Tres Tacos

Needing a quick lunch, I went to Tortilla and had their three tacos. You have a choice of flour or corn tacos. This time I went with flour tacos.

three chicken tacos

For the filling I would usually go for the beef, but this time I went with the chicken. I have gone for the beef in the past, thinking it would be steak, but it usually isn’t.

The chicken was a much better choice. It was very tasty, and I enjoyed my choice of toppings of tomato salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and cheese.

It’s quite a light lunch, which is what I wanted. If you wanted something more substantial, you could have the burrito option.

I always think it is a little cheeky to charge extra for guacamole and then put essentially a small spoonful on each tacos. I remember having (takeaway) tacos once from a place which did this, I actually went to Tesco and bought a tub of guacamole rather than pay more for less.

Disappointing Tacos

A year ago I was staying at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Ealing. I don’t recall why I wasn’t in one of my usual haunts, though I had stayed at the Doubletree a few months previously in November 2022. Then I had some nice food from the hotel restaurant, so was intrigued to see what was on the menu this time. 

I went with the tacos. Now when I think of tacos, I think of soft flour tortillas, filled with delicious fillings, grilled or slow cooked meat, delicate salads, piquant sauces and dressings. What I got was this! 

cheesy tacos

These were hard crispy tacos (from a packet), filled, and then grilled to melt the cheese. 

These were really disappointing. It was the kind of thing you might expect from throwing something together in the kitchen after a night out. It was not what I expected from a hotel restaurant. I really do think they could have done better.

I have had some nice tacos at other hotels, I really like the fish tacos I have at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing.

Homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I have now been making this dish quite often myself.

Homemade Mexico City Nachos

I used some tinned black beans, I also had some other mixed beans and sweetcorn. To this I added some tortilla chips, and then dressed the dish with guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese, a tomato salsa, Mexican cheese dip, and some homemade pickled red onion. I added some freshly chopped coriander as a garnish.

It was a really nice and fresh dish, and was a good but slightly different version of the dish I had in London.

Homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I have now been making this dish quite often myself.

Homemade Mexico City Nachos

I used some tinned black beans, to this I added some tortilla chips, and then dressed the dish with chopped fresh red pepper, avocado, guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese, a homemade tomato salsa, and some homemade pickled red onion.

It was a really nice and fresh dish, and was a good copy of the dish I had in London.

Time for Tres Tacos

I was up in Manchester for some meetings. Before a long afternoon meeting I headed out into Manchester for something to eat. I needed to be quick, so I went local.

Many years ago I had some excellent tacos from Chilango in Manchester. When I was in Manchester in May 2022 I went to Chilango, they no longer sold their tacos, so I had a hotbox instead. 

So when I was up in Manchester this month (January 2023) I was intrigued to see that the branch of Chilango had closed and had been replaced by a branch of Tortilla.

They sell tacos and I like tacos, so I ordered some grilled chicken tacos with cheese, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

These were very fresh and tasty tacos.

Day of the Dead at Wahaca

On a recent stay in London I did quite fancy going to Wahaca on the South Bank. I have enjoyed previous meals there and at other branches of Wahaca.

They have installed some splendid Day of the Dead decorations across the restaurant. 

However upon arriving, there was a huge queue to get in, so much so, that I decided in the end to go somewhere else for lunch. Maybe next time.

Nachos

I was staying at the Doubletree Hilton in Ealing and was eating in the hotel restaurant.

I decided to go for a starter, choosing the nachos. I quite like nachos and have had them back home. These nachos were described on the menu as tortilla chips with sour cream, tomato salsa, guacamole, jalapenos and cheese.

I was quite surprised by the size of the dish, it was a large plate of nachos and I was unable to finish all the nachos!

The nachos had been toasted, so the cheese was melted. The sour cream, tomato salsa, guacamole, was all fine. I didn’t eat too many of the jalapenos though.

Overall a simple dish, which was quite tasty.

Herdez Yucatan Seasoning

I have for the last few months been using the Schwartz Citrus Brazilian BBQ seasoning when cooking chicken. I had got it from the middle aisle in Aldi, so was only available for a limited time. 

I liked the spicy citrus flavours that the seasoning gave the chicken, but did wonder if I could get the mix from another supermarket, or if there was an alternative.

You can get a Schwartz Brazilian BBQ seasoning in other supermarkets, so I did think about that and then using some lime or lemon with the chicken.

While I was wandering around my local Tesco I did find some Herdez Yucatan Seasoning.

This was described as: 

Zingy citrus, garlic & coriander Mexican style seasoning for tacos & fajitas.

Authentic Mexican style seasoning developed with Herdez, a Mexican family business with over 100 years of experience making Mexican food.

This sounded similar to the Schwartz Citrus Brazilian BBQ seasoning, so I bought a pack.

No it was not the same, but close. It was still very good and we had a great dish. Certainly something I would buy again.

More homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I decided I would have a go at making them myself, which I really enjoyed. This was good, so I did it again.

I used some tinned black beans, this timeI used a can from Aldi. Previously I used Old El Paso black beans, the ones from Aldi were a lot cheaper and were a good replacement.

To the beans I added some tortilla chips. I then dressed the dish with guacamole, tomato salsa,, sour cream, grated cheese, and chopped fresh avocado. I garnished the dish with some homemade pink pickled onions.

It was a really nice and fresh dish, and was a good copy of the dish I had in London.

Chiquito

I’ve only been to Chiquito a couple of times, but I have always liked the idea of the menu.

We went as a family and had some interesting dishes. I don’t think we were overly impressed with the experience, and I can’t see us making a return visit anytime soon. The food was okay, buy nothing special.

I had the chilaquiles, these were nachos tossed in sauce, oven baked with mozzarella until crispy on top and soft at the bottom, topped with a fried egg. I had mine with the barbacoa beef and chimichurri sauce.

It was just okay, I thought it was interesting with the egg. I didn’t really enjoy the soft nachos.

My eldest went with the chimichanga, fried tortilla packed with rice, refried beans, mozzarella and jalapeño cheese sauce. Served with guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

He did enjoy the dish.

My other son with the topped salad with a chicken + chorizo skewer. 

The salad was mixed leaves, grains, avocado, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, carrot, pink onions and crumbled feta cheese in a citrus dressing. Interesting salad and combination of flavours.

The other dish on the table was a 6oz juicy tender steak, mixed salad and homemade sweet potato wedges.

The steak lacked flavour, and the sweet potato wedges were undercooked.

Overall it was just okay as a meal out, the service was lacklustre.