Wahaca

Banter at the Bar, Cocktails, Food & Drink, Wahacos

The Bloody Maria

The second May bank holiday is coming up and maybe, just maybe, we’ll have nice weather! Either way, we’ll definitely be enjoying great food and great drinks, which brings us on to our second Wahaca cocktail, The Bloody Maria (not to be confused with her poor cousin, The Bloody Mary).

In the UK, The Bloody Mary is a very popular cocktail, usually enjoyed over brunch (or as hair of the dog!). The history of this great drink is much disputed, with more than one famous cocktail legend claiming the recipe as his own. But did any of them ever consider that the Bloody Maria may have been the real original?

Let’s look at the facts.
1) The main ingredient is the tomato – and tomatoes originate from Mexico. It was the Spanish explorer Cortes who brought the tomato to Europe from the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan which is now Mexico City back in the 16th Century.
2) Mexico produces the tastiest food and drink in the world. You just have to come to Wahaca to know that.

So there we have it.

The main difference is that The Bloody Maria uses Tequila as its primary spirit (as opposed to Vodka in The Bloody Mary). The Tequila gives the drink a greater depth of flavour. A well made Bloody Maria has the distinctive taste of the agave plant breaking through the fresh tomato juice. Another difference is that The Bloody Maria is generally made with a “Sangrita” mix, rather than the Bloody Mary’s tomato, tobasco and worcestershire sauce mix. The Sangrita mix is arguably fresher and definitely provides an interesting new dimension to the drink for those who haven’t tasted it before.

Here’s how we make ours:

1 part 100% agave tequila
2 parts freshly squeezed tomato juice
1 part freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 part fresh lime juice
Fresh minced green chilli to taste

Shake all of the ingredients together and strain into a highball glass, then add a slice of lime that has been dunked in chilli powder for garnish.

Come to our new upstairs bar in Canary Wharf to try our version, then impress your friends with your new found cocktail expertise!

If you make a Bloody Maria, please let us know how you get on and send us your pictures so that we can upload them to our flickr group!

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News, Our News, What's Happening

Mexican football dreams!

We’re all getting excited about the friendly match tonight between England and Mexico. A few of the Wahaca team are all heading down with a mixture of Mexican and English supporters.. luckily its a friendly match.

This made Julio, our Wahaca football captain, give his insight on the big games and chances Mexico will have this summer in South Africa.

With the world cup around the corner, Mexico smells like a safari, our black warriors are sharpening their boots, to achieve the dream of a nation, to play the fifth game in the southafrican land.

“La seleccion” are ready with their new striking black uniform to fly to the southern hemisphere, the hope of a country with 200 years of Independence placed in the feet of the 23 players. Preperations have been intense since the last world cup in Germany, exporting players to some of the most important leagues in the world like the Premier League where Carlos Vela plays at Arsenal, after being champion in the sub-17 and Guillermo Franco star of West-Ham Utd.

With a very solid defence and players that belong in the Bundes Ligas and la Eredivisie, our captain Rafael Márquez leads a formidable team. The creative midfield have a couple of young promises from TRI, with the likes of Andrés Guardo and Giovani Dos Santos, the star of the local league Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the terrific unstoppable duo that is Vela and “El Chicharito Hernández”, recently named by F.I.F.A. in the top six attacking duos in the world cup. The blacks are ready to get some leon tacos in the inaugural match against the host nation and intend to start on the right foot, and why not maybe they will play the final in the same Stadium?

Mexico is ready for the challenge that this presents them, and to show off a true Mexican wave to the opposing teams this world cup. Viva Mexico!

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Cocktails, Food & Drink, Learn at Wahaca, Uncategorized

Tamarind Margarita

The weather is getting warmer here in London, giving us at Wahaca that burning excitement for Summer – and we know just the place where you can enjoy it.   Come down to our new bar at Canary Wharf where you can sit on a swing, overlooking the square and sip a Mexican cocktail!

Allow us to whet your appetite over the coming weeks with posts about our cocktail favourites.  First up, the Tamarind Margarita.

The fun thing about cocktails is that you can experiment with different ingredients and different quantities so that you tailor them to your own tastes. We make our cocktails the way we do because that’s how we like them and we hope you do to! Don’t be afraid to play around.

To make our Tamarind Margarita, add the following to a cocktail shaker:
- 35ml 100% agave tequila
- 12.5ml triple sec
- 20ml sugar syrup
- 12.5ml fresh lime juice
- 20ml tamarind puree

We always use 100% agave tequila and we recommend you do too. Just like food, cocktails made from good quality ingredients = good output. Tequila has to be made from at least 51% agave, so 100% just means that it’s all of the good stuff.

Add ice to the shaker and attach the lid so that it stays on during your Tom-Cruise-in-Cocktail impression, then mixxxx it up. We don’t suggest you start throwing your shaker around immediately, the aim is to shake vigorously until the contents of the shaker are combined, not wreak havoc in your kitchen.

Dip the rim of your glass in fresh lime juice and then into salt to create a salt rim. Now pour the content of the shaker into your glass through a strainer to catch the ice.

Now all you need to do is enjoy this authentic taste of Mexico and send us your pictures and comments to let us know how you got on.

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Links Roundup, News

Mexican Morsels: Edible Flowers

Photo from Askabir on Flickr via Creative Commons

Whilst Spring has forgotten about us in London, Mexico is blooming. Which is great news visually but also gastronomically. Using flowers in cooking has become quite trendy in Europe with restaurants like Roussillon, Bras and Wild Garlic using them in imaginative ways. So we were fascinated when we unearthed an incredible article about the edible flowers of Mexico which is accompanied by an MP3 interview (from a radio broadcast) and an awesome collection of photographs.

So, if you’re at all interested in Mexican, food, and flowers click on this link and drink it all in.

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Events at Wahaca, Food & Drink, Recipes & Cooking Tips, What's Happening

Wahaca’s new summer menu… launches today!

Today is the big launch of our new summer menu… good luck to the wahaca team and hope you all enjoy our new dishes.

We did a tasting of most of the new dishes last night with some food bloggers, tweeters and friends – it was a great success and the feedback and comments from all was really positive.

Here are some of the fab photos and comments… Hope this inspires you all to come by and try out the new menu!

@tomdotcom_uk This is the @Wahaca summery new potato taquito. It has a new orange habanero salsa on it which is a delight!

Summery new potato taquito

@eatlikeagirl Really impressed with the @wahaca summer menu. Really vibrant and delicious. More please!

@tikichris And @wahaca’s corn bread with mole, sesame seeds and crema? Wahoo!

Corn bread and mole sauce

@SimonG_1 And the food keeps coming @wahaca – summer menu is incredible – the mole is mind blowing

@tomdotcom_uk OK @Wahaca have outdone themselves! I am the biggest fan of their churros & chocolate, but the new Flan de la Casa is the best pudding ever!

@MathildeCuisine @wahaca has come up with an absolutely delicious summer menu. Ceviche is so tasty and flan is to die for!

Flan de la casa

@LibbyEAndrews Delicious meal @wahaca tonight – the summer menu is def the way to go

@BeccaChaplin Just had an amazing evening @wahaca sampling new menu. Must haves are ceviche, mole taco, new habanero sauce, hibiscus & passionfruit jelly!

Chicken mole taco

@1mgoldstars Tons of yum on @wahaca’s new summer menu, particularly good veggie options, and great evening as usual

Grilled cactus taco

@simondoggett Found some heaven in the @wahaca shrimp and scallop ceviche. Lovely chat with Mark. Top restaurateur dude.

MSC ceviche tostada

@SimonG_1 It was a great event @wahaca just shows you can have great tasting ethically sourced food without breaking the bank.

Chicken guajillo tostada

Thanks to all for joining us and for all your wonderful comments. Hope to see you all down in wahaca soon and look forward to hear your feedback on the new dishes.

Thanks to Niamh @eatlikeagirl for her great photos which can be seen on flickr. Check out her new blog where she has added a post from last night. Also congrats and hello to Tom who became the foursquare mayor for wahaca Westfield last night after the menu tasting – thanks for all your support!

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Contributor Competitions, What's Happening

Are you hotter than Charlie Dimmock? Spicier than Alan Titchmarch? You could be our Chilli Expert!

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

We want to create a series of videos that showcase the joys of growing chillies in a really fun way and we want one of you to be their star. The series will start with a demonstration of how to plant your seeds and then move into the fun and games of pollination, insect defence and harvesting.

We’re looking for someone with a quirky sense of humour and passion for growing chillies to help us make this series.

To apply for this great role simply film yourself (on your mobile phone, digital camera or whatever other format you’ve got access to) doing something that brings your chilli passion to life and upload it to our Facebook page with a short paragraph to convince us that you are the next Don Monty Don.

We will choose our favourite best applicants and set them to a public vote. The winner of which will be rewarded with a Flip video camera, chilli growing tuition, a free meal at Wahaca and the stage to be a star. But don’t delay, get filming now – to fit in with the chilli growing season, we need your entries by 1st June.

Beuatiful image is from ianduffy on Flickr via Creative Commons.

For full terms and conditions please email us at loswahacos@wahaca.co.uk

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