Tag: guacamole

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Wahaca for One

I had really enjoyed my last meal at Wahaca at Paddington, so had thought about going again at some point.

Arrived in London and went to Wahaca for lunch. They do a deal for one, which looked nice. Better than a sandwich. Initially I thought do I want to go there, as it was quite early, just approaching midday. But then I thought, what was the alternative? A sandwich from Pret? So headed on up the stairs. I was the first person in the restaurant. However, by the time my food arrived twenty minutes later, the place was packed.

What you got was:

      • Guacamole & Tortilla Chips
      • Smoky Sonoran Hummus
      • Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito
      • Two tacos of your choice, I went for the Buttermilk Chicken Taco and the Beef Gringa Taco.

I loved the way the food was presented on a wooden board.

The guacamole tasted nice and fresh, and it was nice to have the mixed tortilla chips as well. I really liked the smoky Sonoran hummus, not too smoky, but I liked the addition of the sunflower seeds. The Sonoran hummus is a Mexican hummus, made with roasted vegetables, chickpeas, guajillo and herbs, drizzled with chilli oil.

At the heart of the board was a sweet potato & feta taquito. There was a variety of textures and flavours in this taquito. It came with caramelised onion, salsas and chipotle mayo, and was served in a crisp blue corn tortilla. The crunch of the rolled taco and the smooth sweet potato made this a tasty treat.

I had gone for the buttermilk chicken taco and the beef gringa taco. You got one of each. The gringa taco was slow-cooked British grass-fed beef with grilled cheese and salsa fresca, in a soft corn tortilla. The beef was tender and full of flavour.

The buttermilk chicken taco was chicken crispy fried in WildFarmed flour with pink pickled onions and spiced mayo, in a soft flour tortilla.

It was a great meal, really tasty. Service was excellent as well.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I decided I would have a go at making them myself.

I used some tinned black beans, I added some tortilla chips, and then dressed the dish with guacamole, chorizo, sour cream, grated cheese and a homemade salsa.

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

I did a variation before with refried beans and homemade pink pickled onions, which was also a good copy.

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Time for Tacos at Wahaca

The last time I went to Wahaca it was just before lockdown. In May 2022 I was up in London for an event with my son, and afterwards we decided to get something to eat. Our first choice was Bills in Victoria, but they were full. So, I suggested that we head to Oxford Circus and go to Wahaca. We caught a tube across London.

We arrived to find there was a bit of a wait for a table, well it was a Friday evening in London, not too surprising. We decided that we would wait. It wasn’t too long before a table was free, we sat down and looked over the menu.

We chose six dishes, the one we started with, was the Mexico City nachos which I discussed here and was the highlight of our meal.

We also had three plates of tacos.

We had the grilled chicken and avocado tacos with ancho rub, guacamole & green tomatillo salsa, served in two soft corn tortillas.

I have had these before, the chicken for me was slightly overcooked, but the flavours were excellent. I like the addition of the guacamole to the spicy chicken.

There was also the chargrilled steak & cheese tacos, chargrilled bavette steak with grilled cheese, chipotle and avocado salsas, in two soft corn tortillas.

Another dish I have had before, these were very tasty. Though I think I have had better ones before. The steak was nice and tender and the salsas added a contrast of flavours and textures. Never see the point of the grilled cheese, preferred it when it was an option and I could choose not to have it.

Our final choice of tacos were the buttermilk chicken tacos, this was crispy fried chicken, with pink pickled onions and spiced mayo, in two soft flour tortillas.

I have had these before also. The chicken was overcooked and dry, but I liked the pink pickled onions. 

Overall these were nice tacos, not the best I’ve had, but certainly they were tasty.

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Chipotle Tacos

I was once a regular listener to the This Week in Google podcast though I have been listening infrequently these days with less commuting. You may well be asking what has this got to do with food and tacos.

Well when I was listening, Jeff Jarvis and Gina Trapani would often mention the Chipotle chain of stores, I really liked the concept that the would often talk about. When I realised that there were branches in London I thought I must try it out some time…

It was one of the places I wanted to go, but despite visiting London on a regular basis it was never really close enough to visit when I was looking for lunch.

So ten years later’ I still had never gone to Chipotle. 

Then on a recent visit to London, I was on Chiswick High Road, going to the M&S Food Hall when I actually realised there was a branch of Chipotle on the other side of the road. Hmmm I thought, well this was my chance to try some tacos.

I went with the grilled steak tacos. I was warned that these might be a bit spicy, but I thought no, let’s go for it. I went with the fresh tomato salsa

I did think the guacamole was a little overpriced, at £2.10. I said no to that, knowing I had some already. Having looked at the menu before going in, I actually got some, well a whole tub, from Tesco for £1.15 before then heading back to Chipotle.

I did have the sour cream, cheese and some beans as well.

I then headed back to the hotel with my food.

The beef was spicy (as promised) and I would have liked a little more sour cream. They were also a little cold, think they really needed to be eaten straight away rather than wrapped and taken away.

These were nice tacos, but nothing special. I don’t think I would go out of my way to get them in the future.