Wahaca has been a huge hit since it burst onto the London dining scene. Fronted by a  previous Masterchef winner, it offers fresh, fast, fun eating experiences at a number of locations across London and now further afield too.

Looking for a quick lunch before heading to the ballet for a post-Christmas day out in London, we went to Wahaca at Covent Garden to see what all the fuss is about.

We turned up just after midday and were quickly shown to our seats. We ordered some guacamole and tortilla chips (homemade) as well as a couple of soft drinks while we perused the rest of the menu.

The guacamole was exactly what you want from good guacamole: chunky, offering a nice spice kick, and incredibly moreish. Similarly, the homemade tortilla chips were about as far removed from Doritos as you can get!

Much of the menu at Wahaca is based on the tapas concept; each person picks a few dishes and they arrive at the table as and when they’re ready.

The first dishes to arrive at our table were two quesadillas, one with black beans and cheese and one with chorizo and potato. The chorizo and potato quesadilla was particularly tasty, the flavours working really well together with the oozing cheese and the delicate crunch of the tortilla.

These were quickly followed by pork pibil tacos, the star of the meal in my opinion. The tacos contained gorgeous, melt in the mouth slow cooked pork, and came topped with beautiful pink pickled onions. Eating these tacos was messy (the pork was oozing with a gorgeous sauce) but it was so worth it! We actually ended up ordering another of these because they were so sublime and just thinking of these now (writing this at 9am!) makes my mouth water.

The last few dishes to arrive were black bean tostadas, which were really fresh and light, contrasting nicely with the tacos, and chicken taquitos, which were sort of like a Mexican spring roll.

We also enjoyed a couple of side dishes: some black beans with crema and some rice and beans, all topped with crumbly Lancashire cheese. Yum!

The only letdown from the whole Wahaca experience was that we’d had our eyes on some churros y chocolate, Mexican doughnuts with a rich chocolate sauce. Unfortunately the extra order of the pork tacos had filled us up too much to sample this chocolaty delight!

Wahaca offers something that is too rare nowadays: a filling meal that doesn’t leave you feeling stuffed and unhealthy. The ingredients here are fresh, the dishes varied, and the flavours really unusual compared to what we often believe “Mexican food” to taste like in the UK.