Wahaca Covent Garden – new street food menu

Mexican Dining – New Menu at Wahaca:

My American friends often wax lyrical about Mexican food, and say that it’s the one cuisine that they miss when they come to Europe.    It’s not surprising that there haven’t been that many Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants opening here, when we don’t have the immigrant population that often spurs on a particular cuisine.   In this country all too often Mexican restaurants  are associated with big group parties, the almost compulsory wearing of a sombrero, and heavy stodgy food all covered in cheese.  When Wahaca burst onto the scene it set about to change all that with its Mexican Street food menu, funky interiors, and incredibly friendly staff.

We had been to the Waterloo branch previously, and not really knowing what to order opted for the pre defined selection for 2 people.  This is a really good way to try a range of the foods on offer, and makes for a simple life!   The menu changes with the seasons, and so the one on offer at present isn’t the selection we tried, which I seem to remember featured a rather gorgeous cactus dish.

The menu suggests ordering 2-3 dishes per person depending on hunger levels,  and if your dining companions are happy to share it means that you can try quite a few different items between you.  The Salmon sashimi tostadas shown above I think were the highlight for me, whilst my partner said that he just loved all of it!

We were asked to review the new special taco dishes at the Covent Garden branch.

Slow-cooked lamb taco: British lamb shoulder marinated in ancho chilli & orange and slow cooked with sweet onions until tender.   I thought that this worked really nicely, bursting with flavour it was melt in the mouth good.

Crispy prawn taco: Two corn tortillas stuffed with chopped prawns spiked with chillies, spring onions & coriander. Deep fried until crispy and topped with a fresh tomato salsa & chipotle.    I liked these, but for me I would have liked a bit more of a chilli kick, my partner loved them just how they were.  I used the house sauce to give me a little more zing.

We had a chat with one of the managers who gave us a little information about the company, co-founded by Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers along with Mark Selby, it offers it’s head chefs and managers the opportunity to become partners in the business after they have worked for 2 years, and they are whisked off to Mexico to experience the real thing.  No wonder that the staff are so knowledgeable about the food, and so helpful,  they have a real incentive to be part of the business.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up next, as there are more and more branches opening.

Disclaimer:  We were guests of Wahaca.

Wahaca Covent Garden
66 Chandos Place
London WC2N 4HG