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Day of the Dead comes to Wahaca

I hope you enjoyed our post on Day of the Dead and the history behind it. Wahaca has its own way of celebrating Day of the Dead – i hope you will come join in on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd November at both Covent Garden and Westfield restaurants.

We have some fun and colourful decorations by artist Talulah who has made the most amazing crazy large skull masks, each individually painted. We think these may become a permanent fixture! Photos to follow….

We are also giving a shot of Gran Centenario Reposado tequila to all our customers from Monday through to Tuesday – hope you will all come make the most of this! The caramel, tropical fruit and spices of this tequila make it a wonderful treat to enjoy with your food.

Make sure you look out for the t-shirts designed by us especially for Day of the Dead that the team will be wearing and some of our favourite Day of the Dead recipes are on the way too!

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Canary Wharf Street Art Preview

We’ve been looking forward to Claroscuro transforming our space in Canary Wharf into a modern masterpiece ever since they were voted onto the shortlist of our Street Art Competition back in August.

Whilst the rest of Canary Wharf was away they spent the weekend spraying the living daylights out our new restaurant. Here’s a few pictures to give you a sneak preview of what to expect…

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Blog Round Up

We are avid MasterChef fans. When Steven Groves, of Launceston Place, emerged triumphant last week, we cheered. His playful cooking makes him a worthy winner. Anyone who pumps smoke into a bell jar deserves to win.

So, given Tommi’s success on MasterChef , we thought we’d use it as our theme this week and see what recent winners and finalists are up to…

1. Steven Wallis, who won in 2007, is doing a demonstration at the Slow Food Hallowe’en Market of how to cook “an unusual and rich classic dish “Pepian” which has its roots in Guatemala and is normally eaten on “the Day of the Dead” (El Dia de los Muertos or All Souls Day – 1st November)”. We’re intrigued and are keen to pop down for some inspiration at the weekend.

2. Hannah Miles, who missed out on winning the big prize to Steven, writes a great blog called Hannah’s Country Kitchen. She recently launched a decadent book of all about baking cakes and cookies and is about to publish her second book called Sundaes and Splits. Can anyone see a theme here?

3. Matt Folas, who won last year, has done brilliantly. He’s foregone the usual route of being a trainee chef in big London kitchens and has opened his own restaurant in Dorset called Wild Garlic. From the website, blog and comments we’ve heard it sounds amazing and we’d love to try it out. It’s good to see another blogger in the restaurant world.

4. But it’s not just the competitors who’ve got new projects on the go. Greg Wallace is set to open a greengrocers in Putney called “Wallace and Co.” and John Torode has just launched a new restaurant called Luxe which AA Gill reviewed on Sunday.

5. For a witty rolling summary of this year’s MasterChef drama check out meemalee’s kitchen blog. It’ll have you laughing into your remote control.

We’re intrigued about what’s happened to all the other winners and finalists from the various MasterChef competitions that have graced our screens over the last few years. What are they all up to? If you have any clues please let us know…

What's Happening > Events at Wahaca > Food & Drink > News > News > Our News > What's Happening

Day of the Dead Celebrations

Any recipe that can lure a spirit back from the dead must be worth trying! So we thought we’d look at a few famous ideas from Mexico before we tell you what we’ll be doing next weekend.

Similar to many other countires, pumpkin is very popular in Mexico at this time of the year. Pumpkin slices are slowly simmered with Piloncillo (like Palm Sugar) and other spices to make “Candied Pumpkin”.

A special Bread of The Dead or Pan de Muerto is also cooked. This is a soft bread decorated with bone shapes or sometimes even moulded into the shape of skulls like the ones here from La Familia Brophy.

The most famous delicacy over DOTD is the Sugar Skull. Simply made by moulding sugar, water and meringue powder into skeletal shapes, these skulls are highly decorated and handed out for all to enjoy. We found some great examples captured by Glen on Flickr:

Of course, no Mexican celebration would be complete without tequila cocktails! Highly prized competitions are held every year to see who can invent the tastiest concoction, often prepared in the craziest of ways. Who knows what our fabulous bar staff will create this year!

Stay tuned to hear what we’ve got planned to celebrate Day of The Dead at Wahaca.

Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Food Topics & Trends > News > News > Our News

Channel 4 Investigates Food Waste

Charlie Cottrell from Channel 4 has just published an article about the amount of food waste that restaurants in the UK are producing. She interviewed Tommi about the lenghts Wahaca goes to in order to keep the amount of waste to a minimum. Here’s a brief excerpt from Charlie’s article:

“What sort of food waste does Wahaca produce?

Tommi: A lot is off-cuts, so, if you’re using a cauliflower, you’ve got all the stems and that; some is what people don’t finish on their plates, but we use small plates so it’s easy for people to order the amount they want, from a snack to a whole meal. I’d say our food waste is about 2 per cent of cost.

Tommi: Catering and events need to tackled. The amount that gets wasted is outrageous. Ooh and use doggy bags! My husband hates it but I’m all for saying, ‘Can I take that home?’ if I haven’t finished what I ordered. I love cooking with leftovers.”

To read the rest of the article which goes into more detail about other restaurants in the UK click here.

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FRIDA KAHLO VIVA LA VIDA!

Wahaca hasn’t made it down to see this play by Humberto Robles yet but would love to hear what anyone who has seen it thought. Frida Kahlo was and still is such an important person in Mexican culture so we are glad to see a play on this subject in London.

Here is a little info on the production:

Art. Passion. Obsession. An explosive on-stage portrait of the woman who gave birth to herself. Sharp, witty and bursting with colour, this play has left audiences stunned on both sides of the Atlantic.

It is the day of the dead in Mexico, Frida comes back to her house to make fun of death and celebrate life. Through the journey she remembers her turbulent relationship with painter and companion Diego Rivera, her disagreements with the surrealists, her affair with Trotsky and so on. Based on fragments of her biography, letters, extracts from her diary and interviews that were made with Frida and her closest friends, the play recreates the intimate life of a passionate woman; an artist who managed to transfer her colourful vibrant culture and her deepest dramas onto the canvas.

Performed by Gaël Le Cornec who was pointed by The Stage newspaper as “one of the rising stars to keep your eye on this year”, Frida Kahlo Viva La Vida has already collected two fringe awards in the UK (Argus Angel Award of Artistic Excellence in Brighton 2009& Universal Arts Best actor Award in Edinburgh 2008) and has played to sell out audiences at the Edinburgh fringe Festival, The Tron, the Oxford playhouse, Trestle Space and Brighton Festival.

Buy your tickets at www.ovalhouse.com

OVAL HOUSE THEATRE, 20Th OCTOBER – 7th NOVEMBER

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Blog Round Up

We’re getting really excited about Dia De Los Muertos which is now less than 2 weeks away, and we’ve got lots of exciting plans for you, so keep your eyes on the blog to find out more. In the mean time, we loved Ruth Alegria’s blog post, that shows some highlights from what Mexico City will be offering up, plus it gives you enough info become an overnight aficionado and impress the pantalones off all of your pals.

Now, concentrate everyone, another really great Mexican ingredient to learn about – The amazing Huitlacoche – Believe it or not, it’s a type of corn which has a fungus growing on it, that gives a really distinct flavour and an amazingly intense black colour. If anyone has any other recipes with Huitlacoche, we’d love to hear from you, who knows you could get featured on our menu?

There are amazing things happening just around the corner from Wahaca Covent Garden every Thursday, in fact we’ve been down to check out the real food market stall before. We thought that Naihm from Eat Like a Girl really captured the amount of effort that goes into making it happen, and we’re very grateful indeed. (We also thought the black bean and chilli looked amazing so watch out for us queuing up for a bowl next time!).

Like most food obsessed Londoners, we’ve been following the buzz around Pierre Koffman’s pop up restaurant on the roof of Selfridges, and Chris from Cheese and Biscuits was lucky enough to be able to try it out, have a look at the review here. If Pierre’s looking for his next free lance job, then he’s very welcome to help us out with our next burrito, Pibil Trotter anyone?

Our mouths were also watering reading about Helen from Food Stories’ trip to Brindisa to learn all about the differences between the Jamons on offer down at Borough Market – The lucky swine. We’re always keen to hear about how London restaurants are giving you lot a chance to get involved behind the scenes,and we’re busy thinking about how we can do something similar at Wahaca, so watch this space.

What's Happening > Events at Wahaca > News > What's Happening

Day of the Dead

Image from Paul and Jill on Flickr

Every year, on November 1st (All Saints Day) and 2nd (All Souls Day), something unique takes place in many areas of Mexico: Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. This eerie sounding festival is Mexico’s celebration for when dead relatives, both young and old, are allowed to return to the mortal world for two days. Spirits come down and walk among the living, sampling earthly treats and joining in the festival.

Its similar to our Halloween, however instead of scary goblins and blood curdling monsters, the Mexicans welcome back the spirits of their families with the delicious smell of food in the air, tasty candies decorated like skulls, and lighted candles to guide them home again. Day of the dead is symbolised by skulls and skeletons (the Nahua speaking peoples of pre-columbian Mexico saw the skull as a symbol of life – not death.) which appear in abundance around this time in both shops and homes. Families and friends will gather together at the gravestones of loved ones where they will tell stories remembering them and engage in sprucing up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers, setting out and enjoying a picnic whilst paying respects to the deceased whenever they arrive! The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces and chocolate beverages. Because of this warm social environment, the colorful setting, and the abundance of food, drink and good company, the festival continues to be one of the most important in the Mexican calendar and is warmly embraced around the world.

The original celebration can be traced to the many Mesoamerican native traditions such as the Aztec festival presided over by the “Lady of the Dead” which was dedicated to children and the dead. In the Aztec calendar, this ritual fell roughly at the end of the Gregorian month of July and the beginning of August, but after the Spanish failed to eradicate the tradition post conquering Mexico the Spanish priests moved the event so that it coincided with the Christian holiday of All Saints Day (Halloween) This was a vain effort to transform the observance from a non-religious event to a Christian celebration. The result is that Mexicans now celebrate the day of the dead during the first two days of November, rather than at the beginning of summer.

Mexicans do not fear death they recognize it, embrace it, mock it and even defy it through this tradition!

Watch this space for some of our special Day of the Dead recipes leading up to our celebrations for this festival.

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Wahaca wins award at the London Restaurant Festival

Last night Mark and Tommi accepted on behalf of Wahaca the award for Discovery – for a restaurant pushing the boundaries in its style of cuisine. The 6 awards were judged and chosen by a foodie panel including Fay Maschler, Giles Coren, Tom Parker Bowles and Charles Campion. We were really excited to be part of this inaugural festival and look forward to doing more and more with it over the next few years. Thanks to everyone who voted for us.

Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Food Topics & Trends

Monica Patino at Borough Market

Monica Patino (far right) her daughter and Manuel from the Mexican Tourist Board.

Carolyn and I headed down to Borough Market to meet and taste some of Monica Patino’s seafood dishes yesterday for a special lunch break.

Going to Borough Market was already such a treat and as we arrived a little early we checked out some of the other shops and stalls, got stuck in Neals Yard sampling their delicious cheeses, eyeing up Brindisa’s chorizo and then the German Deli which Carolyn was especially excited about… what a great place to visit every day for lunch and to do your food shopping at!

Monica Patino, the celebrity chef , has become a household name in Mexico thanks to the popularity of her daily cookery TV programme. She has three restaurants in Mexico City – La Taberna del Leon, Bistro M/P and Naos. Yesterday and today though she is cooking mexican seafood dishes and creating her own pop up Marisqueria with the Mexican Tourist Board – a great way to promote Mexican food and travel.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying the free food and beer – and hopefully got a few more people trying some good mexican flavours for the first time. The crab tostadas, the shrimp ceviche soup were good and nice to try but the sea bass ceviche with a salsa verde with olives, capers and lots of lime was my favourite as had a really interesting flavour.

Anyway, do try and pop along today before 15.30 if your close by as a nice change from the norm – hopefully the mariachi are still playing!

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