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!

Daddy Donkey Burrito

I love burritos and have started doing a review/rating system of the various different chains, please see my previous reviews of Poncho8 & Chilango. 

So Daddy Donkey, if you are not aware of this smaller Mexican food group you have got to love their back story. Supposedly the first company to start serving Mexican street back in London back in the old day of 2005 they seem to have stuck to their roots of authentic awesomeness. 

This is the second time I have been and the last time I don't remember being blown away by their burrito.

But today was a different story, first bite,  BAM!!! in your face with Kick-Ass flavour exactly as they advertise on the website!

Daddy Donkey talk a big talk and have a cult following as the regular queues outside their Leather Lane shop testify to. 

As I mentioned earlier they claim to be the first Mexican street food provider and are therefore the reason why larger chains like Chilango are now scattered around the area.

Chilango can open as many shops as they like though as they don't come anywhere near Daddy Donkey for a taste experience.

Today I was hungry and wanted some big flavour and I wasn't disappointed with what my burrito provided.

My burrito ingredients today were:

Coriander lime rice

Black beans

Marinated Chicken Breast

Medium Green Tomatillo salsa

Sour cream

Cheese

Lettuce

& extra for Guacamole

So to review the burrito; 
Tortilla wrap: quality, authentic, chewy and flavorsome.

Rice: wasn't sure I would get much from this but you could really get the cooling effect of the coriander and lime.

Chicken: meaty, succulent and good sized chunks of good quality meat.

Salsa: I went medium and it provided a good punch of flavor right from the start. Authentic, natural, full flavored and good tasting.

Black beans: Wow! A rarity! Proper black beans with real texture and flavor! 

Sour cream: great tasting and nice cooling effect and you could feel it working against the heat of the salsa.

Cheese: Probably the weakest ingredient and didn't really contribute to the burrito experience unfortunately. 

Lettuce: did its job of providing some crunch and freshness.

Guacamole: the mighty green stuff, transforms any burrito into a whole different world of experiences. The last two burritos I reviewed I had for various reasons opted out of going green but today I was all in! Disappointingly the guacamole didn't quite meat all expectations, yes it provided more flavour, a different texture and a splash of colour. But unfortunately the portion size was a little on the stingy side and it seemed to be the kind of guacamole that had chili in which although good as it added an extra kick of flavour it wasn't the traditional avocado green gooey goodness guacamole that I was after. 

Overall rating: I haven't bothered to think of my own descriptive cliches to describe this burrito when Daddy Donkey already provide their own. That definitely was a Kick-Ass taste experience that is a real daddy in the burrito world! OK that was cheesey (not as chessey as the burrito) but it really was a great burrito! 

Really enjoyed the chicken, it is some of the best meat I have ever had in a burrito or in a precooked fast food kind of set up for that matter. The rice was very good and a real difference of flavour to the usual tomato flavoured rice which can sometime be quite bland.  The big plus though was the beans, loved them! Beans are a key player in burritos for me so if they are great the burrito is on to a winner as it was here. The salsa was also top drawer and really had a good deal of flavour and tasted authentic and non artificial which makes it stand out from some of the other chains. In terms of extras it was nice to have high quality sour cream and good quality fresh non artificial guacamole as well. 

Daddy Donkey experience: great, I timed my lunch to get there for around 2pm so I missed the lunchtime rush but he place was still teaming if not queuing out the door and down the street which is often the case. Very efficient service by a large number of enthusiastic and genuinely smiley staff squeezed in behind the counter enthusiastic team. The only slight draw back compared to other companies is the lack of choice, you wont find three differ types of rice or different types of beans here. They do however have four different meat options as well as six different salsas and I would say the quality of their ingredients makes up for any lack of variety. 

My overall experience would have to be a whopping 9/10 as it was a really top drawer burrito full of strong authentic flavors. The only negative aspects I thought of were the small portion size of guacamole and the lack of a napkin in the bag, a little thing I know but something that irritates me as I always forget to pick one up and am then left with messy hands! 

I wouldn't rate the burrito as any more filling than anywhere else despite what the website would make you believe about it being the size of a small baby but its by no means small. The great flavours the burrito left me with meant I was reluctant to eat anything for several hours after so It didn't matter matter whether I wanted to eat anything more. 

So that's 3 reviews done with Daddy Donkey coming out on way ahead of Chilango and Poncho8, hopefully there will be  more reviews soon and stiffer competition to come!

Cafe Burrito Review

Here is my latest burrito review this time from small London based chain Burrito Cafe. They currently have two restaurants one in Kings Cross and one in Charing Cross and I have visited both a couple of times now. 

I love burritos and have been wanting to do some kind of review/rating system of the various different chains. By the way I am more of a 'man v food' type of guy rather than getting all fancy and gourmet.

My visit this time was to the Charing Cross branch and it has had a colourful makeover since I was here last with vibrant Mexican colours of reds, blues, greens and yellows. 

But onto the serious business of the burrito, having been to burrito cafe a few times before I was keen to tuck into another one of their burritos as they have previously provided a satisying filling meal.

My experience was almost ruined as it got off to a terrible start as I accidentally took some of their hot salsa while helping myself to their complimentary nachos while waiting to be served. Thankfully I always carry a bottle of water with me and I was able to cool my mouth down soon enough but the salsa was so hot I was shocked with how sensitive my mouth is and how I need to be more cautious with hot spices! Anyway crisis averted I was doubly keen to munch my way through the tastiest burrito they had to offer.

The beauty of their Charing Cross location is that its a perfect stop for some food after a night out in the West End. I have employed this tactic a couple of time when heading back from being out in Leicester Square or after drinking in the Harp, (which is a fine drinking establishment by the way providing some great ciders) a few doors down the street. 

Soon enough I started picking out my ingredients and on this occasion my burrito fillings were:

Tomato rice

Re-fried beans

Pulled Pork

Peppers

Courgettes

Medium salsa

Guacamole 

Cafe burrito do quite well in offering options and additional items to the standard burrito ingredients because as well as the usual burrito staples they also offer courgettes alongside the standard peppers, sweetcorn with the usual salad and what looked like chillis if you are searching for that extra kick. 

An excellent added ingredient to a cafe burrito meal is the refreshing addition of a Sol beer. Sol is my favourite of the light Mexican style lagers such as Corona and Desperado and is the ultimate in summer refreshment when served nice and cold with a wedge of lime. If I wasn't such a big fan of Sol I wouldn't have been short of drink options as I was pretty impressed with the great drinks selection on offer, a wide selection of beers even a cider and some good looking soft drinks were also available. 

So to review the burrito; 

Tortilla wrap: plain, artificial and quite stodgy with quite a thick and gloopy texture with no real taste.

Rice: I went for tomato rice but they also had lime and coriander as an option, can't say I really noticed it in the burrito and didn't get any flavour from it. The rice seemed to be quite stodgy, balnd and over cooked in comparison to other places where it feels fresh and fluffy.

Pulled Pork: Nice, meaty and chewy but quite finely pulled so there wasn't a nice thick meaty chewiness to it. It also didn't have the feel of being fresh and cooked on the premises rather pre packaged and shipped in chilled or frozen to be warmed up for serving. 

Salsa: A pleasant light green dark salsa although perhaps a bit watery, it did mix in quite well with the guacamole to provide a soothing, cooling element to the burrito.  

Peppers: good, crunchy and pretty sweet.
Courgettes: Excellent, a real plus point for Burrito Cafe to provide this as an option as they add another element especially when they were really crisp and tasty like in my burrito. Being long and hard they provide a 'backbone' if you like the structure and a much needed bite to an either wise soft burrito.  
Refried beans: really good re-fried beans, they also had the option of black bean so it is good to have both options available but the re-fried beans I always go for and these were pretty good all nice and gloopy adding a good sayisfying consistency to the burrito experience. 
Guacamole: Not the same guacamole I have had here before I don't think? This was an attempt at fancy guacamole as it appeared to be of a more thinned down consistency but with larger lumps of avocado present along with red onion and chilli I think. Overall it wasn't very strong tasting but was cooling and pleasant. 

Overall: OK, not a lot of flavour and certainly no kick ass explosion of strong flavours as provided by Daddy Donkey and a real lack of an authentic Mexican taste. 

Burrito Cafe experience: Fine, pretty decent service, a pleasant place to sit and chill while you eat your food and drink your beer. The refurbished premises were clean and fresh but had a touristy feel to them rather than a serious establishment like Tortilla or Chipotle. The bright colours almost made the place feel garish but at the same time I am sure this appeals and attracts passing trade. 

The big plus points for Burrito Cafe are that they pack a mean burrito in terms of the large amount of fillings they manage to cram in and the fact the burrito is well made and holds together very securely. The addition of a sol to a burrito also instantly raises its rating so I must try not to let that cloud my judgement of the actual burrito. 

My overall experience would have to be a 5/10 as the burrito didn't blow me away with an explosion of taste but at the same time there was nothing it just didn't live up to anywhere near the high levels of other burritos.

As already mentioned it has real redeeming features such as the courgettes and the quantity of fillings they pack into a fully loaded burrito.

Next month I plan to try the nee barburrito in High Holborn.