New Restaurant Review: Wahaca at Canary Wharf

By tikichris Last edited 172 months ago
New Restaurant Review: Wahaca at Canary Wharf

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Photography by Gail Haslam

As Londonist discovered not so long ago on our visit to The Parlour, dining options at Canary Wharf seem to have come a long way recently. Our visit to the newly opened Canary Wharf Wahaca served as further testament of these tasty developments.

Canary Wharf may not have been the cheeriest of places to work of late, with financial markets going into freefall and long lunches being a thing of the past. Perhaps this might bring a smile to some E14 faces: Wahaca’s newest outpost opened on Canada Square yesterday, bringing their particular take on Mexican street food to the suited and booted of east London.

Wahaca is passionate about using the freshest ingredients to make authentic dishes that can be deceptively unassuming in appearance, but which explode with flavour. We ordered black bean and chicken soup, and the server delivered a bowl with with diced avocado, toasted ancho chilis, feta cheese, crema and totopos - corn tortillas - and a jug of soup for us to pour ourselves so any presentation issues are all down to us. The genius part of this dish is a different taste to every mouthful, as velvet smooth black beans mix with the submerged ingredients below in a culinary lucky dip, delightfully warming and sure to be popular on their new winter menu.

More of our Huitlacoche quesadillas should have been reserved to dip into the soup as the melting cheese and the distinctive corn mushroom complements its  smokiness perfectly.  Somewhat lighter, but still deliciously moreish, the Winter Fuerza salad, with roast butternut squash, spelt, diced orange, pickled hibiscus flowers seemed too tasty for something so healthy.  To finish, we opted for the Baja-California fish tacos - freshly fried, crisp goujons of plaice served with chipotle mayo.

Afterwards we sampled some of the aged tequilas - the Lajita and the richly honeyed Don Julio, a perfect digestif.  It turns out there wasn’t even room for churros - there’s a first for everything.

Wahaca is located at Park Pavilion, 40 Canada Square (E14 5FW). Visit the restaurant's website for more info.

Written by Gail Haslam

Last Updated 10 November 2009