Wahaca, Covent Garden

While I was in London, I took the opportunity to eat out somewhere a bit different, to sample something that I won't get near to where I live, so Mexican seemed perfect, and after doing a bit of research on the internet, the consensus seemed to be that Wahaca would be a wise choice, tasty food, and also importantly, affordable. We headed over to the Covent Garden branch at about, 5.15pm it must have been, thinking that we would be able to get a table almost straight away. How wrong we were! I thought that noone else in London would be eating that early, but surprisingly it was absolutely packed, and so we were told to come back in half an hour, which we did and then were promptly seated.

If you didn't already know, Wahaca has a kind of tapas-style menu, made up of lots of different small plates that are perfect for sharing. They recommend 2-3 dishes per person, and surprisingly I found that 2 plates was enough to fill me, but I think I was still a bit full from afternoon tea the day before! Having quite different tastes, me and my sister opted not to share, with her going just for one of the larger dishes, which was a perfect size for a main course.

We actually started off with some nachos and salsa, which were really nice. The salsa was really fresh, full of different flavours, definitely a thumbs up.

 

Then, the first dish I had was these Pork Pibil Tacos, which were so tasty! The meat was melt in the mouth and juicy, and for me the dish was flavoured just hot enough.

Afterwards, I went for this Chorizo and Potato Quesadilla. Chorizo is one of my favourite foods and Wahaca advertise that they make their own, so how could I not try it? What I normally love about Chorizo is the spicyness, the smokyness, the hit of flavour, so when I bit into these, I have to say, it was disappointing, pretty bland, and to be honest if it hadn't mentioned the sausage in in the name of the dish, I doubt I would have known it was there.

And, although the food in general was pretty good, for me the biggest let down of all was the Horchata, which for those of you who don't know is an almond and rice drink. As soon as I saw it on the menu, I knew I had to try it, as it was something I drank all the time when I was working in Spain, and absolutely loved it. Perhaps I had been spoiled, but to me what Wahaca was serving wasn't Horchata, it was so watery, chalky and overly cinnamon-y. Although I finished it I didn't bother to order another. All-in-all it was a pretty mixed bag, but that said, I probably would go again. Overall, the food was enjoyable, it's just not somewhere that I would rave about.

Prêt-à-Portea: Tea at The Berkeley

Right so, as I said, I went to the Berkeley Hotel in London, for afternoon tea a couple of weeks ago, which of course was amazing! Although before I went, I did have reservations about spending over £40 on afternoon tea, I can honestly say this was worth every penny, it was that good.

Before the main stand itself came out, we were presented with these little plates of sandwiches. I can't remember exactly what they were, but I remember being really impressed with the bread, as I think each was flavoured with something different, although, let's be honest, I was just trying to eat them as fast as possible to get to the main event!

 

On the bottom tier of the stand, there were some savoury tasters and my favourite were these shot glasses of gazpacho, which were actually pretty spicy, but I also enjoyed the salmon, and the feta cheese and wasabi with crispy pitta bread.

 

 

But obviously the best bit was the cakes. I have literally never seen anything like them, and the they tasted just as good as they looked. It was also nice that once a tier was finished, the waitress would come over and ask if we wanted any more and of course we said yes! At the hotel itself we must have got through over a stand worth of cakes each...

 

 ...and then when we were finished for good we were asked if we would like some cakes to take away, and we were given these cute little boxes.

 

Finally, as we went for afternoon tea, it only seems appropriate to mention the tea itself, I loved the Pear Caramel flavour I had first, as it was just sweet enough but wasn't so flavoursome that it overpowered the cakes. I then moved on to the Vanilla a bit later, and I have to say was a bit dissapointed, it just didn't really taste special. Luckily, my sister was happy to finish it off, and I had her Funky Fruits, which was probably the best fruit tea I've ever had. The ones I've tried before didn't have a very strong taste, but this was just right.

If it wasn't obvious enough I would definitely recommend this. It's definitely not something that you're likely to make a habit of, but for once in a while or even for a one off it's a nice treat - I'm already eyeing up the special afternoon tea they're doing for the Jubilee!