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Children’s Day at the V&A Museum of Childhood

This weekend, together with The Embassy of Mexico in the UK, we’re celebrating Mexico’s Children’s Day with 2 days of free workshops and activities for children and families at the V&A’s Museum of Childhood.

Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April sees a whole programme of activities for you and your little ones to get involved with as well as a voucher to grab a free children’s meal from our brand new children’s menu any time in the next 2 months.

Activities include storytelling, Mexican toy painting, piñata making, mask and face painting and Mexican dancing. So enough fun to keep any little person entertained for the whole day. By all accounts, it should be pretty swell.

Our new children’s menu launched in all of our restaurants today and gives little people the chance to explore the Mexican market too, with specially selected dishes that aren’t spicy, but still full of flavour and wholesome goodness. Kids can choose from a choice of quesadillas, mini burritos or fish tacos, a side dish and a drink all for just £5.

For details of how to get there and what time the events kick off, just head to the Museum’s website.

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Mexico take on The Balkan’s in a Battle of the Brass Bands showdown that’ll blow your socks off!

London’s Latin Music Festival, La Linea, is throwing down the musical gauntlet on April 14th with a Battle of the Brass Bands contest at The Barbican Centre set to leave audiences wowed. The musical dual will see Mexico’s super heavyweight trumpeting troop (in the form of Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Germán Lizárraga) take on Serbia’s Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar, in a melodic clash of epic proportions.

We’re reliably informed that Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa already have this battle well and truly sewn up for Mexico, due in no small part to their leader Germán Lizárraga’s impressive musical career, spanning 60 years of brass blowing. But your support is always welcome, so we’re doing our bit to get your there by giving you the chance to WIN a pair of tickets and a meal for 2 at Wahaca, as well as Mexican supporters scarves for two runners up.
To be in with a chance of winning, just email ola@wahaca.co.uk with the answer to the following question.

Which of these instruments would you not traditionally find in a brass band?
A) A Trumpet
B) A Trombone
C) A Violin

The competition closes on Friday 5th April 2013, so get your answers in now and you could be joining the audience for this white-hot-brass-knuckle ride not to be missed. Winners will be selected at random and notified by email.

Any one not lucky enough to win tickets can buy their own and find out a little more about the event, through their website.

This concert is part of the La Linea, the London Latin Music festival and is produced by La Linea (lalineafestival.com) in association with the Barbican (barbican.org.uk). The winning prize includes 2 tickets to attend The Battle of the Brass Bands on Sunday April 14th at 8pm, and a meal for 2 at Wahaca to the value of £60. Entrants email addresses will be added to our marketing database and we may send you fun things to do with Wahaca. You can unsubscribe at any time.

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Grasshoppers on the menu at The Wahaca Southbank Experiment

From Monday 11th March, we’re launching a new experimental dish at our Southbank restaurant. Chapulines fundido is made with one of Mexico’s most sustainably farmed, yet unusual ingredients, grasshoppers.

We take fried chapulines and cook them with softened shallots, garlic and smoky chipotle chillies to create a delicious salsa, which is served with queso fundido, a mixture of gratinated mozzarella and cheddar cheese, perfect for scooping up with corn tortillas.

The Wahaca Southbank Experiment has always been a testing ground for new and interesting dishes for you to try before we decide whether to put them on the menu in our other restaurants, so we want to hear what you think of them. This time we’re asking you to cast your vote on twitter by using our cunningly devised hashtags, #ChapulinYES or #ChapuliNO to let us know what you think.

Chapulines are considered a much sought after delicacy in Mexico and are a real favourite of Tommi’s who always hunts them out on the menu when we’re over there. But as well as being a very tasty source of protein, from an environmental point of view, entomophagy (insect eating) is seen by many leading experts as the only logical answer to the critical pressure our growing population is putting on food supplies.

Insects are already eaten regularly by 80% of the world, but at the moment they’re seen as a novely food in the UK. Tommi gave us her take on her new dish, saying “It’s just not in our psyche at the moment, but we don’t have any issues eating shrimps or prawns so I think it’s just a question of creating a dish that will appeal over here. The chapulines fundido is a great introduction to the beautiful earthy flavour of these insects as it tastes amazing and a salsa is much more palatable for the more squeamish diners out there.”

Waiter, there's a grasshopper in my fundido!

As grasshoppers aren’t currently farmed in the UK, for our first month long trial the only practical way to put them on the menu was to buy them from an accredited cooperative of farmers in Oaxaca, but our hope is that in the future if the dish proves popular we’ll be able to work to set up a supplier closer to home, making them even more sustainable.

We hope that getting people thinking about insects in another light is a great step in the right direction of sustainable food production and hopefully one that will change our food map forever.

So get yourself down to The Wahaca Southbank Experiment this month and try them for yourself and don’t forget to tell us what you think by leaving a comment below, or get voting on twitter.

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Win a sustainable chauffeur driven date at Wahaca every day of Climate Week

Climate Week is fast approaching and to celebrate Wahaca being voted sustainable restaurant group of the year for the 2nd year running, we’re giving away a fully sustainable chauffeur driven date night every day from the 4th – 10th March.

*Chauffeur pictured is not a Climatecars driver. Climatecars are London’s most environmentally friendly car service. And all of their cars have 4 wheels.

The 7 lucky winners and their loved one will be picked up from an address in London by our friends at Climatecars, London’s environmentally friendly car service, and driven to their local Wahaca where we’ll have a table for 2 waiting for you. After dinner, a car will whisk you back home to bask in the sustainable glory with a belly full of award winning Mexican deliciousness.

The winners will be announced each day of Climate Week through our facebook page, so become a fan and keep your eyes peeled.

To enter the competition just complete your details below and we’ll put you in our big sustainable Mexican hat, and draw our 7 winners at random throughout Climate Week.

Winners can be safe in the knowledge that Climatecars’ fleet is made up entirely of environmentally friendly hybrid cars which run on a combination of petrol and electricity resulting in significantly reduced emissions.

Climate Week is a supercharged national occasion that offers an annual renewal of our ambition and confidence to combat climate change. It is for everyone wanting to do their bit to protect our planet and create a secure future. You can check their website for all kinds of events going on around the country and see how you can get involved.

Buena Suerte!

The T’s and C’s: The competition is open to anyone who can be picked up and dropped off at a London postcode and is sadly not valid at Wahaca Bluewater, but we do still love you. Journeys must be to and from London postcodes and must be A to B journeys, with no extra stops. Wahaca will pick up the bill for your food, soft drinks and the first 2 rounds of boozy drinks. By entering you agree to receive informative and cheerful emails from Wahaca, you can unsubscribe at any time. Romance is not 100% necessary, but hey, a little love goes a long way, don’t ya think?p>

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Keeping it fresh. Wahaca Charlotte Street is now open

We like fresh. We always have done. So when we opened up our Charlotte Street restaurant, we wanted to keep not just the food, but the way we think about Wahaca as fresh as we could. We wanted to challenge ourselves to keep re-inventing what we offer. Don’t worry, we’ve still got the lunch and dinner time treats that you love so much, but we’re also offering a brand new breakfast, a torta and burrito takeaway, a deli for buying hard to find Mexican ingredients and the UK’s first mezcal bar.

Wahacito, our newly opened deli, will take up one of the 3 converted Georgian town houses that makes up Wahaca Charlotte Street (You’ll find it at number 23 actually). It opens its doors from 8.30am on weekdays (9am on the weekends) and it serves Mexican breakfast dishes like the amazing Huevos Rancheros – 2 fried eggs on blue corn tortillas (yes, they’re naturally blue) with a choice of salsas. Or the breakfast burrito, hangover slayer of choice for those in the know, which comes with either Brindisa’s amazing chorizo or some beautiful cured bacon, eggs, spinach, frijoles and salsa. We have a whole new selection of teas from The Rare Tea Company and a whizzed up agave and avocado smoothie. There are freshly baked breads, and devilishly good donuts which we make on site every morning. If you’ve never had a Mexican breakfast, you’re doing it wrong.

At midday, Wahacito transforms into a Deli and takeaway, serving Mexican-on-the-go for those busy days when you can’t eat in (or indeed those sunny days when you just want to sit on a rug and feel the grass between your toes). Here’s where we should introduce you once again to The Torta. If you didn’t know already, the torta is the not-so-humble Mexican sandwich that squidges roast chipotle salsa, fresh avocado, crema, lettuce, frijoles and things like chorizo, cactus or even pork pibil into a toasted artisan bap. You need this sandwich in your life. Whilst we’ll also be serving amazing burritos and tacos, we think it’s time that the torta had its day and Wahacito will be the place to get the finest torta in the land.

Head up the stairs at Wahaca Charlotte Street and you’ll find our Mezcalería cocktail bar. It’s more than a bit snazzy with a beautifully curving brass bar behind which you’ll more often than not find Jon Anders Fjeldsrud, our head of the bar. Jon has selected the mezcals for our list after scouring the hills around Oaxaca and has created some brand new mezcal cocktails especially for you. Our favourite of which is the Wahaca Mezcal Cup – A Pimms style long cocktail mixed with seasonal fruits bringing a smoky Mexican twist to this English classic. The bar will be open until 11.30pm Monday – Wednesdays and 12.30am Thursdays – Saturdays and will be available to hire for private parties and events.

So whether it’s a blue corn tortilla topped with a fried egg at 9am, a wickedly stuffed torta for lunch, or your first sip of mezcal with dinner, we hope you’ll enjoy the fresh touches at Wahaca Charlotte Street.

Here’s to trying new things.

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Wahaca at The British Street Food Awards

The 15th – 16th September sees the return of the British Street Food Awards and as part of this year’s prize for the vendor who scoops the “Best of the best” award, our very own Tommi and Mark, are going to be helping out with their best advice on growing their burgeoning street food emporium into a mini fleet, (if of course that’s what the winner would like to do).

In fact Tommi is also on the judging panel helping to decide who from this year’s clutch of newcomers is cooking up the best street food in Britain.

There will be a head to head cook-off of all of the finalists who have been specially selected by a nationwide team of food journalists and bloggers, so standards are set to be high. Tommi will be joined at the judges table by Gizzi Erskine, Yianni Papoutsis and Fay Ripley with Richard Johnson keeping them all in line. To give you a flavour of what went on at last year’s awards, check out their video from Harvest at Jimmy’s.

The British Street Food Awards will be happening alongside 2 boozy @tweatup events, Ginstock and Rumstock on the cobbled streets of East London, outside Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant. It’s set to draw an extraordinary fleet of vans, trucks and trailers to the area as well as live music, art and bunting. If you want to find out more information or grab yourself a ticket, then head to www.fifteenstreet.co.uk

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London MexFest brings the best of Mexican cinema to East London

We’re honoured to have been invited to be the official Restaurant partner of Mexican film festival, London Mexfest, taking place in The Rich Mix, Shoreditch from the 17th to the 19th of August.

If you’re a fan of Mexican cinema (you should be, Mexico is widely believed to be “where it’s at right now” when it comes to film making), then you can soak up some of the amazing line up of films London Mexfest will be showcasing on 3 screens through the weekend. If you come along on Friday 17th, you’ll also have a chance to visit our Mexican Street Kitchen, which will be parked outside on Bethnal Green Road, serving tacos and burritos to get you in the mood.

Hecho en Mexico, directed by Duncan Bridgeman

The jam-packed event kicks off on Friday 17th with the world premiere Made in Mexico (Hecho en Mexico), a kaleidoscopic portrait of the music of Mexico, its people and their way of life, by UK filmmaker Duncan Bridgeman. The festival closes with a screening of Daniel and Ana (Daniel y Ana), which follows the kidnapping of a brother and sister and is the first feature from acclaimed director Michel Franco.

Daniel y Ana, directed by Michel Franco

In between there will be a rare opportunity to view sci-fi classics from Mexico; a series of talks with Mexican filmmakers including Abel director Diego Luna, a Sensory Pop Up Studio by Sight of Emotion charity; the first ever UK exhibition of Lucha Libre photographs by Lourdes Grobet and the first ever projection onto the Rich Mix facade by renowned artist Tupac Martir.

For the full line up, visit www.richmix.org and keep your eyes peeled on our facebook page for your chance to win tickets.

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Bloggers cook-along at Wahaca Stratford

Check out this great video of our bloggers cook-along event that we held in Wahaca Stratford last week. Tommi cooked up 3 dishes from the new Wahaca book (Did we mention that we had a new book?) and then 9 willing blogger volunteers valiantly had a go themselves. All in less than 30 minutes to add a little bit of extra fun to the proceedings.

We were all very impressed with the bloggers who pretty much took the whole thing in their stride and created some beautiful looking recreations, so Tommi had better watch out!

If you like the look of these dishes, then you can get your hands on a copy of our book, Wahaca, Mexican food at home in any of our restaurants or they’re just a click away. You might also see the Beetroot salad cropping up on the new specials menu at The Wahaca Southbank Experiment from July 4th.

Thank you so much to all of the lovely guys from HJonesyFeeds, Cherrapeno, Mintcustard, Crumpeats, Humbugs & Handbags, Hot & Chilli, Robert Giorgione, Roswensian, and Pukkapaki for making it such a great event.

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Wahaca – Mexican Food at Home

Over the past 5 years we’ve had countless queries and requests from people wanting to recreate our magical Mexican street food in their own kitchen. We like their style. So with these hungry people in mind, Tommi has been compiling a book of her favourite recipes since we opened up our doors on Chandos Place and it hits the shelves on 21st June.

Just like the restaurants, the book is inspired by Mexico’s markets, cantinas and a love of parties, and it’s stocked full of recipes made using ingredients easily found in Britain so you can create authentic Mexican food without having to schlep across the Atlantic.

It has everything from breakfasts bursting with energy, hearty and healthy dinners, sensational puddings and zingy cocktails. There are little plates for sharing and larger dishes that are perfect for scooping up with a warm corn tortilla and a splash of your favourite salsa. And yes, it does have the much sought after secrets of our juicy Pork Pibil.

Having given away over 4.5 million packs of chilli seeds since we opened, there’s also a page dedicated to chilli growing with photos provided by the green-fingered readers of this very blog. A special thanks to everyone who entered our competition and sent in a photo (you’re on page 223!).

The book will be for sale in all of our our restaurants as well as in any bookshop worth its salt, but if you just can’t wait, you can order your copy online now.

Wahaca, Mexican food at home is our way of encouraging you to spread the word of Mexican food far and wide. We hope you’ll join in the fun.

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We investigate Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World

This July we’re opening up The Wahaca Southbank Experiment. It’ll be like no Wahaca you’ve ever seen, built from 8 recycled shipping containers and serving a more experimental menu, which we’ll be testing out on you, to see which ones you like best.

As diligent new tenants we wanted to find out what we’re getting ourselves into, so here’s a bit of a low down on our new home and what they’re up to over the summer.

Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an amazing creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain when it was first built.

Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (Which is where we’ll be setting up), the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. We also found a tranquil little roof top garden, just next door to our new site, manned by volunteers from The Eden Project.

As London welcomes the world this summer, Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World will include inspirational projects from the UK and around the world, which showcase the power of the arts to change the lives of individuals, communities and whole societies. The festival opens on 1 June 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee Weekend, and closes on 9 September 2012. The whole of the Southbank Centre site will be transformed with art installations including a giant ‘robot’ sculpture; a colossal baobab tree made from fabric; ‘Rainbow Park’, a multi-coloured beach; and an exhibition in the Royal Festival Hall of the thinkers, artists and communities who have inspired and contributed to the Festival.

We can’t wait to move in!

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