Wahaca Covent Garden

Mexican Market Eating on Wahaca

Wahaca | Mexican Market Eating

Thinly slice the chicken and coat in the chipotle sauce.

Put a spoonful of the chicken mixture on the tortilla and layer up with roasted peppers, spring onion, cheese and coriander.

Fold the tortilla wrap in half and brush lightly with olive oil.

Heat a pan and griddle both sides on a moderate heat on both sides until the cheese is melted and the filling is oozy.

http://www.wahaca.co.uk

Cheese and Biscuits: Wahaca, Covent Garden

Anywhere good (and/or popular) enough to have punters happily facing down a 45-minute wait for a table and still recommend it to their mates is in a pretty enviable position, and various recent openings in London (Polpo Polpetto, Draft House Battersea, Dishoom) seem to indicate this is the direction things are headed.

So while I can understand the fact Wahaca doesn't take bookings may deter some (though based on the crowds and the queues last night, they're clearly in the minority), being ten steps away from the finest cocktail bar in London (Rules) meant that our 45-minute wait (after we'd put our names on the waiting list) passed in a cosy, Negroni-sodden blur.

Between the two of us we ordered a recommended five 'street food' items - perhaps not quite a feast but plenty enough for a pleasant dinner - and a couple of tequila-based cocktails, and the bill came to just over £15 each.

Two chicken taquitos contained moist chicken and good crispy deep-fried tortilla, a surprisingly decent tomato salsa, and a topping of Lancashire cheese (the menu is studded with these little nods to localism); and chorizo and potato quesadilla, though tasting largely of cheese and not enough of their 'own recipe' Mexican chorizo, was still decent enough.

It would be easy to complain about the food at Wahaca being a bit "safe", and indeed I found myself dousing some of what we were given last night in hot sauce, but I'd be the first to admit my abused palate isn't representative of the general population and at the very least it was all fresh, tasty, and - most importantly - cheap.

Wahaca Mexican Market Eating

The crispy taquito tubes crunched when I bit into them, stuffed with thick sweet potato and beautifully crumbly feta which I dipped in salsa and topped with fresh lettuce.

The food was so fresh and light, with a mixture of raw and cooked ingredients, contrast in textures, heat and flavour, and having a choice of so many dishes meant that I could enjoy a little of everything instead of just one heavy main meal.

This time I had the tortilla soup for £4.75, which is a spicy tomato soup garnished with diced avocado, feta, totopos and crema, the black beans and cheese quesadillas for £3.70 consisting of black beans, cheddar and mozzarella and the black bean tostadas for £3.80, topped with avocado salsa, crema, Lancashire cheese and fresh tomato salsa.

Finally the crisp black bean tostadas were piled high with delicious, fresh and fruity flavours; a medley of cold fresh lettuce, juicy sweet tomato salsa, creamy warm black beans, crumbly cheese and smooth crema, with the thick tostada crunching at the foundation of each bite, marrying the flavours together beautifully and leaving me ooh’ing an ahh’ing with each mouthful.

After having my three dishes of street food I was beautifully full, texturely satisfied and feeling healthy and fresh.

Wahaca, Covent Garden - Authentic Mexican Street Food - Food ...

I saw her make a couple of TV series for Channel 4 and then the fantastic ‘Mexican Food Made Simple’ for Channel 5, possibly the only show I’ve ever enjoyed on that channel?

I didn’t expect the only queuing to come at the Covent Garden branch of a fairly mainstream Mexican street food restaurant but that’s exactly what happened at Wahaca.

Gorgeous crispy pork scratchings with just a hint of fennel work so well with the creamy fresh guacamole.

Quesadillas are also one of my favourite things, so simple yet utterly delicious with almost any filling, as long as it includes loads of melted cheese!

It’s my kind of food, simple, fresh and vibrant with huge flavours.

Wahaca, Covent Garden - London Dates : Social Concierge

Post work drinking crowds, birthdays, girls nights out and couples who want a fun, not elegant, date night out.

This is not the place for deep and meaningful chats.

It’s a place to let off steam and to enjoy food which, although ‘fresh, healthy and ethically sourced’, has all the meat/cheese/carb combinations down to a T. Skip the burrito options, the pork soft flour tacos are yummiest, the bean and cheese quesadillas least messy and delicious.

Ignore the salads, an embarrassing thing to order in a Mexican street food restaurant.

You can’t book tables in advance but start at the bar with their great tequila based cocktail.

thesilverchicken | Irish food blog

One recommendation that came through on twitter and from friends over and over was Wahaca.

We arrived not long after 6, and there was already a wait for tables.

We used this time to grab a refreshing beverage- and soon our buzzer was going telling us that the table was ready.

Very tasty.

In short, the food’s very good, it’s great value and it is a fun place for some casual dining and a few drinks.

Wahaca - Mexican Market Eating - Uk Restaurant chain ...

I love Mexican food and I think this is the best British Mexican restaurant chain I've been to in a very long while.

If the name already rings a bell, it's probably because you've seen Wahaca's co-founder, Cheltenham born Thomasina Miers on Channel 5's Mexican Food Made Simple tv cookery program or maybe you remember her as BBC 2's 2005 Masterchef winner.

For under £20 we had the Wahaca Street Food Selection for 2 people: 3 pork pibil tacos, 3 winter vegetable tacos, 1 large huitlacoche quesadilla, 2 black bean tostadas and 2 chicken taquitos with green rice & black beans.

Unlike some British Mexican restaurant offerings that appear to come straight from the microwave or the deep fat frier, these were cooked to order and packed with fresh vegetables.

A very slick operation that has been replicated in 11 locations in the South East, 13 if you count the 2 Mexican Mobile Eating vans.

Wahaca | Restaurants in Covent Garden, London

With an increasing variety of good, moderately priced restaurants in and around Covent Garden, this large basement branch of 'MasterChef' winner Thomasina Miers’s Mexican ‘street food’ chain is nowadays healthily rather than unpleasantly busy.

As at the other branches, decor is deliberately, cheerfully, market-stall bright.

At night, the buzzy atmosphere, decent tequilas and Mexican beer (served also in chelada or michelada beer-cocktails) appeal to local workers and tourists.

Although fairly enjoyable, a meal here seems like Mexican ever so slightly out of focus: ‘British steak, the Mexican way’ (slivers of steak with green rice, spring onions and house salsas); a quesadilla of new potatoes, broad beans, peas, feta and mint; a chicken taquito with tomato and Lancashire cheese; ‘baja cheese’ made from farmhouse cheddar and mozzarella.

Choose between ‘platos fuertes’ (main dishes such as burritos or a succulent pork pibil) or ‘street food’ (small plates to share).

Wahaca Covent Garden, London - Covent Garden - Restaurant ...

Ganz gleich, ob Sie hier die zahlreichen Geschäfte,Theater, Cafés, Bars und Restaurants erkunden odersich einfach unter die unzähligen Menschen in diesemschönen Teil der Stadt mischen möchten – Sie werdendie fröhliche und historische Atmosphäre von CoventGarden und seiner Umgebung lieben und in sichaufnehmen.

Auch wenn Sie keine Karten für die Operoder eine Show in einem der hier ansässigen berühmten

Wahaca Covent Garden, Londra - Covent Garden - Ristorante ...

Se sei arrivato qui per esplorare la moltitudine di negozi, teatri, bar, pub e ristoranti, o semplicemente per confonderti tra la folla inarrestabile che attraversa questa splendida area della città, i tuoi sensi verranno subito catturati dall'atmosfera storica e festosa di Covent Garden.

Anche se non hai biglietti per l'opera o per uno spettacolo in uno dei tanti famosi teatri del quartiere, non sorprenderti di ...Leggi di più restare affascinato dalle tante improvvisazioni degli artisti da strada che allietano la folla in piazza a Covent Garden.

Se invece hai i biglietti, sarai felice di constatare che molti dei ristoranti locali offrono menù fissi per gli spettatori, servizi anticipati e restano aperti oltre i normali orari.