30 October 2010

Dia de los Muertos at Benito's Hat

Tamale-tasting at Benito's Hat

We were treated to a little preview of the special Dia de los Muertos festival menu at Benito's Hat last week. Celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead, the menu features festive specialties including Pan de Muerto with chocolate sauce, a 'Vampiro' cocktail - a twist on the Margarita with tomato juice - and tamales, of course.

Tamale-tasting at Benito's Hat

They have two varieties on offer: Pork with salsa roja and veggie with salsa verde. The addition of salsa and cheese to the top of the tamale - finished in the oven to melt the cheese - was unusual but very tasty and added an extra layer of flavour. The pork was tasty but not so strong to outdo the taste of the tamale. The enchilada-style tomato salsa was a great complementary flavour that we'll will definitely try when we cook tamales at home. Chef Felipe told us he used balsamic vinegar in the pork marinade, a seemingly unexpected ingredient that according to co-owner Ben is actually quite common in Mexico.

Tamale-tasting at Benito's Hat

The sharing plate of veggie quesadillas, potato taquitos and black beans nachos was delicious as well, the irony-rich spinach quesadillas a particular highlight.

Try the festive menu yourself at Benito's Hat on November 2nd. Tamales might also make an appearance at other times of year, although as chef Felipe explained to us, they are quite time-consuming to make to order, which might account for the success of its cousin, the easy-assembly burrito.

27 October 2010

Wahaca's winter menu

We're rather excited about Wahaca's new Winter menu, which is rolling out this week. Quite aside from the two varieties of tamale, we're also dying to try the Pork Torta, new-recipe Mole, and delicious-sounding Queso Fundido. Winter comfort food at its best!


(click to enlarge)

We're popping along to the preview of the new Soho restaurant in a couple of weeks so will report back soon.

20 October 2010

Benito's Hat

Exciting news reaches us from Benito's Hat Mexican Kitchen in Covent Garden: to celebrate Dia de los Muertos ('Day of the Dead', the Mexican equivalent of Hallowe'en) they are laying on a special spooky menu, launching November 2nd.

Hallowe'en pumpkin spider
Photo: ali graney

The menu will include Pan de Muerto, a traditional Mexican bread eaten during the festival, as well as inventive offerings like the Vampiro cocktail - a tangy twist on the Margarita. And of course, there will be tamales! We'll be popping to a preview tasting next week so will report back before the grand launch on November 2nd.

Follow @BenitosChat on Twitter for more updates.

19 October 2010

Wahaca tamale news

dinner at Wahaca

Just got official word from Wahaca that their tamales will come in Ancho Chilli Pork with a rich dark Mole Poblano and vegetarian Rajas with roast spicy salsa varieties, and Tommi reports that they will be rolling out from tomorrow. We're very excited to be trying them out in Wahaca's new Soho restaurant at the beginning of November, so review and pics to follow soon.

17 October 2010

Tamales at the London Restaurant Festival



A visit to Spitalfields food market, part of London Restaurant Festival week, sparked off the idea for this blog, when I saw the stall belonging to Rico Mexican Kitchen. As well as delicious salsas and beans they were serving up samples of their piping-hot delicious tamales filled with a choice of pork, chicken or cheese.



Rico will be supplying Wahaca with the tamales for their Autumn menu launching in a couple of weeks' time, and can also be found in Whole Foods Market, Kensington.

15 October 2010

Tamales at Mestizo

Dinner at Mestizo

Mestizo in North London, a stone's throw from Euston Station, has long been heralded as one of the best and most authentic Mexican eateries in the capital. Their tamales come with a choice of fillings: mole chicken, cheese or pork with salsa verde. The rest of the menu is excellent too - and they make a mean chilli mojito!