It's been some time since I had a day free of being mummy, so I decided last Saturday I would catch up with two of my closest girlfriends in Soho for some good food, cocktails and lady date shenanigans.
We hadn't been too organised with booking a cool new venue to discover so we decided to have lunch at a place we know and love - Wahaca. I love Wahaca for it's Mexican street food. It's best to enjoy some social time over their delicious tapas and cocktails. They're actually a chain, and I normally do avoid chains in favour of a more personalised and unique service but this is one place I will always make an exception for. There's locations all over London which is handy. More times than not when I've visited this restaurant there's been a wait to be seated. This is simply an indication of how great they are - so as long as it's not unreasonable - I'm happy to wait. Most of their restaurants don't take bookings.
We started off as two at the beginning of the day, just me and my main girl. This girl is family to me in this crazy city. She's the first friend I ever made when I landed in London wide eyed, naive and not knowing what mind the gap or keeping to the right meant. She's the one that I lived with until I made the big move in with my fiancé at the time now husband. We went through two flats and four other house mates and she was always my rock. She was my bridesmaid and most importantly she's Baby Girl's Godmother and she absolutely dotes on her. Having days out in the middle of London is one of our favourite past times and we hadn't done it for a while so I was super excited.
We hadn't been too organised with booking a cool new venue to discover so we decided to have lunch at a place we know and love - Wahaca. I love Wahaca for it's Mexican street food. It's best to enjoy some social time over their delicious tapas and cocktails. They're actually a chain, and I normally do avoid chains in favour of a more personalised and unique service but this is one place I will always make an exception for. There's locations all over London which is handy. More times than not when I've visited this restaurant there's been a wait to be seated. This is simply an indication of how great they are - so as long as it's not unreasonable - I'm happy to wait. Most of their restaurants don't take bookings.
We spent a good few hours, perched up on a window bench, watching the world go by, enjoying our refreshments and talking world domination - as only best friends do! Here's our spread (we're both veggies by the way):
Black bean & tomatillo tostada £3.80
Plantain tacos £3.95
Sweet potato and feta taquitos £3.95
Black bean & cheese quesadillas £3.75
Smoky cauliflower cheese £4.50
Sweet potato £3.50
Spicy slaw £2.30
Gluttonous? Possibly! Did we eat it all? Yes! Because when you're grazing, as we were, you just do. Wahaca recommend you should order 2-3 street food dishes per person so we may have gone slightly over the recommended portions but we are both foodies and found it hard to narrow down our selections.
Sweet potato and feta taquitos
I enjoyed it all. My favourite dish hands down was the sweet potato and feta taquitos. That combo is just a match made in heaven isn't it? Throw in the crunchiness of the crispy blue corn, caramelised onion and salsa with chipotle mayo and it takes it from heaven to out of this universe. It. Is. Just. So. Good.
The only dish I was disappointed with is the smoky cauliflower cheese. I'm a big fan of cauliflower cheese and have had some good ones in my life (mainly coming from my mum's kitchen) and this just didn't compare. It was pretty dry and didn't have that creamy element I was craving. The flavours are nice so if you enjoy cauliflower you'll probably like it but if you're looking for cheesy, creamy goodness in a cauliflower pot, save yourself any disappointment.
The service was a little slow, and there were times that we had to physically had to get up and show that we needed our waitress because she was always so busy to notice our polite waves. There's nooks and crannies all over the restaurant housing patrons and the staff do their best to get to everyone but it's not necessarily prompt. You wouldn't go to a place like this if you were after quick though, you go there for the amazing food, and that it is.
Wahaca menu
After our visit to Wahaca we ventured a few numbers down the road and found ourselves at 100 Wardour Street. This is a new venue and it's the old Floridita which I used to love. I was devastated when I heard it closed down but now I've visited the new residents I feel a lot better. Being London Fashion Week the place was packed out with beautiful models, I did have moments of feeling inferior, especially after my bathroom visit and sharing the vanity until with 6ft stunners touching up their immaculate make up haha. The place is fancy and it does have a very exclusive feeling about it.
We met up with our other girlfriend here and spent the afternoon/ evening, chilling in lounge chairs, having girly chats, catching up on her very exciting dating life (I just love to live vicariously through my single girlfriends) and drinking wine - it felt very 'Sex and the City' and I just loved it!
As with all my days away from my daughter, I love it and it really refreshes me, but there comes a time in the day where I get twinges of really missing her and when that happens I know it's time to go home. Even though I knew that she would be tucked up in bed and fast asleep, I wanted that feeling of coming home to my baby, knowing she was safe, warm and fast asleep.
Tottenham Court Rd tube art on the way home
Am I the only crazy who could spend hours just watching my baby sleep?
Have you visited any cool places in London recently?
Kat x
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The food looks delicious #triedtested
ReplyDeleteIt's so yummy! I love a good Mexican and have been to Mexico. This is up there with the best x
DeleteI must have been living under a rock or something because I've lived in London twice (when I did my teacher training in Stratford and then a few years ago in Shoreditch), and I've never been to (or even heard of) a Wahaca before! The food looks amazing! I haven't been on a girly day/night out in too long...
ReplyDeleteCarolyn
http://www.stylishmemories.com
If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend you go! Girly days are so important, you should book one x
DeleteI love Wahaca, their fish tacos are amazing. Its so important to have a girly night out once in a while , it definitely recharges the batterires and makes you appreciate what you already appreciate just that little bit more :-) Thanks for linking up to #MarvMondays. Emily
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried the fish tacos but they sound yummy! Will have to try it out next time I go x
DeleteUgh, I haven't had a girly day out in forever!! Sounds lush, I'm hugely jealous. Except for the part about sharing bathroom vanities with leggy models! That you can keep, gulp!! :)
ReplyDelete#coolmumclub
Haha yeah that was no fun, but the rest of the day was! You should book a girly day. It's so important to recharge x
DeleteHahaha your sorted if you have peeps in the know. That's mainly how I find all the places to go. I'm in my mummy bubble these days so I rely on my friends suggestions x
ReplyDelete