Mexican: Mercado

26-30 Church Street
Stoke Newington
N16 0LU

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, July 10th

The Victims: Ben, Gerry, Matt

The Damage: Oh I forget. But I think it might have been just £20 each.

So the other Sunday, I was bored and actually cooked for myself. I use the term "cooked" loosely as always. "Cooking" involved stopping into Tesco Metro and buying Old El Paso Enchiladas in a Box, along with some chicken, which was–as it should be–already cut up for me. I am nothing if not efficient. "Cooking" also involved setting off the smoke detector a couple of times, which always keeps things exciting. (No pots or pans or appendages were burned during my cooking, I swear) Ah, my neighbo"u"rs must love me.

Well, my Enchiladas from a Box were delicious–particularly because I ditched the packet of ueber-bland tomato sauce for 1/2 a jar of salsa from Whole Foods. Hot!

So this had me totally geared up for a night of Mexican, by real people who could cook! Ben & Gerry are thinking of moving to Stoke Newington, so I hopped on the 243 and headed up to meet them after their day of flat hunting. As a FIRST, I actually had a conversation with an entirely normal person on the bus (as opposed to the crazies I normally talk to). I was afraid that I had missed my stop, so I asked the guy next to me for help. The good news is that he was heading to Stoke Newington Church Street too. The bad news is that he wasn’t my type. (Or well, I wasn’t his.) But he was nice and gave me lots of Stokey recommendations. (Can I call it Stokey?)

Mercado was not one of his recommendations. His actual quote was something like, "It’s awful. Unless maybe you like all that fried bean stuff thrown onto everything." (And ummm…I’m thinking, "Well wow yeah, like that sounds totally good.")

And the guy behind the bar at The Rose & Crown? He said the same. He said everything was drenched in mole sauce, and the guacamole was awful. And he is a chef. Sometimes. Except when he’s not working behind the bar.

So we made some back-up plans. But then…

The Snacks: The chips and salsa are quality. Gerry, who was born in Costa Rica, very much approves of the guacamole. And you know what? I trust her judgment implicitly. The queso fundido is nice too, but you can’t really get cheese and chorizo wrong.

The Service: Is not from Mexico, but it’s friendly. There’s a woman behind the bar, and she is definitely speaking Spanish. And I ask about the chef, and his name is Alberto and he’s from Mexico. He replaces the previous chef, Carlos, who has gone back to Mexico…but Carlos is coming back at some point.

The Food: I have the enchiladas, and they are indeed covered (drenched) in mole sauce. So I check this out the next day with Arturo–my co-worker of Mexican American origins–and his response is something along the lines of "Mole? Pour that sh*t on."

The Loos: Just a few words: High pressure water cleaning. Por favor, mis amigos. 

The Verdict: I gotta be honest, I liked my food. And so did everyone else. That guy on the bus and that guy behind the bar? They don’t know what they’re talking about. If I lived closer, I’d go here all the time. As long as Alberto is cooking. I’m wondering if the bad rap has something to do with that Carlos guy.