I was travelling back from London and rather than catch a busy peak train, I decided I would have some dinner and catch a later train. The other option was to catch a busy train, probably stand or be cramped, and then cook when I got home. So dinner it was, and I had already made up my mind to visit Wahaca. I had heard about the branch at Wahaca at Paddington when it opened, but I hadn’t had the chance, or the opportunity to make a visit until this week.
It’s just outside the station and upon entering the restaurant you climb a set of stairs to get to the tables. Even though it was early the place was buzzing and quite busy. I was initially offered a seat at the bar, but as I wanted food and not a drink, I asked for a table.
I sat down and looked over the menu. I had a voucher for a free portion of tacos, so that was the first area of the menu I went through. I was tempted by the buttermilk chicken tacos, but went with the Ancho Mushroom Tacos, with jalapeño mayo, beetroot crisps and dressed slaw, in two soft corn tortillas
I had really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos when I had them a few years ago. So that was next on my list of choices. I went for the veggie version, as I didn’t think the addition of the chorizo really added that much to the dish, and the veggie dish was cheaper as well.
My final choice was the Zesty Bean & Feta Tostadas, with chickpeas, borlotti beans and organic peas with fresh tomato salsa. I had hoped they would have the crab tostadas they use to have on the menu, but they didn’t.
The nachos arrived first and I was a little surprised by the size of the dish. Either the dish was smaller when I had it a few years ago, having made my own version of this plate, I was expecting something smaller, or more than likely I had just plain forgotten how large the dish was.
There was plenty of crunchy tortilla chips, a large helping of guacamole, black beans, crema, pink pickled onions, cheese sauce, fresh tomato salsa and jalapeño. I left the jalapeño, but the rest of the dish was delicious.
I really enjoyed the Zesty Bean & Feta Tostadas, full of flavour and contrasting textures of crunchy tostadas and soft beans.
The Ancho Mushroom Tacos were really tasty, I liked the mushrooms and the intensity of flavours across the two tacos.
I really enjoyed all three dishes and the experience reminded me how much I enjoy the food at Wahaca. Service was excellent, warm, friendly and efficient. It’s a real pity that the branch in Bristol closed, as it would be nice to have somewhere local to visit.
