Death by Burrito at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, 3rd July

Having been to Death by Burrito when they were a pop-up at Catch, I was excited that they had a permanent place at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen (one of my ‘go-to’ bars when I’m in the area). My thinking was that, as with Rita’s, it would give them space and time to get creative and put some new items on the menu that would really show the breadth of what they could do. I was pleased to be invited for a sneak peek the day before they opened up officially. I imagined a sit down event with a selection of everything on the menu for everyone to try and maybe with some explanation of it all as well.

It turns out the night wasn’t quite like that. It was more of a party than a food event. Ryan Chetiyawardana (otherwise known as Mr Lyan of White Lyan which I have yet to get to) was responsible for the cocktail menu and the three I tried were all delicious, and strong, so no complaints there. But you start serving cocktails, and free cocktails at that, and the bar becomes a blockade very, very quickly. They probably should have just whipped up batches of one cocktail and lined them up on the bar for you to take as you pleased – let’s be honest, when something is free, people aren’t that picky about what it is.

(c) Vivek Vadoliya

I ended up talking to one of the bloggers from InformedLondon and his friend, and one of the BarChick girls, who, like me, were there to see what the menu was all about. We came hungry and we wanted burritos! And we stayed that way for quite a while as food didn’t start coming out until past 9pm. Finally, it arrived to a chorus of grumbling stomachs – a basket of chicken wings to share and a slider each. Not quite as Mexican as I was expecting. We waited for more, or, specifically – some burritos. But – can you believe this? – no burritos were to be found! What was even more bizarre was that the food we did get wasn’t even very good. If you’d never had DBB before, I don't think this offering would persuade you to come back to try the main event, unless of course once you had a hankering for burritos you couldn’t rest until you’d been back to get some. 

The chicken wings were alright – the agave gave them a sweet taste that I liked but they weren't as good as wings I’ve had elsewhere. Then we tried the sliders. Now, I know I’m not a burger fan but even I could tell these were not the way to do burgers. They were cold by the time we ate them, and had dried out (though there were signs they were cooked well originally, being slightly pink in the middle), and there was far, far too much bread. Assuming these were the candied bacon and jalapeno burgers on the menu, I didn’t realize any bacon was involved until looking at the menu afterwards, and the jalapeno might as well not have been there for all the kick it gave it. The mini-tacos were okay – the meat in particular was lovely; a slightly sweet, smoky flavour and a barbecued texture to it, and I liked the crunch of the radish on top, but they too were a little dry. I applied hot sauce liberally.

(c) Vivek Vadoliya

(c) Vivek Vadoliya

But don’t be too disheartened. I spied on the menu the items I’d had before, so if you wanted to know what their burritos are all about, which is where their strengths lie, read my previous post on them.

(c) Vivek Vadoliya

Because this was also to launch of their cook book there were a few copies on sale and I had a browse through it. Some pretty tasty-looking food in there, but I don’t cook so it was pointless me getting a copy. Several people did though, and there was a flurry of transactions which seemed to double as a signal for half the party to clear off! Which was a shame because the DJ they had was banging and if it had been a Friday I’d have merrily sipped a few more cocktails soaking in the tunes. The place has been done up all Mexi-macabre and looks the business so it’s a pretty cool place to hang out. And those cocktails are certainly worth a visit.

They didn’t have the slushie machine for slushie negronis, and they couldn’t make the most interesting-sounding drink on the list – the Sweet Papel with sweetcorn and coriander atomisation. But I tried the Pineapple and Cacao Smash, the Bandito Hi-Ball and the Ring-a-Ting-Ting. All were very easy to drink, easy on the mixer and strong on the liquor. I worried that the Bandito, being in a high-ball glass would be mostly ginger ale, but I needn’t have: slug after slug of tequila went into the cocktail shaker, and the ginger ale was only a quick gesture to sweeten things up at the end. My favourite though was definitely the Ring-a-ting-ting – not too sugary with a cucumber background aroma making it super-refreshing. I would have stuck to these but for the blogger in me wanting variety.

So, not sure what to make of this place. If you’ve been, let me know what you thought!

Death by Burrito, 7th August

We got over to Catch at about 6:15. There were only a couple of other people in the place so we were told to just grab a seat and were asked if we were eating. We most certainly were. 

I'd done a little research on the place and commonly came across the fact that the burrito was £12 and therefore ridiculously expensive, that the service was pretty poor and cocktails miniscule. None of these things were true of my visit.

I greedily looked at the menu and decided that everything sounded really good. But Stephen wouldn't allow me to order anything other than a main, as it was the day before my birthday and we had 'three days of eating and drinking ahead of us'. Party-pooper. He also came to regret this, as Death by Burrito is rather a misnomer. Perhaps 'Minor injury by burrito' or 'Inconvenience by Burrito' would be more apt. Suggesting that you will die by burrito implies these will be so bursting and so hearty that you'll be rendered incapacitated. In fact, they were probably the smallest burritos we have ever had. 

Fairly tall cocktail

We got one beef burrito for £9.50 and one order of tacos for £6.50. That gives you two tacos so we had one each and split the burrito, which handily came cut in half already. And that was all. I had expected we would also get some blue corn tortillas and quacamole with our mains, as that is what I'd read but I can only assume that the trade-off from reducing the price was that you don't get any extras with it anymore. 

The tacos and the burrito were fairly equally delicious. The short rib was perhaps a little drier than other burritos but this could partly have been because the burrito is made up of all meat plus some lettuce - no refried or black beans providing any other moisture. But not having any of these usual extras means the burrito is very compact and not as filling as the ones you get... well... anywhere else. So even at £9.50 the price tag is still a little steep. A nice touch was the shredded sweet potato which wasn't just a gesture but a discernible texture and flavour that complemented the smoky short rib really well. The burrito came with a pot of fiery salsa on the side, which was delicious, but the serving was tiny, and it was in a very impractical container - dipping your burrito in it was quite the task and you weren't provided with any other means of getting the sauce onto anything.  

Item 1 (burrito) does not fit into item 2 (salsa)

The pork tacos were very juicy, sitting on the right amount of coleslaw. Pieces of crackling were dotted throughout providing a very pleasant crunch, in, I'd say, every other mouthful. For tacos, they were quite generously portioned (compare to the size of Breddo's tacos for example) but only having two of them meant they still weren't all that filling.

I fear we did not do DBB justice, again succumbing to the tyranny of our waistlines and wallets. Judged on these two dishes alone, the food was very tasty and I wish we had tried some of the other things on the menu. The courgette flower and poblano crepes for instance, or the chipotle poppers on the small plates side (all only £6.00). Yes, the burritos are a little pricier than, say, Luardos or Chipotle but when I'm getting dinner out, not just some food on the go for lunch, I don't really mind a little extra cost. We still only spent about £8 between us on food, my cocktail is what bumped the bill up past the £20 mark. 

Must admit, the cocktail I ordered from the DBB menu (see above) was nice but probably not worth inflating your bill for. I had the pink paloma, for £7.50 which was tequila, 'raspberry and aperol charged with homemade vanilla salted grapefruit soda'. I didn't really detect anything exotic about the soda but as I said it was nice enough to drink. Some of Catch's own creations sounded even better, I'd give them a try next time. 

Breddos Tacos, 4th May

Mexican is one of my favourite types of cuisine - melty cheese, non-melty cheese, salsa and - if you're lucky - guacamole on everything - what's not to love? Burritos have taken off in a big way, and I do love them, but I've always secretly preferred tacos. This probably goes back to my days of eating Taco Bell on the American base and even thought they're the lowest of the low in Mexican cuisine, I loved them. I still love Taco Bell in fact, and I'm not ashamed to say it! I'm no foodie snob - as much as I appreciate cuisine done well, sometimes you really want the junk done badly!

Anyway, luckily for me, it's not all just burrito joints/vans these days - a lot of places are also serving up tacos. I've been enjoying the ones at Wahaca for a couple of years now. Buen Provecho do very good ones, L.A. Sueno weren't bad when I tried them at Feast (and I've heard good things about Mission Mariscos) and now, fairly new to the scene (or new to me at least) are Breddos Tacos, where clearly the tacos come first, even though they also do burritos.

I tried to get there a couple of weeks back but - a rarity for me - not having checked my twitter at all beforehand - I didn't realise that was pretty much the only Saturday in a while they weren't at Netil Market. So back we went two weeks later. They had four different versions - chicken with habanero and mango, pulled pork, chipotle short rib and a veggie one (think it might have been sweet potato, I didn't really pay attention). They're £2.50 each or three for £6.00. So of course we got three each - one each of all the meat ones. Moments before it had been fairly sunny as we chatted at a bus stop with my friend. As we queued for our tacos, the weather turned vicious. Rain is one thing -  what we braved to eat our tacos was full-on hail! So, I probably ate them a little more hastily than I would have had the weather been balmy and I could have sat down to enjoy them. I wish I had been able to savour them longer.

The corn tortilla making up the taco was a really good thickness - pliable but solid enough not to disintegrate from the juicy filling. They were all pretty tasty as far as tacos go and my favourite, surprisingly, was the chicken - it had a good kick but was also nice and fruity.

Breddos also has a large jar of pickled habaneros of which I had a couple on each taco. These chillies are not messing about! They're fantastic pickled but after having had my first two tacos with maybe one or two on each, I realised that if I actually wanted to taste my third one and not just have a mouthful of fire, I'd have to forgo the habaneros.

A wise move as I enjoyed my last few mouthfuls of tender, slow cooked beef with fresh and light salsa. I do love a salsa that isn't afraid to put a bit of radish in it for crunch. Delicious.

Less than a week now until I attend Tweat_Up's Taco Wars and you could say I'm pretty stoked. All the competitors tend to rustle up something special for these events and if Breddos were anything to go by I am in for one hell of a day. 

Mestizo, 4th Feb

I love me some Mexican food. I am over the moon at the recent surge in popularity of it over here, though still sad that Taco Bell doesn't seem to have taken off. Yes, I know it's technically awful, but it is also delicious!

Anyway, so I am always on the lookout for new Mexican places, and I think I came across Mestizo through Secret London, although funnily enough, Stephen worked up the road from it before we got together and had already been once. But only for a burrito which barely counts.

So, following our newly initiated tradition of eating out and then drinking on a Friday, we decided to try out Mestizo. We bundled up and braved the snow that was just starting to fall. We'd had a look at the menu beforehand which had whetted our appetites but put off a final decision until we were immersed in the restaurant. 

The restaurant is warm and Mexican in decor - red walls and red hearts in the windows which I presume were for Valentine's Day. The staff are very friendly, though we realised throughout the evening that they seemed to be markedly clumsy. Especially our waitress who managed to practically throw a fork in Stephen's face, and dropped at least a couple of other things. She also almost took my food menu away from me before I'd ordered but she was very sweet which made up for it. And when we sat down there was already a bowl of homemade corn torilla chips and some tasty, zingy salsa verde waiting for us to polish off in no time. A good start. 

There's a lot to choose from on the menu and I thought it all sounded pretty good. I had originally been drawn to the long list of different tacos but we didn't go for those in the end. We decided to get a couple of antojitos, which are starters or small plates. We had a couple of jaladas (jalapeno poppers served with a nice minty sour cream dip) and two pescadillas (like deep fried corn fish tacos). They were both tasty but not exactly out of this world.

For our main we couldn't resist ordering the Molcajete Mestizo. This is like a fondue, but instead of cheese, you get meat. We had the mixed version which meant our bowl of meat contained chicken, beef and pork sausage which was chorizo but to me tasted more like Polish sausage (that's not a bad thing). On top of the meat you get some cheese, some spring onion, some avocado and it comes with tortillas - your choice of flour or corn. We chose flour. The massive bowl came spitting and bubbling to our table. The stone bowl keeps the food so hot that the serving spoons were almost too hot to use. We actually thought the food was getting hotter the more we ate. 

You get about four tortillas each and more than enough meat to fill them. I was quite stuffed by the third tortilla. It was tasty. The sauce it came in was quite a rich, dark, tomatoey sauce. But it was also heavy. And again, I wasn't blown away by it. It's definitely hearty and you can't fault the amount they give you. But I would have preferred more avocado and spring onion, less meat and perhaps a fresh salsa to go in the tortillas to lighten the dish up a bit. And some jalapenos wouldn't have gone amiss. 

Stephen wasn't enamoured of the place but I'm not quite decided on it. I think part of the fault lay in our choices - jalapeno poppers are never going to set anyone's tastebuds on fire (though they are pretty spicy). And having what amounts to a bowl of meat for dinner is just unnecessary. I'd like to go back, try out their guacamole (a good test of how good a place is) and go for the tacos like I had originally planned, or maybe one of their platos fuertes (main courses). The mixiote de cordero for example, a shank of lamb marinated in Mexican spices, wrapped in a banana leaf and slowly cooked until tender, accompanied with rice and corn tortillas sounds very appealing.

I also didn't get to have a dessert because I was so swollen by the meat, and I think the sound of their pastel tres leches sounds amazing. I had a donut tres leches in the states once and I still remember it vividly. Dessert is a good a reason as any to give a place another try. 

The place was no Wahaca, and not as easy to get to now Wahaca has opened a branch in Westfield Stratford, but I'm not writing it off yet. 

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato