Wahaca

Mon –Sat midday –11pm; Sun midday–10pm

Posted by David McDonagh on 12/05/09

Since winning Masterchef in 2005, Thomasina Miers hasn’t looked back. She’s made two series of cookery programmes for Channel Four, written several cookery books and opened her first branch of Wahaca (named after the Oaxaca region of Mexico) in the West End in 2007.  It won over critics and scooped several accolades including Best Cheap Eats from the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2008 and Best Restaurant from Daily Candy Sweetest Things 2008.

Her second restaurant opened in Westfield Shopping Centre last year and is proving to be equally popular. On our weekday lunchtime visit, it was clearly the busiest restaurant on the sunny South Terrace, despite next door’s The Real Greek having much comfier-looking outdoor banquettes. We were greeted at the door by Ricardo, who quickly showed us to our chosen outdoor wooden corner bench. The placemat  menu places an emphasis on local, ethical and healthy ingredients – shrimp is certified sustainable and the organic, home-made chorizo is from a small farm in Sussex. There are plenty of small dishes, ideal for sharing, and dishes arrive when they’re ready – adding to the lively, informal atmosphere.

I kicked off with some large, light pork scratchings (legions away from the average greasy pub fare) with freshly-made guacamole (£3.25) and pork pibil tacos (£3.75). The perfectly tender pork and earthy black bean tacos arrived topped with a tangy pickled red onion sauce. For main, I opted for marinated chicken burrito, which comes with punchy chipotle, onion and spices (£5.75) plus a favourite of mine, Baja cheese (40p) – British farmhouse cheddar and mozzarella mix. The veggie girlfriend chose a winningly wholesome butternut squash pipian (£7) – squash, black beans, quinoa, mushrooms and Savoy cabbage drizzled with a spicy green pumpkin seed salsa and scattered with creamy feta cheese. This being lunchtime, we washed our meal down with filtered table water (£1.25, 750ml still) and agua fresca (£1.30) aka hibiscus water, which tastes rather like Ribena, although there are plenty of Mexican beers and tequila cocktails on offer. We just managed room for churros (£3.40) – probably the best I’ve had – which comes with a rich chocolate sauce.

Wahaca is a vibrant, fun and very affordable place, offering snappy, friendly service. The only downside is that the restaurant doesn’t take bookings. The Westfield Shopping Centre branch isn’t as busy as the more centrally-located original, but you’ll still need to be prepared to wait and the staff are on the ball, so you might feel a little rushed.

Lunch for two, without wine, around £20

1074 Westfield Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, W12; 020 8749 4517; www.wahaca.co.uk