Burrito Quest - Chilangos

For those who don’t know I recently decided to blog about one of the things I love the most in this world and that is Mexican food in particular the burrito. As I mentioned in my first blog about my quest for the best burrito here, London really isn't the place to come for the finest Mexican food. Still you've got to look for the best wherever you are at and I am finding that there actually are some pretty good burritos to be had out here. So I am here to share more of my experiences and thoughts on London burritos.

Let me remind everyone that when it comes to burritos I judge them based on eight categories. First is the quantity of available options on the menu. Second is the quality of the individual ingredients. Third is the ratio of those ingredients in the burrito basically how much of each ingredient is there. Forth is the strength and execution of the wrap, does the tortilla tear easily or fall apart in my hand? Fifth is the size of the burrito bigger is usually better. Sixth is the overall taste of the burrito. Seventh is the price of the burrito. I’m willing to pay for quality. Eighth and lastly is what I call the two hour tummy factor. Meaning how does the burrito makes me feel a few hours later because it can be great in your mouth but not so great in your digestive system especially if you are walking home, which I almost always am. Now the other variable that is much harder to take into account is that of the individual server who is helping you. Often when a burrito is made it is difficult to know if the ratios of each ingredient given to you are those that the restaurant wants or just those that the server feels like giving. Similarly when it comes to the strength of the wrap it often comes down to the skill and experience of the person wrapping the burrito rather than just the quality of the tortilla. Due to this is can be hard to properly judge a place without going there a few times unless the food is just horrible than what’s the point, right? So I try to be fair to all the places I go especially the first time and focus more on the food than the service.

Today I am going to review Chilango. Chilango is a Mexican restaurant that currently has five locations in London four of which are in central London while the fifth is a little farther north of the city. I visited the location on Chancery Lane, which is only about a block away from the Chancery Lane Tube Station. One can take the Central Line to the station and exit out the Southwestern exit though I’m not sure what number the exit is. Basically the exit will have Chancery Lane listed on it, which is the opposite direction of St Paul’s Cathedral from that station. Walk out the exit and just walk straight. You will cross one minor side street and then come to Chancery Lane. Head south (left) and the restaurant will be just a few stores down on the West side (right side) of the street.

So when I walked into the restaurant I found it to be fairly well designed with fun decoration. The space stores have in downtown London is usually pretty limited so what a store, particularly a restaurant, does with that space is quite important. This Chilangos had a wide path from the door to the service line making it large enough to allow for a long line to grow without getting in the way of those going down the service line. A few places I've been in have been so tight that you spend your time in line constantly trying to move out of the way of the people coming back who just got there food only to then get your order and struggle to push your way back through the line of waiting customers trying not to drop your food. Now the seating at Chilangos wasn't my favorite because it was made up of long tables with stools on both sides. So when the tables were full you would look up and be face to face with the person on the other side of the table from you, which if you don’t know the person can be less than comfortable particularly while you’re eating. So there weren't any private tables one could have to themselves but I understand the reasoning given the limited space. All that to say I thought Chilangos did a pretty good job with the space they had.

The walls were brick and decorated with bright colored pictures that had been spray painted onto the walls. They also had Mexican wrestling masks all over the place. Their logo is a cartoon of a Mexican wrestler and they used that theme throughout their restaurant including with the images they spray painted onto the wall. I thought it was pretty funny. It reminded me of Jack Black’s movie Nacho Libre. They also had comment cards on every table and a box for you to place them in near the front of the store. I made sure to fill one out and let them know what I thought about the place because they were very nice to me and they were quick to come over and clean up after me before I left. I actually don’t like it when workers come and take my tray or basket away from me because it makes me feel lazy like they are doing something for me that I can and should do myself. But I have noticed that here in London most people just leave their trash and trays on the table when they leave rather than clearing it themselves despite all the trash cans around.  

Okay let’s get to the food. I had a chicken burrito with white rice, black beans, pico de gallo and roasted tomato salsa and cheese. So how was it? Let’s go through the categories one by one. First is the number of available options. Chilangos did just fine with their menu. You could get burritos, tacos, salads and nachos. They had three salsas, your choice of black or pinto beans, guacamole and tortilla chips along with all the other normal things like cheese, sour cream and peppers and onions. Now they only had one type of rice, white rice but hey I like white rice even though it isn't the healthiest of options so no complaints from me.

Second is the quality of the individual ingredients. Here is where you could tell you were getting a quality burrito. The black beans and cheese were good, the salsas were fresh and perhaps best of all was the chicken. For me the meat is not usually my favorite part of a burrito rather it is the salsas and cheese that go over the meat and add flavor. But at Chilangos it was the meat that made this burrito stand out. They advertise on their website and in the store that their chicken is marinated for 24 hours in their special chili marinade and while I've heard similar claims like this from other places Chilangos chicken really lives up to the marketing. It was juicy, tender, spicy and simply delicious. I actually pulled out some pieces of the chicken while I was having the burrito just so I could taste it on its own away from the other ingredients in the burrito and the flavor was wonderful. The chicken made me eager to come back some time so I could try the pork and see how that compares. The salsas also need to be mentioned. Now the pico de gallo salsa was kind of bland. Like so many other places here it tasted more like it was just chopped up tomatoes than a salsa. I would have liked some more cilantro and some more peppers in it. I know it is meant to be a mild salsa but I still want a little spice to get it past the simple tomato taste. Now the roasted tomato salsa was great. It was labeled as the medium salsa so I went for it even though I usually get the green chili salsas rather than the reds but I was glad I went with this one. It was packed with good flavors and helped make up for any of the shortcomings of the pico de gallo. The beans and cheese were good though not amazing and the tortilla was nicely steamed and soft. 

Third is the ratio of the ingredients in the burrito. The server I got did a good job with the ratio of my ingredients. She didn't put too much of any one item in the burrito that would cause it to dominate the overall taste. She also did a great job of laying out the ingredients on the tortilla so that the ingredients were evenly spread throughout the entire burrito. On my first bite I was tasting rice, meat, beans and salsa. At many restaurants your first bites are little more than rice and beans but this woman knew what she was doing. It was only the cheese that she went a bit light on. In the line I even asked for more but still felt a little slighted but hey I have to realize that outside of America people don’t load cheese up on top of everything like we do in the States. Still when you want cheese you want cheese, right? But really overall the ratio of everything was great. It led to a moist, tasty burrito from end to end.

Fourth is the strength and quality of the wrap of the burrito. Now the tortilla itself was good and steamed well but the overall wrap of the server was not the best. When I opened up the foil one of the ends had already opened up and was starting to drip a bit onto the outside of the tortilla. This was in large part because the server had wrapped the burrito in a way that one of the ends was far larger than the other. By that I mean one of the ends had a lot more of the tortilla than the other. Now the burrito wasn't that big so the weak wrap didn't really end up being an issue. It simply opened up on one end while the other was made up of so much tortilla that it didn't come apart.

Fifth is the size of the burrito. Now the size of the burrito is probably my biggest complaint about my Chilango burrito though in a way it also becomes quite a complement. The burrito wasn't just undersized it was actually small. The burrito was the size of just one of my hands. I didn't need two hands to hold it rather I could easily wrapped the fingers of just one hand around it. It reminded me of a slightly thicker, not longer, version of a Taco Bell burrito. Now by no means should it be compared to Taco Bell in any other way but it really was too small especially for the price. When I finished I was very tempted to go buy another burrito but I just could afford it so I didn't do it. Now again my complaint about the size can be seen as compliment because the fact was the burrito was so good I wanted more but again it was just too much money to spend for a second one. Now having only been there once I don’t know if the size I got is the normal size or perhaps I just got a small one.

Sixth is the overall taste. The overall taste was great I’m even tempted to say perfect but of course I can’t say that. Most of the flavors complimented each other and were consistent throughout the burrito. No single ingredient or taste took over the burrito. It was moist all the way through with no dry or hard things one had to chew on. This is definitely a burrito worth tasting.

Seventh is the price. When I bought the burrito the price seemed just fine. It was right in line with every other burrito I have bought in London. Right around 6 pounds but once I saw the burrito in my one hand and then saw how quickly it disappeared I just felt I had been over charged for what I got. Don’t get me wrong it is one of the best burritos I've had here in London and clearly it is made from quality ingredients so I can tell you I will be going back there for sure but I still felt the burrito was just too small. I thought I paid for more than I got. 

Eighth and last is how it makes me feel a few hours later. This category always remains important to me as a person who walks everywhere. When I went to Chilango I had an appointment to get my fingerprints taken and that was in a building about a mile away and from Chilangos then I had to walk to Priya’s office to meet her after work, which was about 1.5 from the place I was getting my fingerprints taken. So after eating this burrito I had a good 2.5 miles worth of walking to do. During my walk I was quite happy to find that I didn't have any stomach issues of which to complain. The food settled nicely and hasn't caused any major issues since I ate it and you can never oversell what a great quality that is in a burrito.

So that was my experience at Chilango. Overall an amazing burrito but it is far too small for what you pay. Now don’t let that stop you from going. The food won’t disappoint and I have little doubt that many people would find the portions more than enough but for me they weren't. And to be fair I have only been once so I might have just received a smaller burrito than is normal for them. So overall for a London burrito I would give Chilangos an 8 out of 10. Enjoy.

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