London has its fair share of culinary delights to choose from and walking around Shoreditch and Spitalfields Market around lunchtime you see them all. Pizza over here, fried chicken over there, there’s an abundance of choice.

Now to really score with lunch (the pun will make sense soon) in this area you need to be one of the best, and Taco Taco in Shoreditch has the reputation as the ‘best tacos in London’. It even says it on their website, front and centre.

The spot is even co-owned by famous footballer Hakim Ziyech, so you expect them to be back of the net, don’t you? However, for me, it was a straight miss; the ball is crossed in and you’ve volleyed over, not by much, but at the end of the day you have missed.

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The store’s dark green aesthetic doesn’t stand out on Commercial Street. Maybe it was the sunshine outside, but I took the shop’s darkness as a premonition.

The menu is simple enough, six different types of soft-shell tacos and a rice bowl, two sides and one dessert. Despite the simplicity, I gave my decision to the man behind the counter asking what he’d choose so I ended up with the Chipotle Chicken and the Chili Garlic Prawn one too.

I headed to the back to await my meal and was squashed in a corner as a work crew had taken up every other table. Promising signs if we go off popularity metrics.

Soon after I sat, the tacos came and I tucked into the prawn. Unbeknownst to me, this one is served with cold prawns rather than hot. Did it ruin the meal, no. Would I have preferred it to be hot, yes.

The vinegary carrot and cabbage coleslaw and pineapple added a freshness. But pineapple on pizza is a straight no for me, and I would have preferred the pineapple to be absent.

The Chipotle Chicken on the other hand was a straight hit. Hot with a rare subtle chipotle flavour, its pairing with spring onions, guacamole, and red onion really worked and was potentially worth the trip alone.

The truly disappointing thing though was that I was still hungry at the end. The chicken was £4 and the prawn was £5 despite the website saying it was £4. For £9 I usually expect to be mostly full, not still starving. I went back to the counter and ordered another taco, the Birra Beef one this time at £4 too.

This came with beef, torched red pepper, yucaton pickled onion and a pot of Birria sauce on the side. I could smell its spiciness, yet the spice was absent when I bit into it, the torched peppers adding nothing and the sauce continuously swallowing errant pieces of beef.

At the end, I was still hungry. The tacos are small and did not even come close to filling me up. I’d spent £13, and that persistent hunger means I won’t be returning to Taco Taco.

I pay and I sigh myself out of Taco Taco. I had high hopes that were dashed in the first bite. I would not say that the restaurant is bad, far from it, but they’re hardly playing in the same league as the very best. Hakim, these are Championship-level tacos, I thought you used to play in the Prem?

You can find Taco Taco at 141 Commercial St, London, E1 6BJ and you can see more on their website here.