New Mexican restaurant in Covent Garden looks/sounds promising!!

Wahaca is a new Mexican restaurant that's just opened in Covent Garden. 

BBC Masterchef 2005 winner Thomasina Miers is the brains behind this new restaurant on Chandos Place. The food is supposed to be more "authentic Mexican street food" than Tex-Mex or Calmex.

I haven't been able to try the food yet but the restaurant looks lovely and the menu sounds very appealing. The prices seem very reasonable (for London) too!

Has anyone been there yet? It deffo looks like a place worth checking out!

Click on the link at the top of this post to check out the restaurant's website and menu. 

I remember Thomasina from Masterchef and the menu descriptions sound prmising. Too bad I'm 600 miles away from the place!

I really liked Thomasina, so I hope the new place is a success! And I'm looking forward to hearing a review - will some of you in London please check it out soon? 

I'd heard she was doing this. The menu looks fab!!

We're doing a day in London with Whole Foods a priority stop... but this may qualify as the lunch or dinner option!

This is great news! I hope it is good. I didn't see enchiladas on the menu.
That's my ultimate comfort food. yum.

i'm going towards London this weekend. If i can get time to go in to town, i;ll try it and post a review.

sounds exciting

tom

I think enchiladas are more Tex-Mex than interior Mexican.  My mom would occasionally make 'street Mexican' food at home, and it's quite different than the stuff we Texans are generally used to.  I look forward to its originality!

can't wait to hear a review!

REVIEW!!!

DH and I went yesterday. I'm not 100% keen on the interior. It's a bit Wagamama-ish but the tables aren't quite as 'sit-next-to-a-stranger'. The staff were excellent and very friendly. Our waitress wanted to steal Sammy. We went at lunch so loads of business-types there but they all cleared out before we were done.

We stuck with the street food as opposed to the larger platters. So effectively, you are getting Mexican tapas, as you order a couple plates each. We shared corn chips with guacamole. I had the fish tacos, chicken taquitos and frijoles. DH had chorizo quesadilla and steak tacos and corn on the cob. I would say that all in all, it's pretty good. How genuinely authentic it is, I'm not sure as I haven't been to Mexico! The frijoles are VERY mild. My fish tacos were good but not amazing. The taquitos were very nice. I'd pass on the corn next time. I think they roast it so it's a bit tough and since I'm a Maryland corn snob, it just didn't cut it. They serve everything with 2 salsas which were good and there is habanero sauce from the South Devon Chili Farm on the table.

The portions are reasonable and I didn't find the food too greasy. We finished off with churros (the one item that was greasy). They were ok but I prefer them with cinnamon sugar to chocolate. DH had a beer and I had the sparkling water with lime and mint. All together we paid just over 32 quid, which, I think for London isn't too bad.

I would definitely go again.

I tried it out a few weeks ago for lunch.

I thought the tableware and cool sinks in the entry and the bathroom were probably the most interesting things about the place.

I thought it was upmarket Baja Fresh meets IKEA and definitely with a Wagamama-esque feel.

Since I moved to London, I learned that Mexican food on small plates is called "street food"  just as Spanish food on small plates is called tapas. Taqueria on Westbourne Grove serves it up this way and I wasn't too keen on a plate with one item. I want a platter with a slabs of beans and rice and a main entree. Let it all touch and mingle!!

The food was okay. I had a chicken burrito but what turned me off was the cabbage in lieu of lettuce. I like the concept of sourcing local foods.

Prices were good. I'd go again and it is very central.

I would have enjoyed if it was spelled Oaxaca though. 

I went last Saturday afternoon.  I am not exactly a demanding princess, but I had to ask three times for my drink before it arrived.  The food was just...OK.  The "service" (if you could call it that) was appalling. 

Although it was a bit cheaper than a visit to Cafe Pacifico, I was really disappointed.  I won't be going back. 

 :\\\'(

I would have enjoyed if it was spelled Oaxaca though. 

Exactly what i thought when i saw the name of the restaurant!

that's too bad that it's just "ok"...hopefully some of the dishes are better than others.
I'm so spoiled being in Austin. Although we have Tex-Mex some of my favorite restaurants here are actually the "Interior Mexican" ones...however because I am in Texas some of the menus overlap with both interior and Tex-Mex. I didn't know that enchiladas were only "Tex-Mex" because I'd bought a cookbook for an exboyfriend in Mexico on Interior Mexican cooking which included Enchiladas...but they definitely weren't the ones smothered in cheese and onions like I like (which would be Tex-Mex)...lol...

I would have enjoyed if it was spelled Oaxaca though. 

I wonder if they just did that because no one would have been able to pronounce it? Still, it would have been cooler to keep the actual spelling... or at least use a different word!

I didn't know that enchiladas were only "Tex-Mex" because I'd bought a cookbook for an exboyfriend in Mexico on Interior Mexican cooking which included Enchiladas...but they definitely weren't the ones smothered in cheese and onions like I like (which would be Tex-Mex)...lol...

Enchiladas aren't just Tex-mex...even though I do love the Tex-mex ones. The way the enchiladas are made depends on what part of Mexico you're in. Each region has it's own type of food and I'm sure some regions probably don't normally eat enchiladas. I've had enchiladas pretty much as we know them in Texas though when I was in Monterrey Mexico and friends from other parts of Mexico make them very similar too. But then I've had friends from other regions who made some that were totally different than what I am used to. They were still good...just different.