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. 

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!

Saturday night fajita fun

What a great way to combine having some fun on a Saturday night with a tasty  meal to fuel my long run tomorrow than making fajitas?! 

I fancied something different to eat and they are always good fun to make and eat, they make for some colourful photos too.

I really should try making fajitas using my own technique and recipe but I always opt for the dinner kits where they supply you with the seasoning and you just add the fresh ingredients.

Take some chicken:

Prepare some veg, peppers and mushrooms are two of the best for fajitas, I kept it simple on this occasion and neglected adding red onion or tomato.

I also prepared some rice as an accompaniment and for good carb dose for me ahead of running tomorrow.

I have been doing a mixture of brown and basmati rice which works quite nicely giving good taste and texture which is a bit better than just brown rice on its own which can be hard to eat. 

Next fry up the chicken with a little oil, when its started to cook up add in the veg and the fajita spice seasoning.

When the chickens nicely browned its ready to serve up!

Now for the fun part of trying to build your fajita, its so easy to overfill!

I layered the chicken and veg with the rice then added the salsa and sour cream to the top, when it all combines together its a pretty amazing taste sensation!

This time we had used the medium spice option which was perhaps a little hot for our tastes  so thankfully we had the sour cream to cool as down!

I hope you enjoyed my photos as I certainly enjoyed eating the fajitas! 

Thanks for reading if you enjoyed this foodporn article you might enjoy my burrito reviews, heres one of my best from Daddy Donkey Burrito.

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.

Poncho8 Burrito review

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

So Poncho8, this is the second time I have been and the last time was only because I had some sort of voucher. Again there is one near where I work and there seems to be a couple dotted around mainly the city.

Poncho8 have big shoes to fill as they were previously voted best burrito in London by the Evening Standard so expectations are higher than average.

Today I was in the mood for steak, not usually my meat of choice as I normally go for chicken or pulled pork. Today was a good day to go for it though as Poncho8 offered British steak, chilli beef as well as Barbocoa as well as chicken, pulled pork and tofu options so top marks for variety!

My burrito ingredients today were:

Tomato rice

Pinto beans

British steak

Peppers

Mild salsa

Sour cream

Cheese

I know, I know again no guacamole! Again same as last week I wanted to give the steak a chance to fill my meaty desires without being overpowered by the awesome green stuff.

So to review the burrito; 

Tortilla wrap: quite plain but quite meaty.

Rice: pleasantly tomatoey which added to the burrito experience.

Steak: a little pink, not too chewy or tough which is the way I like my steak but not overly flavorsome.

Salsa: I went mild but it still contributed a nice gentle kick of flavor to the burrito.

Peppers: seemed really fresh and were very crunchy.

Pinto beans: excellent, they weren't re fried but almost were like that as they were starting to break up and go mushy, some of the best beans I have ever had!

Sour cream: not quite a big enough portion but still brought the desired cooling effect.

Cheese: again not quite enough but still brought a good bit of flavor, over the steak/beans/sour cream/cheese combination worked really well when they all congealed towards the bottom of the burrito, an inspired selection!

Overall: pretty good going! Really enjoyed the steak although could have been tastier, the rice was good, loved the crunchiness of the peppers as that brought a nice texture to the party. The big plus point for me 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. As I have already said the steak/beans/sour cream/cheese combo worked really well and combined as beautifully as I had imagined when selecting them as options.

Poncho8 experience: good, very quick service by what seemed a helpful and genuinely enthusiastic team. As I have said great options and variety of meat and good options available as well with the rice. I love the little poncho8 bag (pictured above) as well really colorful and has that Mexican flavor to it. The simple things were done well as well like having a napkin in the bag and the burrito being firmly and well wrapped.

My overall experience would have to be a 7.5/10 as it was a really good burrito but not enough to blow me away as it didn't have really strong authentic flavors. I wouldn't say it was the best burrito in London but I am happy to rate it up there as one of the best. I am a hard marker and was a really good burrito which filled me up and left a good taste in my mouth and good feeling in my belly.

So that's 2 reviews done with Poncho8 coming out on top, hopefully there will be many more reviews to come and stiffer competition ahead!

Chilango Burrito review

So moving away from running and on to my love of food and a bit of foodporn to freshen things up.

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.

So Chilango's, I have been a few times and really enjoyed their burritos and as there are a few near work hard not to pop in. 

My burrito ingredients today were:

Plain rice

Black beans

Grilled marinated chicken

Peppers

Medium salsa

Lettuce

I know, I know no guacamole! Well I wanted to give the flavours of the chicken and salsa a chance without being covered in green gu! Don't get me wrong I love guacamole but just fancied a change.

So to review the burrito; 

Tortilla wrap: plain and artificial in texture and taste.

Rice: plain and dull (no options provided), but the plus point being it wasn't overly packed up with rice which is always a way to ruin a burrito.

Chicken: tasty and nicely grilled

Salsa: dark and tasted burnt and not a nice flavour to it.

Peppers: nice, just right amount of crispness.

Black beans: really good black beans, but no option of refried beans! Very disappointing! 

Overall: not great but OK, not a lot of flavour and didn't fall in to either the authentic flavourless camp or the artificial and sickly but still really enjoyable camp that burritos tend to divide themselves between.

Chilango experience: not good, staff were friendly and efficient but major points lost for no rice options, a pretty awful tortilla and a disappointing salsa. Also the little things got to me like no water available, no napkin put in your take away bag (I realised this half way through my burrito sat in the park with mucky hands!), the burrito was reasonably priced and also reasonably filling although time will tell on that front!

My overall experience would have to be a 5/10 as it was disappointing but edible at the same time. It would have got a much lower score but the redeeming features were good quality black beans and chicken and the fact the burrito wasn't overly packed out with rice.

Hopefully I will have some more burrito reviews to follow soon....