Showing posts with label #barburrito. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #barburrito. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Barburrito Masterclass

Barburrito they are a Ronseal type of company, you can guess from their name what they do. That is they make burritos and pretty good ones at that.


However they are not the biggest or most popular of the ever expanding range of burrito outlets springing up. 

With so much competition, especially in the City Barburrito are doing what they can to stand out and gain some attention.

Recently launched schemes include their delivery service in the City 'Barburrito Al desko' and their #salsaselfie and extreme burrito competitions which asks people to capture themselves in a burrito eating selfie. 

My best attempt at a #salsaselfie
And their innovation and creativity doesn't stop there as they run burrito making masterclasses where they invite bloggers into their stores to experience Barburrito close up and personal and then share their experiences on social media. 

So this is how I found myself alongside other bloggers inher30s and lisasleftovers to get to know what goes on behind the scenes at Barburrito's Holborn store and to try our hand at making our own burritos. 

The evening got off to a great start when amigo beer bottles were cracked open and we had an informal chat with Sales Manager Carl and I got to know my fellow guests for the evening. 

The beer was starting to go down nicely as Carl talk us through the company history and presented us with a tray of burrito ingredients for us to nibble our way through so that we could taste the varieties in flavours ahead of making our choices as to what to include in our own burritos when it came to making them. 



The amigo beers were proving rather enjoyable, I have tried a couple of the tequila and rum flavoured beers that you find in texmex eateries and generally not found them to my liking but Amigos I really enjoyed, maybe they tasted so good because they were free? I don't know!?!

I usually prefer a light lager with a lime such a Sol or a Corona as a companion to my burrito but I think in Amigos I have found a new accompaniment for my burrito eating escapades.

Feeling slightly daunted standing
on the wrong side of the counter. 
Quite serreal to see me stood on
 the 'other side'
.
Soon enough it was time to get behind the counter and get stuck into some burrito making. 

After a quick burrito making tutorial from a member of staff with the experience of making 1000s of burritos behind her we were let loose on the other side of the burrito counter.

I will be honest and say that the pressure of making my own burrito and having the decision making power of how to make it all in my hands was just too much for me and I didn't end of doing a very good job!

Despite being advised on what quantities of different ingredients to include in my burrito, I as usual thought I knew best and did my own thing....

I was eager to avoid my pet hate of having too much rice in my burrito so went really easy on the rice despite being advised to include a full 80g spoonful serving. The end result was a burrito quite devoid of filling despite my best efforts to try and pack it out with extra meat, peppers and guacamole. 

So if I learned one lesson from the night it was that a burrito needs a substantial portion of rice to help fill it out but that's still no excuse for the companies that overfill on the rice while skimping on the meat!

The toughest part of all though is definitely the final stage of actually wrapping your precious burrito. Taking your tortilla wrap lying flat on the counter heaped high with fillings and managing to scoop that all together to form it into a solid and compact perfectly formed burrito is both an art form and specialist skills. 

I didn't quite get the technique right and had to have a couple of attempts before quickly wrapping it tightly in tinfoil and try and hold it all together. 


My personalised burrito made by my own fair hands 
After I had my turn it was fun to watch the others take their turn behind the counter and struggle with the same dilemmas and techniques that I just had.
The range of salsas to choose from,
I stayed well clear of the hotter ones!
Eventually the best part of the evening came round when we got to sit down and start eating our burritos over some more amigo beers. The tray of burrito ingredients from the start of the evening had done a great job of wetting the appetite for the burrito feast that was to come.

My burrito despite my worst efforts at making it was still fully satisfying, fresh and tasty. I had opted for burrito ingredients of rice, beans, ranchero salsa, mild salsa, pork, sour cream and guacamole. 
Some of the bright and fresh
ingredients ready for burrito making
But alas as is always the case with a burrito they are all over far too soon but at least there was still time for another amigo beer and more chatting and joking with the rest of the group. 

The night was rounded off with a thank you from Carl as he sent us home with a goody bag of baburrito leaflets and tortilla chips. We were all eager to return our thanks to both Carl and the team before heading off into the London evening.

I would like to thank Barburrito for giving me the opportunity for being part of their burrito making masterclass and thank the staff for their kind hospitality and sharing their burrito expertise and knowledge. 


Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Barburrito Burrito Review

It has been a long time since I had a burrito let alone write up a review, so today looking for a lunch time option and wanting something substantial and filling I headed in search of a tasty burrito.



I headed to Barburrito which opened up a new store a few minutes walk from work a few months ago and I haven't had a chance to check it out mainly due to trying to stick to a healthy diet while marathon training. 

Having never tried Barburrito I was interested to see where they ranked in the burrito pyramid of excellence, near the top with the burrito kings of Daddy Donkey, chipotle and Tortilla or along with the mass ranks of average burrito providers.



Today I was kind of in the mood for something a bit plainer and probably chicken based but the pulled pork option soon grabbed my attention as I walked in!


My burrito ingredients today were:

Tomato rice
Mild beans
Pulled pork
Roasted onions and peppers
Medium 'ranchero' salsa dressing
Guacamole 
Lettuce
Cheese (I didn't ask for it but still got it!)
Sour Cream

So to review my burrito: 


The actual tortilla wrap: Pretty poor, doughy, quite chewy, no flavour, disappointing. 
Tomato rice: OK, not a great consistency and no real flavour. 
Mild beans: I love my beans and these were pretty good, they gave good consistency and texture and added a good nutty type flavour.
Pulled pork: Nice, not particularly authentic as such but tasty and meaty. But Barburrito are stingy with their meat portions! Might have been a one off but wasn't very impressed with the small little scoop of meat I received!
Roasted onions and peppers: Good and a nice option as not everywhere offers this vegetable option, again added plenty of flavour and a nice bit of crunch to the burrito. 
Medium 'ranchero' salsa dressing: hmmm, not sure, a bit smoky and very tomatoy and was perhaps a little overpowering
Guacamole: 75p for some guacamole was decent but I forgot I ordered any as it didn't really taste of anything and again there was not very much of it! 
Lettuce: Nice lettuce, fresh and crunchy but come on you don't have a burrito to have some nice lettuce?!
Cheese (I didn't ask for it but still got it!): No idea, didn't taste it and didn't notice it at all. 
Sour Cream: Another highlight, cool and soft proper sour cream adding coolness. 

Overall rating: Pretty disappointing,  found the burrito to be a bit on the small side and I as I mentioned they were not very generous with their portion sizes. The individual ingredients all seemed to be of decent enough quality but altogether it just didn't work. As I have already said the salsa was a bit overpowering and there were too many poor parts to it especially the tortilla which was very poor. Things could have been different if I had had a more generous meat portion, will have to see next time, if I give them a next time that is. 

Barburrito experience: Mixed reviews on my experience of Barburrito as a chain. I liked the actual restaurant as it had plenty of seating and was a better restaurant set up than many of its rival chains. However the staff weren't great and didn't have any of the South american charisma you usually associate with staff in burrito places irrespective of their actual background. The other big problem was that they got my burrito wrong, on the last stage I asked for sour cream and lettuce but ended up with cheese as well! Big no no! I cant remember ever having an incorrect burrito before as it just doesn't happen so this is a massive disappointment. The other thing I didn't like was the upselling, too many offering of meal deals, drinks and extras, people especially in the city know what they want and don't want to be hassled to this extreme and it did ruin the experience. 

Rating: I have struggled to think of a rating as I never want to score too low, but I cant give it anymore than 3/10, it was however more than edible but it wasn't filling and it wasn't satisfying or tasty. 

Very disappointing, I will have to go for another burrito soon to get a better experience than what I had today so stay tuned for my next review coming soon!