blog

Tortilla Number 5

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:22:33 +0100

More burrito goodness comes to square mile in September with the planned opening of the fifth Tortilla store in London at Leadenhall Market. The new opening follows on from their other restaurants in Islington, Bankside, Canary Wharf and Oxford Circus.

Tortilla are also currently piloting Fish Tacos and I'm told they are good! It is only a trial at present and they are only available on Tuesdays and only in the Market Place (near Oxford Circus) store at present. Here's hoping that these will be added as a menu item soon...

El Jefe

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:09:13 +0100

I like Chilango. The fun loving team behind it are real characters who - when they are not icing each other - are building a really good brand. But most importantly they do good burritos. Consistent and good quality. They also know what 'hot salsa' means.

BUT - ever since the original store in Islington changed from Mucho Mas into a Chilango they stopped doing large burritos. There have been days when the one size fits all burritos from Chilango just don't quite hit the spot size wise.

I assume that Dan Houghton, co-founder of Chilango, got bored of my occasional Twitter mentions that went something along the lines of "just had a great burrito, could've been a little bigger though" because he told me about El Jefe. This was something I had to sample. Apparently.

I turned up at the Islington Chilango to meet Dan and take the El Jefe challenge. It turns out that The Chief is in fact two tortillas, with the usual fillings, all rolled in to one uber burrito. Yes, this is two burritos in one!

As if that wasn't enough, Dan volunteered me for a triple-meat special. So that'll be a double burrito with chicken, pork and steak then? Oh, and double helpings of black beans, sour cream, cheese and guac of course!

This was quite a challenge that just seemed like a big joke - which is unsurprising really as it was! This just seemed like the biggest amount of food ever. Actually I have probably had a similar (slightly smaller) burrito in California before but that was a knife and fork affair which just didn't seem as massive as when you're trying to unwrap it...

I started out treating it as a normal burrito but began to seriously slow down after getting through around two thirds. But the big question was, could it be done? Could I beat El Jefe?

For a while it seemed that I could but then I slowed down so much that I was taking single bites every minute of so. And although I made excuses about the time and having to get going when I did finally give up about 10 or so bites away from completion, the fact remains that I wasn't able to beat El Jefe!

I'm going to sign off with the claim that had it been a 100% chicken burrito I would've made it, but unfortunately on this occasion it was El Jefe 1-0 Mark.

Burro Burrito

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:40:12 +0100

It's getting harder and harder to keep up with burrito openings in London these days. New places seem to be opening up all over the place. Some good, some bad...

Burro Burrito fits somewhere between bad and, er, bad. Located on Ludgate Broadway in close proximity to City Thameslink train station and St Paul's Cathedral this place is surprisingly big given that it's located on a tiny backstreet. From what it would appear it is only open during weekday lunchtimes.

There is a varied menu - different to the usual - that includes chili bowls as well as the usual fayre.

I popped up from Croydon one lunchtime to grab a takeaway burrito before jumping right back on a train. Burro Burrito have gone with an unusual layout that differs from the usual production line model. Orders are taken at the entrance counter with a ticket being given for either eat in or take out orders. These orders are then produced in an out of sight kitchen before being hand delivered to the table or in a bag for take out.

Unfortunately this system does not allow the easy customisation that I come to expect and left me just hanging around for a few minutes whilst waiting for my order to be ready.

I took my burrito to go and less than five minutes later I was already on a train back to Croydon. Having made the effort to actually take an hour out for lunch what followed was particularly disappointing. Whilst the burrito was quite large, there really was absolutely nothing to it. These guys either gave me the wrong order or they have absolutely no idea what 'hot' or 'spicy' means. The salsa had no kick. None whatsoever.

After finishing my food I tweeted that Burro Burrito = "Bland, tasteless yuckiness. A definite candidate for worst in London". With the plethora of new places now open(ing), there is no real reason for me to go back for a burrito. The above picture pretty much speaks for itself and to coin a phrase ... would you like some burrito with that lettuce?

Freebird

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:12:14 +0100

Of all of burrito spots in London, Freebird has probably been on my list for the longest. Freebird have quietly been pitching their burrito carts at lunchtimes in a few locations in London and I recently got a chance to check out their location at Rupert St / Brewer St in Soho.

There are a few street food places on Rupert St all of which seemed to be doing a good trade and arriving at Freebird right in the middle of lunch there was a line of probably 5 or 6 people in front of me. Not a bad sign.

It's burritos only at Freebird so the choices are simply down to choice of meat and salsas. This is simple street food delivered very authentically with no fuss and all for a very reasonable £5. Seeing the burrito being put together I knew that this was going to taste pretty good.

I can see why this place is rated highly by so many. It is probably the closest to authentic Mexican that it is possible to get in London and a very close copy of the burritos that can be found in some of the lesser known places in The Mission.

Taking a perch on an office wall a few blocks away in Soho I most definitely enjoyed my lunch. For my tastes I'm not sure that this surpasses Daddy Donkey in terms of overall awesomeness but it's definitely up there with the best. When I finally get round to updating the main part of londonburrito.com, Freebird will take it's rightful place towards the top!

Illegal Jack's

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:08:09 +0100

My first blog post from outside England. It's north of the border for this post. Destination: Edinburgh, Scotland - home of the brilliantly named Illegal Jack's.

I first became aware of Illegal Jack's South West Grill earlier this year when I came across some online reviews about Mexican inspired food in Edinburgh. The reviews were both positive and negative, so I tweeted such together with a link to the Illegal Jack's website.

I soon received an @ reply from the man behind Illegal Jack's via Twitter and have followed them on the social networking site ever since. They are into social media in big way and are well worth following via Twitter ( @illegaljacks ) for a take on a whole range of topics.

With some annual leave and a short notice trip to Glasgow and the Isle of Mull, I decided to book a flight home to London from Edinburgh in order to check out Illegal Jack's. In fact, the majority of this blog post is being typed on my iPad aboard a British Airways flight from Edinburgh to London City Airport.

Catching a train from Glasgow Queen Street in the early afternoon of Friday, July 16, 2010, I was soon at Edinburgh Haymarket station and taking the short stroll to the restaurant on Lothian Road. The large site, which was previously a badly maintained Pizza Hut, is unusually large for a burrito place and comes across as a sort of a fast-food / full-restaurant hybrid.

The menu is larger than almost all places I've been to before with Fajitas, Chilli Bowls and Buffalo Wings being additions to the standard fayre. I highly recommend the chilli by the way, it is really good!

I warned Illegal Jack's that I was coming and was greeted with this reserved table...!

This place, being Scottish and all, is a little different. Whilst food is ordered at the counter, it is usually brought to your table when ready. A different take to most production line burrito places (which I prefer to be honest) but it does give you time to relax and settle down. My burrito arrived promptly and it was huge! When I say huge I mean California huge and that's an impressive claim!

So what of my first Scottish burrito? It was pretty good. Tasty and satisfying but with maybe a little too much rice in proportion to the other ingredients. The salsa had a good combination of heat and flavour though it could have been a little hotter for my tastes. I was impressed by the choice of Louisiana hot sauce taking the place of the more usual Cholula. A good choice.

I'm really glad I took the time to visit Illegal Jack's. They do things a little differently in Scotland and they've got a good thing going. It's great to see Mexican inspired food available in Edinburgh and even better to know that they sell good burritos. They are currently gearing up for the Edinburgh Festival with hopes to feed some of the swollen population that the city gets at that time.

Based on my first visit I'll give Illegal Jack's a respectable 7/10. As a result I can now answer the big question... Yes, you can get a good burrito in Scotland! Next time you're in Edinburgh, do be sure to head up Lothian Road to check them out.

Return to Chipotle

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:37:59 +0100

I went back to Chipotle on Charing Cross Road today, just to see if they had gotten any better. Actually I was intending to go to nearby newly opened Mas Burritos but they were already closed.

The answer is no. Chipotle now have a choice of white or brown rice and they have changed their drink selection somewhat. I was surprised that my chicken burrito w/ guac only came to £6.60 which is much cheaper than last time. Not sure if I might have been undercharged as the guacamole still comes in at a whopping £1.40.

Chipotle's offering in London remains bland and uninspiring. The saving grace remains the Smoked Tabasco which tastes superb. It's just a shame that it's needed to give the whole thing some taste.

Manchester and Liverpool

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:31:53 +0100

Heading out of town I've popped in to Barburrito in both Manchester and Liverpool recently. This chain (now also in Leeds) seems to have quite a following up north and they were one of the first "proper" burrito joints in the UK. Sadly, I don't think they are particularly good. Both burritos were fairly bland and calling their salsa "extra hot" is just a joke!

Here's a burrito from the Barburrito at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester.

New Places

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:23:49 +0100

A few developments in the burrito world in London of late:

BENITO'S HAT is now a chain with a second place just opened on New Row in Covent Garden.

MAS BURRITOS has opened up right around the corner from the new Benito's. I have not tried them yet but early tweets have not been particularly positive. They have another site in town but I'm not sure if that's open yet.

MEXICAN EXPRESS is apparently "about to launch a chain of Mexican Fast Food restaurants in several locations around London". Not much known about this other than this link. With thanks to @JonathanMathias on twitter.

WRAP IT UP has opened a new place on Villiers Street between Charing Cross station and Embankment tube. They do a mixture of wrap type foods including burritos and roti and have been trading opposite Liverpool Street for a while. I don't expect the burrito to be good as a result of what seems to be a lack of focus. Maybe I'm wrong?

Breakfast

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:59:24 +0100

Flying Burritos on Middlesex Street now do breakfast burritos and they're really, really good. I really do mean really, really good!! Do check them out.

Silverstone

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:50:12 +0100

Not entirely off-topic as this is about Formula 1 (so called) burritos...

For the second time (the first was back in 2006) I went to Silverstone on Sunday, July 11th to watch the British Grand Prix. Prior to the race I walked around the perimeter of the entire circuit to check out the merchandise and food stands.

The Silverstone website specifically states that they strive to mainly provide high quality food and so, although still rather doubtful, I adjusted my expectations accordingly.

What a mistake! The food places were all dreadful. Shameful actually for an expensive sport such as F1. Here is what passed as "Mexican" food. A total disgrace!

I didn't buy anything but a surprising number of people did. What would it take for a proper burrito-mobile or taco truck to make an appearance at next years event?

Anyone...?