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.

Back to Wahaca

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mexico City Nachos

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. These were nachos Trealy Farm chorizo, black beans, crema, cheese sauce, tomato and avocado salsas.

These were excellent. I’ve not had this dish before, I’ve also not had this kind of dish from Wahaca before. The crisp nachos went well with the different toppings. I enjoyed the freshness of the avocado and sour cream. I liked the sharpness of the picked red onions as well. The black beans were nice and added texture to the dish.

I will talk about the other dishes in future blog posts.