ABOUT THE RESTAURANT

Wahaca is a chain of London restaurants that serve Mexican 'street food'. They offer a range of different mini dishes, where you can order 2 or 3 each and share them amongst your group or have them to yourself! And some main courses where you don't need to worry about sharing! (I love my food and don't like to share!).

MY INTRODUCTION TO WAHACA

The Covent Garden branch of Wahaca is nearest to my work, which is why I come here the most (even though the Soho branch has a Mojito bar!). I was introduced to the chain by my previous boss, who took me here one lunch and ordered half the menu!

If any friends say they fancy a Mexican meal, I'll always try and steer them here rather than anywhere else. I'll go into detail as to why in my own thoughts section of the review!

LOCATION

The Covent Garden branch of Wahaca is very accessible for anyone in Central London. Your best option would be a tube to either Covent Garden tube station, or Charing Cross tube station. It's about a 5 minute walk from either of those, and a 2 minute walk from the main 'market' section of Covent Garden.

If that location isn't convenient enough, check Wahaca's website since there are 3 or 4 more branches in London.

PRICE RANGE

A meal at Wahaca can work out quite cheaply. If you go for the street food option of ordering 2 to 3 small dishes per person, you'd be spending about £10 per head on food. The small dishes are £3 to £4 each.

A cheaper option is to stick to a main course as these vary between £6 and £9.

You can of course order a variety of side dishes (rice, coleslaw, potatoes) costing between £2 and £3 each.

Drinks are pretty standard in price and a soft drink such as a fresh fruit juice will cost you a couple of pounds. You can have a Mexican beer for around £4, or a cocktail for £5 something.

Last but not least, desserts are around £3 something each, and coffees around £2 each!

So you're looking at around £10 to £15 per head, depending on what you order. Not too bad for Central London, although obviously not the cheapest around.

A SUMMARY OF MY MOST RECENT WAHACA VISIT

I came to this branch of Wahaca around two weeks ago. It was a friend's birthday and I know she loves Mexican food. I was pleased to be able to show off my inside knowledge of where's good to eat, and knew that if you like Mexican food in general, you'd find it very difficult not to like Wahaca!

As I suspected, everyone loved their meal!

We arrived at the Covent Garden branch around 6pm on a Friday. Booking isn't necessary and we were shown to a table immediately. The waiter was a little confused about a 4th guest joining our table who was running a bit late. He did try and get us to wait at the bar, but we assured him he wouldn't be long! We were then shown to a 4 seat table without any fuss.

The table formations are quite well thought out, not too near the next group, which I find is a common issue in busy Central London restaurants. We were seated on a table with chairs one side, and a comfy looking bench the other. As a pregnant lady I can get a bit achey sitting in a hard chair for a while, so I headed straight for the cushioned bench seating! The other chairs looked a bit uncomfortable, although my friends that sat there had no complaints!

We were sat quite near the kitchen, which is open plan, so you can see the food being prepared and get to eye up all the dishes going onto the serving hatch while you wait for your own!

Before we ordered, our waiter explained how the Wahaca dining experience worked, and gave us all a briefing on the street food menu and how you could order a couple of little dishes, or one main course. He then left us the menus and put some pots of chili sauces on our table.

We chose our drinks next as our 4th guest had arrived. My friends had Coronas which were £3.60 each, and I had a Citrus Fizz at £1.55. It's pretty much a mojito without the rum. Still very yummy!

Next was the all important main course chosing! From my previous visits, I knew that my favourite dish was the pork pilpil - slow cooked pork all chopped up into little bits in a delicious (but hard to describe!) marinade! For this reason I chose a main course to myself, the Pork Torta at £6.50, which is as great big Mexican style sandwich with guacamole, beans and salad.

My friends opted for 2 dishes each from the street food menu, and chose a selection of tortillas, tacos, quesadillas with fillings such as slow cooked pork, chicken and refried beans. They also had a few sides such as little fried potato cubes and Mexican green rice.

The waiter took our orders, and helpfully explained what each chili sauce was like in terms of hotness and what sort of meat it complimented.

When our food arrived I was very excited with my Pork Torta! It was piled heavily with yummy slow cooked pork! And the size of the bun it was in was impressive too! I wasn't worried that I hadn't ordered any sides! The flavour is amazing - some sort of delicious barbeque taste that I could never recreate at home! The guacamole and beans weren't overpowering or noticeable really, which was a relief for me because I'm not a great fan of either!

My friends loved their dishes too, and were impressed with the sizes. They all agreed that 2 street food dishes each was more than enough. We love to eat, so I think they expected the sizes to be on the small side. They really weren't! The tacos for example, you get 3 good sized ones in your one portion. The portions of rice appeared to be small, in ramekin dishes, but you didn't seem to need a lot as my friends couldn't eat it all.

We didn't have dessert on this occasion, and I was sad to see that the chili chocolate icecream that I had adored in the past had been taken off the menu! If the standard of it is anything to go by, the other desserts should be equally good though!

OVER ALL

Wahaca is a great place to pop into if you're looking for a quick bite to eat in London. We were in and out within an hour or so, not that we were rushed in the slightest.

If you enjoy Mexican food, I really can't see you not enjoying this restaurant!

And be sure to help yourself to what look like books of matches by the entrance! They're actually little packs of chili seeds that you can grow at home! :)

My favourite Mexican food place in London, and probably one of my favourite chain restaurants too. 5 out of 5 from me! Although I considered deducting a star for the removal of the lovely chili chocolate icecream from the menu! :)