e hadn't meant to stop for lunch but we were really glad we did. Sunday was a so so day but my lovely wife was fed up of being cooped up at home with the bump so we decided to go out for a walk. She wanted to steer me towards the shops on Westbourne Grove and I wanted to steer her towards the Guiness pumps at the Cow. In the end we did neither as we sort of wandered aimlessly around Notting Hill. We almost had a snack in the Guesthouse West but it was really quiet in there so we just stopped for two cokes (£5!!!). Coming out of there we thought we might wander up Westbourne grove but then we spotted Taqueria.
We had often walked past it and have wanted to try it for a while. We were impressed by it's authentic feel and open kitchen. We walked in and it seemed to be quietening down after the lunch rush. We were shown to a big round table in corner and left with some menus. I could see from these that this was the real deal. More Wahaca than Wahaca. The waiter directed us towards the lunchtime specials so instead of the lovely looking Tacos we went for enchiladas. My wife had the ranchas version whilst I went for the hotter version. We ordered some sides of avocado, cheese and paprika coated corn cob and some fried plantain. We washed this down with a couple of beers.
Whilst we waited we muched on some complimentary spicy pumkin seeds which went well with the beer. The food when it appeared was lovely. Everything tasted fresh and not stodgy like your cheese ladden tex mex offerings. The enchilades were smothered in a fiery sauce that I was enjoying combining with the avocado and plantain. The corn on the cob was delicious, I normally don't like anything on my corn but this gave it an extra dimension. As we ate away the restaurant filled up completly, a large proportion of the clientele were Mexican or South American suggesting we were eating an authentic meal.
The service did suffer slightly as the place filled up but I put that down to a lot of tables being filled in the space of 10 minutes. It certainly didn't look like the standard of food leaving the kitchen was suffering. Several tables appeared to be there for the afternoon with them ordering dish after dish. We just about had room for some desert and ordered some hot chocolate and a plate of churos to share. The churos were lovely, definetly the king of donuts! Well cooked and moist without being oily and dusted in lots of sugar and cinamon. The hot chocolate was very good, nicely flavoured and not too heavy. All in all a great meal.
The bill including service came to a very reasonable £46, we both vowed to come back possibly with baby in tow. I really liked the informal diner style feel of the restaurant coupled with the authentic food. The staff were very enthusiastic about their food. I chatted to the waiter when paying and he told me about the Tuesday tamale special night and Thursday soup evenings where they serve complicated dishes but traditional dishes the kitchen wouldn't attempt every day. This fitted in well with the obviously freshly prepared fayre we had enjoyed. This place really impressed us and we will try and go back soon.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9