Tacos from the Halls

trains

When arriving at Paddington and needing something for lunch, I have on the last few occasions headed to the Market Halls.

Having been impressed with the meal I had there, I had thought about repeating the steak and chips I had before. However, there is quite a choice of places to eat and I do like to try new things. I decided to try out one of the other stalls, so this time I headed upstairs and went to try out the tacos from Breddos Tacos.

I had their lunch deal, which was three tacos and some rice for £15. I went with three different tacos.

I did enjoy all three tacos, but in order of preference, my least favourite was the chicken taco. This was Yucatan grilled chicken, pico de gallo, habanero salsa, and avocado. I had anticipated a warm chicken taco, but this wasn’t to be the case. Don’t get me wrong it was really nice, but I was expecting hot grilled chicken.

The mushroom taco was full of flavour. This mushroom guisado taco was filled with braised mushroom, onion, jalapeño, and habanero salsa. I do like mushrooms, a and this was really tasty.

The fish taco was the best of the three. The Baja Fish taco had tempura cod, pico de Gallo, and habanero mayo. The taco looked great, the cod was hot and crunchy and the accompaniments were tasty.

Overall I really liked the three tacos and it was a nice meal, the rice in my opinion didn’t add much. I think next time I would forgo the rice and just go with the three tacos.

It’s interesting to compare this with the Wahaca lunch deal for one, which is available next door. I think the Wahaca meal is a better choice if you want tacos.

Bao Buns at Paddington

Paddington Station

Having arrived at Paddington, I headed to Market Halls for lunch. This is a new place in the Paddington Square development. There are various places now to find somewhere to eat. Market Halls at Paddington is one of four halls across London, but this was my first visit to any of them. They consist of a range of street food stalls with common tables. A great place to go and eat if no one know what they want, or people want different things. Lots of choice including bao buns, tacos, curry, and burgers. On a previous visit when I was there, I went to From The Ashes Parrilla, which is an Argentinian grill place. I had the grilled picanha steak with fries.

This time I went to Bao and had two bao buns. I placed my order, took at seat and waited for the buzzer to go off. It wasn’t long

I had the Beef BAO, beef short rib, gherkin, and Sichuan mayo.

The beef was rich and deeply flavoured, and the gherkin and mayo added a nice contrast. The bao bun was soft and fluffy.

My second was the Fried Chicken BAO, soy milk marinated chicken, golden kimchi, coriander, hot sauce, and Sichuan mayo.

The bao bun was different, halved and toasted. The fried chicken was moist and tender with a nice crispy coating. I liked the golden kimchi.

These weren’t the best bao buns I have had, but they were tasty and I thought reasonable for £9 for the pair of them.

Picanha Steak + Fries

Paddington Station

Having arrived at Paddington Station, I headed to Market Halls for lunch. This is a new place in the Paddington Square development. There are various places now to find somewhere to eat. Back in December I had a lovely meal from Wahaca. Market Halls at Paddington is one of four halls across London, but this was my first visit to any of them. They consist of a range of street food stalls with common tables. A great place to go and eat if no one know what they want, or people want different things. 

Meet Market Halls no.4. seconds from Paddington Station is our newest location, where you’ll find the best of London’s food scene, an outdoor terrace, live music and your favourite drinks. good times flow here.

Lots of choice including bao buns, tacos, curry, and burgers. I went to From The Ashes Parrilla, which is an Argentinian grill place.

I went with the grilled picanha steak, chilli-pickles, chimichurri and skin on fries. You can opt for a seasonal green salad instead of the fries.

You are given a table buzzer and I took a seat. The food was prepared to order, but it wasn’t long before the buzzer went and I headed back to Ashes Parrilla to pick up my tray of steak and chips.

Picanha Steak + Fries on a metal tray

The steak had been chargrilled and then slices. Alongside were the seasoned skin on fries with chilli-pickles and a pot of chimichurri.

The steak was cooked well, and was very tasty. The accompanying  chilli-pickles and chimichurri did enhance the steak. I thought the chilli-pickles might be too spicy for me, but the pickling had quite significantly reduced the heat of the chillies. The fries were nice and crispy, but they were a little over-seasoned for me. I think I would have preferred plainer fries in this instance.

Overall I really enjoyed the food and it was nice to have something which wasn’t a packaged sandwich from a coffee shop or a supermarket for lunch.

I think the hardest thing about Market Halls, is choosing what to have, I did spend probably too long thinking about what to have, as I was tempted by the bao buns, and I did like the idea of tacos. So, I will be visiting again in the future.