Poncho Sundays
Posted by kpmarek on Sunday, May 9, 2010
London has come a long way. Today, I was stopped on the street and asked if I would like to try a sample mini-burrito! It turned out that the people out giving away food were the guys behind Poncho No.8, funnily enough, the very place that I had popped up to town to visit...!
My first sample of Poncho was back in November of last year and I was pretty impressed. Back then I said...
"I had my burrito to go and it was raining so the actual eating experience wasn't as great as it could have been. The burrito? Pretty damn good. Could have been a little more hot salsa but the flavour was good and it had a nice 'kick'. The best thing though was the filling. This was a proper CHICKEN burrito! No messing about with Nineteen-Ten size portions of meat. Let down by smaller amounts of rice and beans but meat wise, this is how it should be done. The prize for amount of meat is now shared between Poncho and Daddy D. This place is up there on quality. They're pretty new so things can (hopefuly) only get better. I will be back."
So my first impressions were good but opening hours have been limited to weekday daytimes only. As Spitalfields is not at all convenient for me to get to from deepest south London I wasn't able to get back as soon as I had hoped.
Last week however, Poncho No.8 announced on their blog that they were extending their opening hours to include Sunday lunchtimes. I was on holiday in Cornwall at that time but realised that the second Poncho opportunity had finally arrived, so I headed up today to sample them once again. Sunday sees a different crowd in The City which would explain why Poncho are trying to spread the burrito word to a whole new leisure audience.
It was really good to meet the people behind the brand, London's burrito entrepreneurs really are a great bunch! It was also good to be able to check out if my initial impressions from my first visit were correct.
They were. Although the only option today was pinto beans (uncertainty about Sunday busyness meant that my usual choice of black beans was not available), the burrito was good. I opted for the chicken though I did also try a sample of the pork. Both were very good indeed and whilst not perfect, this is very high quality stuff. I fully expect that if I returned on a busy weekday instead of a (new) slow Sunday, it would have been even better.
Moving on to the 'heat factor' I am very pleased to report that 'hot' does actually mean hot! Not stupidly tastelessly hot but the picante tasted good whilst giving me the 'kick' that I wanted. Getting that right is crucial for me and so on the salsa front Poncho are firmly in Daddy Donkey and Chilango territory.
And so to conclude, this place is excellent. It was particularly good to hear about the focus on properly sourced and quality ingredients, which is of course very California! To me, that is what cal-mex cuisine should be about and the more awareness of that the better. I rate Poncho among the best of the London burritos and it'll be moving up on the eat section on this website soon. I should also add that the interior of the small restaurant is fantastic!
My first sample of Poncho was back in November of last year and I was pretty impressed. Back then I said...
"I had my burrito to go and it was raining so the actual eating experience wasn't as great as it could have been. The burrito? Pretty damn good. Could have been a little more hot salsa but the flavour was good and it had a nice 'kick'. The best thing though was the filling. This was a proper CHICKEN burrito! No messing about with Nineteen-Ten size portions of meat. Let down by smaller amounts of rice and beans but meat wise, this is how it should be done. The prize for amount of meat is now shared between Poncho and Daddy D. This place is up there on quality. They're pretty new so things can (hopefuly) only get better. I will be back."
So my first impressions were good but opening hours have been limited to weekday daytimes only. As Spitalfields is not at all convenient for me to get to from deepest south London I wasn't able to get back as soon as I had hoped.
Last week however, Poncho No.8 announced on their blog that they were extending their opening hours to include Sunday lunchtimes. I was on holiday in Cornwall at that time but realised that the second Poncho opportunity had finally arrived, so I headed up today to sample them once again. Sunday sees a different crowd in The City which would explain why Poncho are trying to spread the burrito word to a whole new leisure audience.
It was really good to meet the people behind the brand, London's burrito entrepreneurs really are a great bunch! It was also good to be able to check out if my initial impressions from my first visit were correct.
They were. Although the only option today was pinto beans (uncertainty about Sunday busyness meant that my usual choice of black beans was not available), the burrito was good. I opted for the chicken though I did also try a sample of the pork. Both were very good indeed and whilst not perfect, this is very high quality stuff. I fully expect that if I returned on a busy weekday instead of a (new) slow Sunday, it would have been even better.
Moving on to the 'heat factor' I am very pleased to report that 'hot' does actually mean hot! Not stupidly tastelessly hot but the picante tasted good whilst giving me the 'kick' that I wanted. Getting that right is crucial for me and so on the salsa front Poncho are firmly in Daddy Donkey and Chilango territory.
And so to conclude, this place is excellent. It was particularly good to hear about the focus on properly sourced and quality ingredients, which is of course very California! To me, that is what cal-mex cuisine should be about and the more awareness of that the better. I rate Poncho among the best of the London burritos and it'll be moving up on the eat section on this website soon. I should also add that the interior of the small restaurant is fantastic!
Tags: burrito london "poncho no.8" poncho
blog comments powered by Disqus
