Wahaca
Above: Wahaca
Wahaca is the first restaurant from Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, who aims to bring the real flavours of Mexico to the West End by way of fresh, vibrant cooking inspired by the food markets of Mexico City. The result is a buzzy dining room that’s a far cry from your average Tex-Mex joint.
With a no-bookings policy, bustling open kitchen and cool canteen-like interiors, the restaurant itself bears more resemblance to Wagamama than Navajo Joe’s and in place of nachos and fajitas are snacks like pork scratchings with guacamole and a full range of freshly prepared, tacos, tostadas, quesadillas and burritos.
Everything is made fresh on the premises and the kitchen sources seasonal British produce wherever possible; the chillis, for instance, come from a small farm in Devon. Sure, there are deep-fried and cheese-gratinated elements to the lengthy menu, but this is essentially very healthy stuff – and it won’t do much damage to your wallet either.
We filled the table with dishes for everyone to share. There were soft tacos stuffed with delicious char-grilled steak and punchy salsa, crisp-fried tortillas topped with fresh flaked mackerel, re-fried beans and chipotle chillis, and some very tasty tortilla toasties with spicy chicken. We also tried a tomato-based ‘tortilla soup’.
Despite ordering seconds of the excellent steak tacos and washing it all down with margaritas as well as beer before finishing off with chocolate-dipped churros (long, crispy doughnuts), the bill was still under £25 a head.
I can’t remember when I last had such an enjoyable, inexpensive night out in the West End and, although we were slightly put off by not being able to book a table, staff redeemed themselves by offering to take our mobile number and give us a call when a table became available. No wonder the place is always packed.
by Annica Wainwright, an editor at Square Meal