Wahaca - Wardour Street, W1

I’ve never been happier to walk in to a restaurant than on Monday night.  We didn’t realise it was the Wahaca soft opening and just wanted to grab a bite to eat after work, had I have got my way it would have been a Byron dinner...

As we walked through the doors though and were greeted with those perfect words: “Free Food and Half Price Drinks” you could have heard the snap of smile as it went from ear to ear!  I’d not been to Wahaca before so I was quite happy for the extremely enthusiastic waiter to explain the score and listened to his recommendations.

We ordered some drinks and the Pork Crackling with Guacamole while we decided on what to have.  The Crackling is bizarre; like Porky Quavers they were lighter than air and extremely crisp but in honesty we did think the portion was on the gratuitous side after a while.

We dived into the street food which I think is the point of the place really?  The Pork Pibil Taco in Yucatecan Marinade was extremely special, I could have easily eaten a few portions of this on my own not as hot as I’d expected but very rich and meaty all the same.

The Mackerel Tostada looked disturbing and came cold but the fish was spot on, cerviched in lime it was really refreshing and worked really well to counter the meaty richness of the pork.

The Chorizo and Potato Quesadilla was far better than I could have imagined and having thought about it definitely my favourite dish of the night.  The Chorizo, Potato and Cheese forming the perfect sandwich all the elements complimenting each other well.

The only moderate disappointment was the Chicken Tacquito which on its own probably would have been ok but it just didn’t weigh up to the punch of the others.As it was the soft opening it would have been rude not to have desserts?  That’s how it works right?

We went for the Churros with Chocolate and the Mango Sorbet.  The Sorbet was lush, very refreshing and packed full of flavour.  Now Churros are one of my favourite things in the world.  They have kept me alive on holidays to Madrid and Barcelona as you don’t need painkillers when you have that rich Chocolate and delicious batter to dip in.

Wahaca’s Churros are slightly more refined than the street vendors I’d been used to before.  The Chocolate was perfect just could have been a little more of it but sadly there was cinnamon on the Churros.  Still delicious but it would have been better without.

All in all the meal was really enjoyable and I would have been more than happy to pay full whack for it but as it was free I was extremely chuffed and I think Wahaca has found a new regular customer in me...  Just need to try the Tequila’s next time!