LONDON BURRITO BLOG

If you're a Londoner, do you know what you've been waiting your whole life for? Let me tell you... an Indian burrito!

This fusion seems like the most obvious thing in the world in London right? Indian food with the eat anywhere convenience of a burrito. Curry. Beans. Rice. Wrap. To me Indian Burrito and London should go together like cheese and Marmite!

But there's not many of these in town. In fact, to my knowledge, there's only one. And I'm not talking about Mooli's either. After all, they'll be the first to tell you that a mooli is not a f*cking burrito. No, I'm talking about Chula Fused Foods.


Chula is a small-time street food cart with a big idea. It is run by Vinod Patel who currently trades at Covent Garden, Waterloo and Victoria, depending on the day of the week. Vinod has spent time in San Francisco, worked at Chipotle and traveled to both India and America to find inspiration. His venture is the culmination of this research and he aims to bring the highest possible standards in food preparation and hygiene to London street food.

The idea of an Indian burrito is not new. Well it's sort of new but it's been around on the streets of San Francisco for a while. CurryUpNow have been fusing all kinds of stuff over there (tikka masala burrito for example) to considerable success. They have recently expanded beyond food trucks and have opened up a restaurant in San Mateo. It is new to London though and this (and Mooli's) is something that really should take off here.


I've tried Chula twice now, both times at Tachbrook Street Market which is about a 5 minute walk from Victoria station. So far I've sampled the chicken keema (awesome) and the paneer (good). I've yet to try the lamb. With your main filling you get rice and kidney beans, a choice of chutneys (go for hot obviously!) and salad. The chicken with hot chutney and all extras I went for was truly exceptional. The vegetarian option I had on the second visit (I went late and Vinod had run out of meat) was nice but lacked texture somewhat. Regular veggie burritos tend to have peppers or mushrooms. Maybe that would work here too?


All in all this is something to really get excited about. An awesome idea with a great result. There should be more places doing what Vinod is doing at Chula, whether they be on the streets or in fixed locations. There is surely a gap in the market for hot Indian food in the UK that is easy to eat on the go.


Go to Chula. You won't regret it!

 

It's been quiet on the blog front. I've been running around like a crazy person the last few months. Normal service will be resumed shortly...

A new burrito place has opened up in King's Cross. Burrito Café is now open at 10 Caledonian Road, just a few minutes walk from both King's Cross and St Pancras stations.

I popped by on the second day of trading to check it out but alas it was not a good start. The burrito was badly constructed, the chicken was poor and it tasted quite bland. Not a good start.
 


No photo of the food. It was dark and I had the burrito to go. The menu is mostly a "me too" except for the chili beef, which is unusual in London.

Will give this place another try after some time has passed to see if it's improved. No website yet. The flyers being handed out all referenced burritocafe.co.uk but that just leads to a 123-reg landing page right now. No sign of them using social media either...

All in all not the greatest of starts for a new business.

 

I've stumbled across another gem.

A street food trader from the Eat Street collective, Buen Provecho is a taco stand located on Lower Marsh, right by Waterloo station. Yes, that's in SOUTH London! Which makes it even better!

Buen Provecho sell super tasty tacos with a choice of meats and the option to self serve yourself a choice of salsa extras (e.g. guacamole) at the end. I'm not sure if the menu is the same every day however when I was there the choice included pork, chicken mole, chicken tinga and picadillo. They also sell an assortment of other items including salsas.


I went for a combination of three tacos for a fiver. Great value and well worth it if you want to try a combination of fillings. Each one tasted different but went well together so I will probably try the same combo again. It was a messy eating experience but a fab one!
 
This is seriously good stuff. I have no idea why they are not better known.

The only problem really is finding somewhere to eat. There isn't really anywhere around the stall itself however I would recommend crossing Bayliss Road and finding a perch in the little park on the corner.


Buen Provecho are at Lower Marsh Market most Tuesdays through Fridays. Go there!
 

A third Poncho No.8 has opened. The new restaurant is located on Old Compton Street in Soho and is the first Poncho branch to serve alcohol. It's west end location also means that it is open on weekends.