For Tortilla’s founder and chief burrito officer Brandon Stephens, not being able to find the food he grew up on in the UK was the inspiration for launching what has become a successful brand.

“The whole thing started from a quest to get a decent burrito,” the Californian says prior to the Brighton West Street branch’s launch last week. “I had to build a restaurant to get one!”

Tortilla Brighton is one of seven sites being built outside London, showing the success of the brand since Stephens launched his first outlet on Halloween 2007.

There are currently branches in Islington, Southwark, Canary Wharf, Hammersmith, Oxford Circus, Wimbledon, Stratford and Leadenhall Market, with new ones popping up all the time.

“Brighton is probably my favourite location of all the Tortillas,” he says. “We have a great volume of traffic walking along Cranbourne and West Street, and the restaurant is set up on two different levels with lots of areas for people to sit. We are really excited to see how it goes.”

Despite many other staple American foods making their way over the Atlantic – from bagels to pizza, hamburgers to doughnuts – Mexican food has lagged a little behind until recently.

“When Taco Bell originally came over about 15 years ago to make their first foray, the availability of certain items required to make quality food just wasn’t there,” says Stephens.

“It was only in 2008 that we saw the first batch of habanero chillis in the UK – one of the hottest chillis on the planet, which is used for salsa. We were able to step up a notch from what we provided earlier.”

Another stumbling block was the UK’s impression of Mexican food – which was largely of the Tex Mex variety. Stephens is keen to draw a distinction between that and the Californian version which Tortilla offers.

“There’s lots of re-fried stuff in Tex Mex food,” he says. “There tends to be a lot of oil, which is used to mask the low-quality ingredients and adds a high fat content.

“There are no refried beans in what we offer – we use pinto beans, or even healthier black beans.”

He was shocked by the treatment of Mexican food in the UK when he went on research trips to London in 2005.

“I tried some of the food and it wasn’t fantastic,” he says. “The reaction was that all the customers were so sloshed they could put anything in front of them and they would eat it.

“They were selling burritos for £9.25, which at that time worked out as $22. Back in California, I could get a burrito for $6. The price has changed dramatically and we have focused on quality, assisted by the availability of ingredients.”

Part of the attraction in the US is the low price of the food – as well as the cool aesthetic. In Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel’s Mr White finishes a long violent speech by announcing he’s hungry and suggesting he and Tim Roth’s Mr Orange go for a taco.

“People are starting to see it as an affordable alternative,” says Stephens. “It’s something tasty, warm and filling, but at the same time affordable and cool.”

In the same way one would never find an English-style curry in India, the burrito is largely absent from Mexican culture, being an American invention.

“You will find tacos in Mexico but not burritos,” says Stephens. “There are more burrito places in London than in Mexico City.”

Instead Stephens’s model was the “mom and pop” places selling burritos and tacos in San Francisco – right down to their assembly line model of selling their wares.

“These places are all about showing off the quality of their ingredients,” he says. “It’s almost an act of faith – we’re not hiding anything in the kitchen, it’s about honesty and integrity. We can only hope to replicate the quality.”

He has kept things simple for UK audiences, offering a choice of two different sizes, four meats (grilled chicken, grilled steak, shredded beef or pulled pork), two types of rice, two types of beans and a choice of peppers, onions and salsas.

“It’s not overwhelming,” he says. “There’s nothing too radical. In California you get odd ingredients such as cow tongue!

“You can make it as spicy as you want it to be or you can choose a mild salsa if you’d rather.”

Similarly with drinks there are Mexican beers on offer, but the Mexican soda Jarritos and the sugary rice milk horchata are not on the menu yet.

“Horchata is very much an acquired taste,” says Stephens. “When I go back to California, I will go on a massive jag for them but I don’t think it’s quite time to introduce them yet.

“It might be a step too far...”

  • Tortilla, in West Street, Brighton, is open Sunday to Tuesday 11.30am to 10pm, Wednesday 11.30am to 10.30pm, Thursday to Saturday 11.30am to 11pm. Visit tortilla.co.uk or call 01273 748069