Dinner for 1 with drinks:  £20.90

What am I doing?  Why am I willingly traveling to a mall?  Why am I willingly traveling to a mall to eat “Mexican” food in London?  Why I am willingly planning to eat “Mexican” in London?

There are a lot of fantastic things to eat in London.  Cuisines from all over the world.  Mexican food however is so not one of them.  Most “Mexican” food I have sampled in London has, on a good day, approached the quality of Taco Bell – awful, microwaved, crap.

But Ellis stopped me in the office today to mention that – though he knows he has no frame of reference because living in London he clearly has never had good Mexican food – he thinks that the food at Wahaca was really good.  Now Ellis is no slouch so I think OK he might be on to something so I looked the restaurant up.

And this is where I begin to doubt Ellis.  I am not a fan of having things dumbed down for me.  I was a blond in my youth but that is no reason to speak slowly to me.  I hope by now you have noticed that the name of the restaurant is Wahaca a place which does not exist in reality.  Oaxaca on the other hand is a state in Mexico,  albeit one which is apparently harder to read out loud, and is in theory where the restaurant gets its name.  Even better this place is in a mall.  Right I think – perfect opportunity to go and hate this place and make fun of the name, etc. etc.- Ellis is clearly out of his mind.  All my reviews can’t be positive affairs after all.

I arrive at Westfield center and its just meh, as meh as any mall could ever be.  I expect I’ll be eating in some gloomy food court but the navigation kiosk points me out onto something promisingly labeled the terrace.  I walk out of the mall proper onto said terrace which has a line of restaurants running along one side and a very unexpected green wall running up the other.  Green wall meaning plants – not paint.  I am of course undeterred in my mission to hate this restaurant at this point as it is wedged in between a Dell’Aziz and something called the Real Greek which I am sure is anything but.

The first thing I notice upon entering is the complete lack of “Mexican” kitsch.  No sombreros or mariachi anything.  No bull fighting posters or murals of banditos on the run.   I am settled at a nice table with a view of the green wall by a friendly fellow who took care of me before the table of 6 that came in right on my heals.  My bum has not even hit my seat when I am greeted by an attentive and helpful waiter who hearing the American accent says to me quite rightly “Ah American, so you’re familiar with Mexican food and I probably don’t need to explain menu”.  Excellent – appeal to my ego – good start.

Thankfully Oaxaca is spelled correctly on the menu when referring to any regional specialties and there is no evidence of fajitas or chimichangas anywhere on the menu which is a good sign as these things are not actually Mexican at all.  There is also huitlacoche on the menu- which is referred to adorably as “corn mushroom” – but we’ll get back to that later.

Scratchings and Guacamole

I start with an order of pork rinds and guacamole – the pork rinds are bottomless by the way.   The waiter informs me that the pork rinds, or scratchings as they are called here, are baked rather than fried which makes them light and crunchy and not at all greasy.  They’re good but they could use a little salt or spice or something.  The guacamole is also pretty good – it has actual raw onions in it which for some reason is rare in London “Mexican” places, but its missing a hit of citrus and spice.  I opt not to have a refill on the pork rinds mostly because it would be insane for me to eat two buckets of them by myself.  Under the cover of a crowd I totally would have gone for it.

Shrimp Tacos

My second item is an order of shrimp tacos which were served cold and were quite nice.  There was actually enough spice that I started to feel a tingle around my lips – which I enjoyed very much.  These were definitely the highlight of the meal.  They were fresh and flavorful.

Served with my meal were a side of black beans and green rice which arrived for some perturbing reason 10 minutes before the rest of my food and sat there staring at me getting cold as I waited for everything else.  And when I did finally tuck into them I was not all that impressed.  The green rice was rice and it was green – I have nothing more descriptive in my notes.  The beans were beans but I think that in their attempt to have one pot of beans on which you can opt to have either a meat or veggie topping they’ve missed out.  I had mine topped with house-cured chorizo.  Beans with pork should taste porky and not just on top – no porky taste here.

Frijoles with home-cured organic chorizo

Now back to the corn mushrooms.  Once I saw the huitlacoche on the menu I knew I was having it.  I laughed out loud though when I read the description of it as “Corn Mushroom”.  That’s a mild description of what huitlacoche actually is.  It is most often referred to as corn smut which also makes me laugh and if you’re not faint of heart you can take a look at it here. Though in their defense putting “disease of corn” on the menu might not encourage people to order it.

So knowing full well what it is I ordered it and was really looking forward to getting to eat something so bizarre.

Huitlacoche quesadilla

It was kind of a let down.  I mean as a quesadilla it was fine but aside from the ash gray color of the filling there was nothing unusual about it, it just tasted like mushrooms and cheese.  Apparently corn mushroom is an apt description.

The margarita was good and freshly made – could’ve done with a little more tequila in it however.  I judge my margaritas by the amount of fuzz in my head after drinking one – none here – not enough tequila!

Also I have an issue with one of the “salsas” they served.  One was a tomatillo salsa that was good.  The other was – I swear – adobo sauce from a can.  I can recognize it instantly as I cook with it often and always have some at home.  It tastes good but don’t pretend you’ve made me a salsa when really you’ve just opened a can.

If this was a meal served to me in New York I would have said you know its fine – and would probably not make a point go back – as the options for excellent Mexican are virtually limitless here.  But as I had this meal in London I looked at it a little differently.  Any problems aside it was the most authentic Mexican food I’ve had here and if I’ve got a craving for Mexican when in London I will definitely go back.   I might even check out their Covent Garden location.  I might even drag some Londoners along to give them a little education on authentic Mexican flavors.

Clearly Ellis knows good Mexican.

Wahaca
1074 Westfield Shopping Centre,
Ariel Way, London W12 7GB

Dinner for 2: $68.00

The ramen craze has pretty much passed by the part of Brooklyn where I live, until now.  When I learned that a noodle bar had opened up within walking distance of my apartment I absolutely had to check it out. No matter that it was a hot and sunny day.

Zuzu is a cute little spot occupying a lonely corner on 4th avenue in what real estate agents would probably call Park Slope but which really isn’t. 4th avenue is not a particularly attractive area with four lanes of commercial traffic whizzing by. It is generally a street you cross quickly to get to Park Slope on the eastern side or Gowanus/Carroll Gardens to the west. Nevertheless the restaurant was quite busy on a Friday night and its a good thing we arrived on the early side as people were waiting for tables by the time our food arrived.

You sit on tall stools around tiny tables, or if you’re on your own you can sit at the bar and watch the action in the open kitchen. The open kitchen would be good entertainment for a single diner because there is simply not enough light to read by unless you get seated at one of the larger tables by the window (unlikely if you are on your own).

Our friendly waitress – who had some incredible multicolored thing going on with her eyelashes – recommended a Ramune soft drink which she described as having a hint of bubblegum. Not normally a flavor I seek out in a beverage but the fact that you have to pop a glass marble into the bottle to get the carbonation going was enough to sucker me in for a try. It did indeed have a hint, a perfume perhaps, of bubblegum but was actually quite nice.

To start we split an order of mini pork buns. I was expecting a standard chinese style bun but what they delivered was more like a sandwich using steamed bun dough as the bread.

Mini Pork Buns with Braised Pork Shoulder, Scallions, Cucumber & Sweet Chili Sauce

The pork with the pickled cucumber and chili sauce go together very well though the sandwich configuration makes it one hell of a mess to eat.  Do not order this if you are wearing pastels.

The menu described the signature Zuzu ramen as having a smokey dashi broth.  I’ve never seen a dashi broth described as smokey so of course I had to give it a try.

‘ZuZu’ Ramen with Charshu, Slow Cooked Egg, Bamboo Shoots & Seasonal Vegetables in a Smokey Dashi Broth

The photo here doesn’t really do the soup justice but the light was so low that I needed to use the flash in order to get anything other than shadows. The charsiu was good, not great though. The noodles were nice and fresh and there was a generous helping. Smokey turned out to be an apt description of the broth. It was quite unusual and enjoyable. The broth really elevated the ramen from ok to really good.

All in all it was a good solid bowl of ramen.  I prefer Minca in Manhattan but the next time I feel like noodles and I am loathe to hop on the subway I will drop in again.

Zuzu Ramen
173 4th. Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Recommend by Eating in Translation

It goes without saying that I find a lot of the restaurants I try by reading other food blogs. One of my all time favorites is Eating in Translation. Dave Cook manages to try an unbelievable number of restaurants, stores, events, etc and I check his site daily for inspiration for new food adventures. And I can honestly say his site has never steered me to a bad meal.

So last weekend when the Alsatian and I were planning an epic walk from our place in Brooklyn to Union Square I checked the blog out for a good place to go in Chinatown – which conveniently was at the midway point of our walk.   I am a sucker for a good bowl of noodles so we decided to try some tasty hand pulled ones.

Lunch for two: $12.50

About 3 miles into our 6.5 mile route we stopped in to refuel at this diminutive restaurant.  The friendly waitress showed us to one end of a long communal table with a couple at the other end eagerly slurping away at their lunch.  From our spot we had a perfect vantage point to watch the actual hand pulling of the noodles.

If you’ve never seen noodles being hand pulled it is quite a fascinating sight.  I would love to know exactly how it is that a single blob of dough becomes a pile of thin noodles without any pasta machine or knives of any kind – it is a pretty amazing process that involves some considerable dexterity which I almost certainly lack.  There is a lot of twisting and twirling and voila noodles. 

You can get any style of noodle they offer with any topping in soup or dry (fried). We started with an order of shredded pork chop knife pealed noodles which as the name might suggest are cut rather than pulled.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed when they placed the dish down in front of us but it what it lacked in color it made up for in taste.   It was actually quite good and we left nothing on the plate.

Shredded Pork Chop Knife Pealed Noodles

Eating in Translation mentioned being underwhelmed with the quality of the fishballs so we opted for short ribs in our soup instead.  It looked really promising when it hit the table.   A generous portion of noodles, greens and short ribs.

Shredded Pork Chop Knife Pealed Noodles

When I tasted the soup I thought the noodles were yummy and as fresh as could be but the broth was a little thin on flavor. I must’ve been giving off some kind of disappointment vibe because the waitress bolted over to point out the fresh cilantro and chili sauce on the table.   These additions really made the meal.   The sauce was a chili sesame mix that was fantastic and really added a punch to the soup.  This turned the soup from ok to really good.

Chilli Sauce that I really loved

We left rested and fueled up and ready to finish our walk. This would be a perfect place to come on your own though don’t expect to have a table all to yourself if you do.

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles
1 Doyers St
New York, NY 10013

Meal for 1: $9.50 with a small soda

So in the interest of full disclosure I must start this post by admitting that I have a serious love of all things cornmeal.  Polenta, grits, masa – all of it.  I am powerless when there are arepa, papusa or especially tamales on a menu.   So it was no surprise to me that when I walked by Uncle Moe’s while out for a stroll enjoying one of the first lovely sunny spring days, that I had no choice but to go in for a snack.

Uncle Moe’s is the perfect place to go to on your own for a quick meal or takeout.  The Brooklyn location completely lacks atmosphere of any kind so do not be disappointed when you find it missing.  The Manhattan location has slightly more atmosphere – but not much.

The nice man behind the counter will build an excellent burrito or taco for you but no matter how often I tell myself that I am going to order either when I open my mouth the word tamale inexplicably leaps out.

Beef and Vegetable Tamales

Today they had beef and vegetable so I of course ordered one of each.  I smothered them in some of the salsa’s and sauces and took them to one of the tables out on the street to tuck in.  The fillings were nicely spiced and the masa itself was moist and of perfect consistency.

As I people watched I noticed that the folks strolling by were looking enviously at my lovely little meal.  I had to resist the urge to tell them that – yes – they really should stop and try one.  I will be back.

Uncle Moe’s
341 7th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215