in 1984, Viva Mexico was Edinburgh’s first Mexican restaurant. Thirty-five years on, it’s proud that little has changed. Sepia photos of long-gone times back home line the walls; papel picado (cut-out paper shapes) string across the room like washing. After all these years, it’s still packing in visitors and loyal locals alike with a menu combining crowd-pleasing Tex-Mex favourites, rarely found traditional Mexican mains and a touch of haggis. If you want to save yourself for a major main course, then start with two tiny corn tortillas, deep-fried and crispy; or calamari with spicy chipotle mayo to dip. Choose a chimichanga or tacos; pick pork and pineapple or sautéed spicy steak. Select sizzling beef fajitas, a special of camarones or maybe a baja burrito or pollo mole (chicken in chocolatey sauce). But be warned: the homemade desserts – perhaps chocolate chilli cheesecake or a custardy egg flan – are tried and tested classics and worth leaving room for.