Wahaca – Shepherd’s Bush

Wahaca, or should I say Oaxaca, is a mexican restaurant chain in London.
Oaxaca? A bit of history: it is located in Southwestern Mexico and is one of the 31 states which comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities. 571… hum… how do they manage that??? The state has some of the greatest biodiversity in Mexico and is also best known for its indigenous peoples and cultures. The most numerous and best known are the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs. I should plan a trip to Latin America…

Anyway. About ten days ago (I know, it seems far away now…), we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch with the team at Wahaca Westfield.
The first time I tried this restaurant was in April 2010 at the Covent Garden’s branch. Remember. No I didn’t really like it, and so I was quite impatient to try the Westfield one to see if I would change my mind 🙂

First of all, the place is much nicer than the Covent Garden’s one. More space, more light with big bay-windows, a friendly staff. That’s a good start. They wanted to squeeze the 5 of us on a small table of 4 on the ground floor. It didn’t work! So we had the immense privilege(!) to get a table upstairs, overlooking the whole main room, next to a raw wall colourfully tagged. Oh and the feeling of being in a canteen is definitely less present than in Covent Garden – good point!

As you would expect, the menu offers a wide range of Mexican specialities – tortillas, burritos, tacos are all here. One of my colleagues went for the fish tacos, a classic apparently, so he could check it off his list of 100 things to try. If you’re not too hungry, go for the street food – it’s small portions you can either share with friends or take as a selection of 2 or 3 for a full meal. But I’d say if you’re here for a proper meal, choose from the Platos fuertes, which are bigger plates. Apparently the classics have been appreciated.
Our waiter was very nice, and took the time to check all the suitable options on the menu for our vegan fellow. I think she opted for the Sonora salad with avocado, pumpkin seeds, beans and other good stuff, the whole served in a crispy tortilla bowl – it looked great!

To finish, we’ve tested for you the churros with a chocolate sauce or caramel sauce (prefer the latter) – not tasty and very oily, you can pass on those – and the Dulce de leche ice-cream which was good, but I plan to write about THE PLACE TO GO for dulce de leche in London – nothing compared to that one.

> Verdict: Wahaca Westfield got a better score than its sister Wahaca Covent Garden woohoo! The staff and the place got this additional star 🙂 I haven’t tried any other Mexican restaurant in London, so it’s hard to compare, but I do hope to find a good one some day! If you’ve got any good address, please shout.

> Infos: Wahaca Shepherd’s Bush – Westfield Shopping Mall, London, W12 7GE – 020 8749 4517 – Shepherd’s Bush station

Credits: As usual, thanks to Dineshraj and Aimee who took most of these gorgeous pics 😉