food, reviews and of course coffee
I like making tacos at home, but this usually means making them one at a time at the table. I have been thinking about getting some taco holders so that I can prepare them in advance before serving them to the table.
I had a look online and in the end I got some colourful plastic taco holders.
These will hold two tacos, or turn them upside down and they can hold three.
Having tried them out, they work a treat, makes it very easy to construct tacos for serving.
I have to say I am a bit of a fan of the tacos from Tortilla, and is one of my go to places for a light lunch. They make a nice fresh and tasty, but light meal. This time I tried out the branch of Tortilla at Cabot Circus. I had three chicken tacos with all the trimmings and added guacamole as an extra.
What I like about the food, is it tastes very fresh, true the chicken has been around for a while, but combined with the fresh salad, salsa, and toppings, they are delicious. Can be a bit messy to eat, so I usually use a fork, but in theory you can eat them by hand. Really enjoyed these tacos and they made a nice lunch.
I do wonder why places charge extra for guacamole, and in the case of Tortilla they also charge extra for hot cheese sauce. Can make a cheaper deal a little more pricey.
One time I will get a burrito from Tortilla and see how that is.
Avoiding a hotel meal in Leeds, myself and a colleague headed out for something to eat. We didn’t go to far and went to the Editor’s Draught, a pub that sells food on Wellington Street.
I was hungry, having missed lunch, so I went with their big burger, The Triple Threat.
It’s the biggest and baddest of the stacks, and it’s piled up with triple beef patties, triple bacon, triple burger cheese slices and triple onion rings drizzled with cheese sauce, in a toasted bun with ketchup, burger sauce, iceberg lettuce, chopped onion and gherkin, with skin-on fries and BBQ sauce.
It was only a couple of pounds more than a standard burger and came with onion rings.
For a starter, well probably a side dish I had the chicken tacos which came with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.
I enjoyed both dishes, they weren’t out of this world, but I wasn’t expecting an out of this world experience. The burger was a nice burger, good flavours and if anything impractical to eat with your hands, as it was so tall.
The chicken tacos were a nice snack.
Overall a quick tasty meal, just what I needed.
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:
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.
One of my go to places for a light lunch, is Tortilla. I always go for the three tacos, usually with added guacamole.
I was at the Mall doing some shopping and decided to grab a bite to eat at Tortilla. I went for the chicken tacos.
What I like about the food, is it tastes very fresh, true the chicken has been around for a while, but combined with the fresh salad, salsa, and toppings, they are delicious. Can be a bit messy to eat, so I usually use a fork, but in theory you can eat them by hand. One time I will get a burrito from Tortilla and see how that is.
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.
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.
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.
Whilst writing another blog post I realised I had not written about a meal I had eaten last year. Back in March 2023, I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls.
I was going to have the steak sandwich, but I misread the menu, they stopped serving sandwiches at 5pm. So instead, I had the fish tacos and then the Florentine pizza.
I’ve had the fish tacos many times before at the Drayton Court Hotel. These are crispy strips of battered fish served on flour tortillas, with salad, dressings, and a mango salsa.
It’s in many ways quiet a simple dish, but isn’t one I have recreated back home. I have made similar tacos using crispy chicken, and I have also made my own salsa as well. Though I’ve not made a mango salsa.
These tacos were delicious, and I really enjoyed them.
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!
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.
I was back in London and staying at one of my regular haunts, the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes.
The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, such as Kind Hearts & Coronets and Passport to Pimlico. There are lots of photographs from the films on the walls.
Going down for dinner, I went with the fish tacos. I’ve had the fish tacos many times before, and these were just as good as the ones I’ve had previously.
The dish arrived, it comprised three tacos, each was served with a piece of fish in a crunchy coating, shredded lettuce, mayo and the aforementioned mango salsa.
These were nice and tasty fish tacos. I liked the crunchy fish strips, the mango and lettuce added some nice freshness to the tacos.
They are slightly different to the first time I had them, which was back in 2022, when they also had some grated cheese on top.