Last week I decided it had been far too long since my last
burrito (over three weeks) so I went ahead and picked out my next burrito place
to try out. I ended up picking a place called Burrito Café. It has two
locations in London. The one I went to is right next to Charring Cross Station,
which is near Priya’s office. I actually found out about it just by walking
past it one day on my way to meet Priya. That was probably over two months ago
and I have been wanting to try it ever since.
The store itself is pretty small. You might be able to
squeeze 15 to 20 people in there if people were willing to share tables with
strangers and bump elbows. As I often do I decided to go around the time it
opened, which was 11:30 am for this location. While this time might be a bit
early for many people to have lunch I do this so I can be one of the first
customers of the day, which allows me to avoid crowds and get fresh ingredients.
As I often do I got to the place early, around 11:15 so I just wandered around
outside until they opened and I was the first one in the door. Now before I go
on let’s recap how I judge the burritos. I do it 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 rather than
the service.
First, the amount of available options on the menu. In this
respect the Burrito Café did pretty well. Beyond just burritos, tacos and
salads they also had nachos and quesadillas on their menu both of which looked
pretty good. They had chicken, pulled pork, barbacoa beef and grilled
vegetables as their main ingredients. For fillings they had three salsas,
beans, rice, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and guacamole. Along with that the
burritos could be ordered in two different sizes, a small or a large. This was
the first place I had been to with size options for a burrito. So I ordered a
large chicken burrito with black beans, mild and medium salsa, cheese and
lettuce. Now one of the first problems I had was that there was no rice
available when I was ordering my burrito. At the time I didn't even know if
they served rice with their burritos it was only later as I was leaving that I
saw they had put rice out to serve with their food. Due to this my burrito was
not quite what I wanted. Beyond the food they also had self-serve, refillable
sodas. When I first saw this I was quite excited but that excitement
disappeared quickly when I saw that the soda was Pepsi and worse that there was
no ice served with the drinks. I mean Pepsi is bad enough but make it warm and
then it is just not palatable. I bought the drink before I saw these flaws so I
spent the meal drinking warm 7up, which I don’t particularly like but it is
better than warm Diet Pepsi.
Second is the quality of the individual ingredients. When it
came to the individual ingredients I would say that overall I was not very impressed.
The best ingredients were the tortilla itself, the cheese and the lettuce. I
don’t often mention lettuce because I don’t often get it but here I did and it
was very fresh and gave great texture to the burrito. The chicken was fine but
nothing special. The mild salsa was not very good and the medium was similar to
the chicken okay but not great. I would say the beans were good but not as good
as the cheese and lettuce but still better than the chicken and salsas.
Third is the ratio of the ingredients in the burrito. Here
the restaurant did not do well. The first problem, as I mentioned earlier, was
that I didn't get any rice so this led to an odd amount of the other
ingredients. The burrito was dominated by lettuce, cheese and chicken. There were
not enough beans and so little salsa that it barely was noticeable except for a
few bites in the middle of the burrito. The first four bites was almost all
chicken and by the time I got to the other end of the burrito it was almost all
beans and those were really the only bites with beans in them. There were
really only four or five bites right in the middle where I could even tell
there was salsa in the burrito and even then it was hard to notice. There was
more mild salsa than medium, which was not very good because the mild salsa was
not as good as the medium salsa. What was odd was the main way I knew I had any
medium salsa in the burrito was when I noticed the temperature, the heat, in my
mouth rather than by actually being able to taste it. But the few times I could
taste it, it was far superior to the mild salsa.
Fourth is the strength of the wrap. This was probably one of
the burritos greatest strengths. While I certainly wouldn't call it the best
wrapped burrito I've ever had, or even had in London, it was one of the better
aspects of this burrito. The tortilla was well steamed and the burrito was
neatly and tightly wrapped. About half way through a small hole opened up at
the bottom leading to bean juice dripping out but overall that was not that big
of a deal. That likely wouldn't have happened if all the beans had not been
shoved to that one end.
Fifth is the size of the burrito. The Burrito Café offered
two sizes for their burritos. I, of course, ordered the larger one. The size
ended up being about average, certainly nothing I would call huge. Now I’m sure
it would have been a little heftier if I had gotten some rice in it but still
it wouldn't have been the much bigger. I have no complaints about the size. You
get a fair amount for what you pay.
Sixth is the overall taste of the burrito. Based on what
I've written to this point it will likely not be a surprise that I would say
the overall taste of the burrito was not that good. It was a lot of chicken and
lettuce. There were random bites here and there mixed with some cheese and
salsa but far too few to make it a good burrito.
Seventh is price. The price of the burrito was average. It
was 6.50 pounds for a chicken burrito and 1.50 for a refillable soda cup. The
prices vary based on their size and the main ingredient one picks. They also
have meal deals, which include a drink and tortilla chips with your meal. Again I would say the soda was not good both
because it was Pepsi and even more because it was warm. Now one thing the
Burrito Café did that I wish more places did was they gave me a frequent
visitor card. So every tenth burrito is free. Now I’m pretty sure I won’t be
going to this place ten times but I still liked that they provided this to
their customers.
Eighth and lastly is what I call the two hour tummy factor.
After I had this burrito I spent a majority of the day walking around downtown
including at the Tate Museum of Modern Art. It did not take long for me to
develop a side ache as I walked around. Now to be fair I believe this was due
more to the 7up I had than to the burrito itself. I usually only drink diet
sodas but the 7up was regular and thus packed with sugar. I believe this along
with walking away too quickly after eating led to my discomfort for the next
few hours. The side pain did eventually go away and there was never any real
stomach pain so I won’t call the burrito bad for the stomach.
So overall based on this visit I would say The Burrito Café provided
me with one of the worst burritos I've had here in London. I would give it a 4
out of 10. It is certainly a place I would go to if I were stuck with no other
burrito available to me, like in China, but luckily that is not the case here
in London. Look at some of my other reviews for better places to go.
Here are some pictures.
Previous: Poncho 8
No comments:
Post a Comment