Buen Provecho at the Zoo

Buen Provecho, London Zoo Lates or Lower Marsh Street

3 tacos: £6

There's only a week left to check out London Zoo Lates, the late night opening at London Zoo that sees drunken grown ups overrun an attraction usually reserved for family outings and dance like idiots at a silent disco. If like me, the idea of a looking at animals leaves you cold, then fear not - the delightful people at Eat.St have arranged a street food fantasia to reassure us that not all animals end up in cages. Some are destined for sandwiches.

Oaxacan Celebrations

Wahaca, 66 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HG

Pacifico, mackerel tostadas and lots of lettuce

Standing outside Wahaca in Covent Garden last week, I received some very welcome news. It was a happy moment: they'd seated our table of ten within five minutes, there was a Pacifico Clara on the way inside and, thanks to a brief phone call, a dark cloud that had hung over my professional and personal life was soon to lift. Happy days.

Back inside, all was well: the service was cheery, the food was pleasant but unremarkable, and the company was excellent. However, after an evening of pork tacos, mackerel tostadas and chicken taquitos; the only real highlight was the news at the start. Some chorizo and potato quesadilas almost came close with their crunchy exteriors giving way to a filling reminiscent of fluffy cheese mash; but nothing bested standing outside the restaurant and hearing how things were about to change for the better. It turns out there is more to my life than food. 

Chicken guajillo tostadas - more lettuce

I LOVE black beans

Too much Boho, not enough Mexico

Boho Mexica, 
153 Commercial Street, E1 6BJ

Meal for four with cocktails: £140

When the best thing about a restaurant is the waitress's eyebrows, what does that say about its food?

Proper Mexican food carries so much promise. All that lime juice and avocado; the plentiful use of corn, beans and cheese. So many good things, brought together with clear spicy flavours and a hint of sunshine. And still I have yet to find a Mexican restaurant that lives up to this promise. Even my Mexican experience in New York was less the transcendental experience I had hoped for and more just nice. I have become sufficiently desperate that I am seriously contemplating a California to Mexico road trip to see if the problem lies with all Mexican restaurants or with me.

This was, unfortunately, no exception to my Mexican experience to date. It was perfectly pleasant and some of the cooking was relatively adept.  And yet, I could not escape the feeling that it could be improved, that all of the small pieces of brilliance could somehow add up to something better.

Boho Mexica describes itself, as places in Shoreditch are wont to do, as bohemian. They have even used the phrase "bite of Mexican deliciousness" to describe themselves on their website. In spite of this, they have created a chic but relaxed dining environment that combines cocktail bar and restaurant. Our margaritas were ably-executed but unexceptional. The cocktails at Mercado in Stoke Newington are as good if not better, though my Mercado preference is based on their use of interesting Mexican glassware as much as the drink inside. We should have known better than trying the house shooter - a bizarre combination of tequila, prawns and Bloody Mary mix; it didn't sound like a winning combination and it wasn't.

The evening menu is comprised of small dishes intended for sharing. Two variations on pork tacos were highly successful, particularly the cochinita tacos with three types of pork and pink pickled onion. They were an excellent example of that classic principle that fatty meat plus astringent pickle equals food heaven. Likewise, the combination of meat, banana and beans worked well in the Mexican style steak.  However, many of the dishes were pleasant but flawed: ceviche captured light, citrusy flavours but then hid them under a mountain of lettuce; the salsa was fierce and smoky but minuscule; guacamole was decent but only came with 2.7 tortilla chips. The larger dishes were particularly variable in their execution.  Enchiladas with mole had the right smoky, sweet sauce but were otherwise unimpressive and the barbequed lamb was nearly unpleasant with a slightly sour, almost rancid flavour.

When the bill came, our first reaction was disappointment. We justified it later on the basis that we'd had cocktails and that we had ordered expensive dishes like steak and prawns.  However, our first instinct was that we were paying too much for what we had eaten and, on reflection, I think we were right. There are flashes of excellence at Boho Mexica but the end result is somehow a less pleasing sum of often good parts.

The eyebrows were amazing though. The waitress had dressed as Frida Kahlo complete with tousled hair and pencilled in mono-brow. I would say go for the eyebrows but I suspect they were a one-off for Halloween. I do hope not.