Wahaca

It is fair to say that Wahaca in Covent Garden was one of the most eagerly awaited new openings in Londinium amongst readers of this blog. The publicity promised authentic Mexican food at reasonable prices in a 'Wagamama-style' atmosphere. I have no idea as to whether the food is in any way authentic - more on this soon - but can report that it delivers in the other regards as it is not too pricey and has a funky kinda vibe (I'd say the seating is considerably better than somewhere like Wagamama as not everyone is condemned to benches, though the noise levels are possibly even higher). The one disappointment on the night was that poor b has had a cold lately and was not really able to taste a great deal which, given her championing of Tex-Mex, was a damn shame.

The waiter was in fact very keen to point out that this was not a Tex-Mex place, but instead offered real Mexican 'street food' (as shown on wine-stained menu which someone took home as he had sillily forgotten his camera). Having not been to the Mex, I have no idea if people hang out on street corners enjoying quesadillas with summer smoky aubergine, potato and goat's cheese - my head says probably not, even if my heart says that perhaps they should. Equally, I don't remember many of the characters in Amores Perros or Y Tu Mama Tambien saying they'd die for a taquito with crema, Lancashire, fresh salsa, aubergine, potato and goat's cheese, but, all this said, I have read a fair bit about Mexican food here lately - http://majbros.blogspot.com/ - and for all my cheekiness, I do get the impression that Wahaca accurately conveys the idea that a lot of Mexican food is starchy, cheesy and spicy, and that while some of the ingredients used here may differ from those used there, there is a real attempt to get at a spirit of Mexican cooking which you won't find elsewhere in London. I should say that this also seems to have something to do with an attempt to source lots of good food from Britain, and I shan't knock a place which gets its heat from the South Devon Chilli Farm, one of my fave Devonian outlets, run by chilled-out cool dudes. One final note on the 'down home' theme is to say that the food here quite reminded me of the kind of Mexican food we might make if we had a go at home - and indeed N family tacos came to mind - and this was no bad thing at all.

We had been forewarned that none of the dishes are especially spicy and that you must take responsibility for adding heat, which isn't really a problem, though I don't quite see why they needn't up the heat notch overall, because I tend to think a restaurant should be a better judge of these things than its customers, even if it is trying to make sure it doesn't scare people off. All of the dishes were very tasty I thought and the best were perhaps two sides of 'green rice' (brown rice blitzed with garlic and coriander appara) and frijoles (black beans cooked twice, with cheese), though the very thick nachos were vg, as was the guacamole that had clearly just been made, and I thought the quesadillas were really yummy, though any restaurant that mucks up a quesadilla doesn't really deserve to succeed, such is the inherent deliciousness of Mexican cheese toastie.