Lunch at Wahaca

Wahaca has been a feature of the London restaurant scene since the summer of 2007, but the novelty of Thomasina Miers' punchy Mexican street food has by no means worn off.  On the contrary, the 4th outlet opened in Soho recently and the 1st in Covent Garden still regularly has queues stretching out of the door.

Many of you will know Wahaca already, but they've just released their 2011 Summer menu (one or two of the heavier dishes taken off and a few lighter ones added), so a couple of friends and I decided to check it out.

The Westfield branch that we visited is not all that busy compared to the buzzing Covent Garden Wahaca that I have eaten in before, but nevertheless the welcome from our waitress was as exuberant and friendly as I have come to expect.  We ordered a Horchata (cooling rice/almond milk and cinnamon drink) each and studied the menu.  Wahaca's menu is pretty flexible - there's something to please all appetites. My companions choose a few street food dishes to share; some of the new summer additions and a couple of old favourites.  I was a little hungrier so ordered a couple of the newly added small plates as well as a larger dish.

Mere minutes later food started appearing in front of us and the air was filled with the mouthwatering aromas of chilli and lime.  Scallop and shrimp ceviche tostadas were zingy and fresh; the lime-cured fish mixed with salsa sitting on crisp, fried tortillas - delightfully messy to eat!  Summer veg tacos came with splodges of deeply smoky chipotle sauce on top and crumbled white cheese.  Crispy, deep fried chicken taquitos and spicy Chicken Tinga tacos were very tasty and the chorizo and potato quesadillas and pork pibil tacos were as savoury, melting and delicious as they always are.

I was hugely jealous of my friends' Queso Fundido; another new addition to the menu.  A dish of thick melted cheese with delicious, dark green slivers of cactus hiding under the surface and adorned with a huge golden-brown crisp of fried cheese.  It was served with soft tacos - the idea being to shovel forkfuls of the stringy cheese concoction into them before stuffing them messily into your mouth.  I was allowed a forkful to taste… and was then very tempted to flag down the waitress and order one for myself straight away.

I probably would have done, had it not been for my Pork Torta.  On the menu, this is described as a 'mexican club sandwich'.  What appeared in front of me was a soft, lightly toasted burger bun crammed with lettuce, refried black beans, guacamole, salsa, sweetcorn and a very generous amount of spicy, slow-cooked pork pibil.  The juicy, tender pork and the other fillings combined into a fantastically spicy, vibrant mouthful and I was feeling pretty stuffed by the time I'd scoffed the lot  (Annoyingly, having been watching Masterchef the night before, I couldn't quite shake the image of a little Gregg Wallace sitting on my shoulder shouting ''Corrr, it's like a soft, spicy, meeeaty MOUTH-HUG…'' in his dulcet cockney tones…)

I had absolutely no room left for pudding but my friends shared a very decent Flan de la Casa.

A little while ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Thomasina Miers at a book signing (her colourful book 'Mexican Food Made Simple' does exactly what it says on the cover), we had a brief chat about Tequila - a thing that we both adore.  She recommended that I try Mezcal as well - something that I have no experience with whatsoever.  As far as I understand it, the difference between the two spirits is that when making Tequila, the agave cactus is cooked by steaming before fermentation and distilling, whereas in Mezcal production it is slowly roasted in fire-pits.  I believe that in Mexico, Mezcal is regarded as a superior spirit to Tequila, so when I noticed a couple of Mezcals added to Wahaca's already impressive list of Tequilas I thought I'd try one (the Del Maguey).  I'm really glad I did.  The flavour profile was initially similar to that of good, reposado Tequila, but there was less alcohol burn and an aromatic, almost resinous quality on the mid-palette which tapered to a rich smokey aftertaste.  Smooth and surprisingly easy to drink!

I've eaten at Wahaca several times now and I have never had a bad experience, the staff are friendly and well informed, the food is vibrant, unpretentious and great value for money but the most impressive thing for me is the consistency that they achieve.  Every dish is cooked, seasoned and presented just right, every time - not something that can be said for many restaurants that are this busy.  I'm sure the queues will continue for years to come.

My one, tiny (/petty) criticism would be directed at the really annoying, chunky, plastic baby spoons that come with desserts - they're actually quite unpleasant to put in your mouth!!

Food, drinks and service for three came to about £60 in total.

Wahaca
Southern Terrace
Westfield Shopping Centre
London
W12 7SL
8/10
££ ***
Other Branches:
66, Chandos Place - Covent Garden
80, Wardour St. - Soho
1 Canada Square - Docklands
~~ My thanks to my friend Seb Stanley for taking much prettier photos than I could ever have managed. ~~

Ceviche

Ever since I spent a few weeks travelling around southern Peru and sampled my first sour, slippery, slice of citrus-cured fish, I’ve always been fascinated by Ceviche.  I love the way it looks as thought it has been seared on the outside, even though it hasn’t been anywhere near the heat.  I always order it if I see it on a menu (e.g. various delicious offerings from Wahaca – can’t wait to try the MSC Scallop version on their new summer menu).  For some reason though, I rarely make ceviche at home.  Odd really, as it’s so simple!

When I unpacked a beautiful chunk of Mahi-Mahi from my shopping bag the other day, it seemed to be the most natural way to do the fish justice.

Here’s how:

For the marinade:

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of  1 large lime (or 2 smaller/less juicy ones)

½ a small white or red onion, as thinly sliced as you can manage.

Half a green chilli, chopped finely (I keep the seeds in for a bit of punch)

2 tbsp chopped coriander

A generous pinch of sea salt  - I used hibiscus salt (Maldon whizzed with a few dried hibiscus flowers), I like the faint perfume and fruitiness that it imparts and the attractive pink colour it adds).

First choose your fish: pretty much any fish will do I think, providing it’s as fresh as possible.  I prefer firm-fleshed, meaty, white fish.

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a dish so that the liquid is deep enough to submerge at least half of your fish fillet.

Place the raw fish in and marinate for about 2 hours (this will depend on how thick your fish is, how dense its texture and how cured you want it – mine was about 3cm thick and I like it quite ‘raw’ in the middle).

Spoon the marinade over the fillet and allow the herbs/onions to sit on top helping to cure the upper side.  Baste occasionally and turn the fish completely half-way through the 2 hours.

 Once the curing time is up, remove the fish, wipe off the excess marinade and  slice carefully into 5mm slices with the sharpest knife you can find.

Traditionally, this dish is served with a simple salad but for my dinner I had it alongside some steamed sprouting broccoli and some of the crunchy onions from the marinade, drained, on the side.