All hail Chipotle

Chipotle is in TOWN!!!!!

OK so most of you should have noticed the surge of Burrito bar's that have cropped up around town lately. We have Tortilla (too salty), Chilango (I love the Totopos here), Benito's Hat, Daddy Donkey (unsampled...yet) and for me the mother of them all CHIPOTLE.

I first discovered the amazing Chipotle back in 2006 when I was spending a lot of time in New York. The American Vegetarian introduced it to me on a cold February day. It was no big deal, we were walking down 34th Street in Manhattan and we were both freezing and hungry and she suggested Chipotle. I didn't really think much of it when I walked in. It seemed a bit too fast food. Ordering your food at the bar while they make it in front if you, then finding somewhere to sit. But little did I know what was about to happen. I had two revelations here.

1) Black Beans.

2) Mexican food is AMAZING.

Up until this moment I had never eaten black beans, but black beans in the States is as popular as baked beans are over here. I was astounded that I had never come across black beans before. Especially since growing up in an Indian home I was surrounded by a lot of beans and pulses that were not in the supermarkets and have only entered the mainstream in the last 5 - 8 years. So I thought I had tried, or at least knew of them all.

Black beans are fab. You can find them in the Caribbean section, in cans which works for me, or I sometimes buy them dried and pressure cook them for about 7 whistles; (see pressure cooking post in April). You can curry them (in fact what can't you curry?) add them to salads or mix with sweetcorn, tomatoes and coriander to make a fab salsa.

Now before Chipotle, Mexican food to me was, re fried beans (not my favourite in any country), and sizzling fajitas from Old Orleans or Navajo Joes (Urgh). Now before I continue I am very aware that Chipotle and the other burrito bars are probably not classic authentic Mexican food. But it'll do me. On my first visit I opted for the tacos. Three soft flour tacos filled with Mexican rice, black beans, sauteed green and red peppers, guacamole, cheese, lettuce, and salsa. All these flavours squished together to give me a mouthful of glory. The American Vegetarian did not realise just how much I loved it. In fact she was a bit shocked, after all its only a burrito. But to me it was a food revelation.

So you can imagine my dismay whenever I came back to the UK to not find an eating establishment like Chipotle. Until that is, two years later I saw Tortilla in Upper Street in 2007. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me, is it a Starbucks, is it a Gregg's, no it's a burrito bar!!!

I was so excited, I really didn't know what to do, who should I call, when shall I go? are there any vacancies? Anyway soon after, the American Vegetarian and I had a burrito there. We were happy, they served black beans and all the trimmings, and they had two sizes; a small and a USA large. We knew that we can handle the large so that's what we had. Tortilla was the only place to go for a burrito, but after a while we both admitted that it was quite salty. So we then found Chilangos. Here we tried the Totopos. Which consists of a layer of tortilla chips topped with beans or meat and guacamole, lettuce, salsa, etc.. This was like nachos meets burritos and I highly recommend taking a trip to Chilangos and ordering this. Its a nice change from a burrito.

So lets fast forward to the day I found out Chipotle had arrived in the UK. The American Vegetarian alerted me to the breaking news one day saying "Guess what's in town"? The parameters were too wide for me to actually guess so I just asked what. "Chipotle". Now if I could play Carmina Burana here I would, so please use your own imagination and hear it in your head. I ventured down to Chipolte which is on Charing Cross Road, one sunny evening with my mate Viv. She had never experienced Chipotle and didn't really understand the fuss, but was happy not to spend more than £6 on dinner. As we approached I looked through the window and was happy just at the fact that they had the same red baskets that are used in the States.

The menu was the same and I decided to opt for a vegetarian burrito bowl. I was offered a choice of rice (Mexican or coriander) a choice of beans; black or pinto. Now this is where a big red flashing light should appear with WARNING for all vegetarians. Chipotle offer black beans and pinto beans. Their pinto beans come with bacon in them. When you order a vegetarian burrito/taco/bowl, you shouldn't really be offered beans with bacon in them. As I was in a good mood, (and on a certain time scale) I didn't pull the person up on this. However if it happens again I will. But just so you know, the pinto beans are NOT vegetarian.

I sat down at a counter with my order and ate my bowl. I enjoyed it. Viv was very happy with hers as well. It wasn't too salty and mixing everything up together was nice. The warm black beans mixed with the cool guacamole and the crunchy lettuce tasted lovely. Eating from a red basket reminded me of a time I commuted from London to New York and as I looked out the window I didn't see the streets of New York, but the bustling streets of London instead.

Oh Chipotle is on 114-116 Charing Cross Road, London.