27 Upper St
N1
Tel: Unknown!
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, 30 August 2007
The Victims: Stacey, Bryan
The Damage: £10ish with two Cervesas, mas fina, per person.
The Background: There is a lot of background to this post. But I will try to be brief. So you know I just got back from Mexico. And somewhere in there, you might know that Beach Burrito on Berwick Street (home of “Your ovaries are dying“) no longer exists. Well, I was randomly trolling the Internet–Which should always be spelled with a capital I, by the way. And Web site is two words with a capital W, I swear–and somehow came across a posting about a new Mexican place opening in August. This London food blogger blatantly asked to be invited to Opening Night. Denied, sadly, as there was no opening party…but this was actually probably wise of them.
Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Meredith in Chicago e-mailed all us Londoners something about her dad’s nephew’s friend or somebody opening up a Mexican restaurant in Islington.
And then out-of-the-blue, Bryan texted (texted? is that a word?) Wednesday night, asking if I was up for a burrito on Thursday at this new Mexican place in Islington.
Yes, in a 10 day period, all anyone wanted to talk to me about was Mucho Mas.
As it turned out, Bryan and Stacey had already been to Mucho Mas–on Wednesday night. And they had told the co-owners about me. But Eric already knew who I was because of the wonders of social networking. My cover was blown. (Not that I really have a cover. Or that anyone really cares about it. But it does sound so dramatic, no? I have, as my mother is oft to remind me, delusions of grandeur.)
The Entrance: Mucho Mas is not big. On the ground floor at least. There are two tables that can probably fit 10 to 12. Work is underway on the upstairs.
Palpable energy, for sure. It was really fun to be there on opening night…everyone was talking to everyone else. People from my country were not infrequently through the doors. Good times.
The Food: I don’t want to compare them to Chipotle, but I’m going to have to, sort of. So you go to the counter and place your order. You can select from chicken, shredded beef, carnitas (pork), and sliced beef. Burrito or taco it up. And then walk along the counter with your server as they add everything else (by request), including a number of different types of salsa.
I went for a carnitas burrito with salsa verde. I love salsa verde. Have I mentioned that before?
On opening night, everything was going for £5, but prices will be a tiny bit higher over the course of the next week. We grabbed some cervesas and took a seat.
The First Bite: The burrito was fantastic. I loved the salsa verde and the black beans. (Salsa verde product line extension? Please?) Seriously. I was very happy. Bryan and Stacey were equally and ecstatically happy. Eric was worried about the temperature of everything (Celsius, don’t you know), but it was totally fine. We were so very very happy.
Bryan hopped up to get some tacos. Wise man, he got us a variety–chicken, shredded beef, and carnitas. The carnitas, for me, again reigned supreme. In general, I thought the tacos were nice, but not as nice as the burrito. We loved the fact that we were the first to use the hot sauce bottle.
Our Tablemates and Other New Friends: We quickly made friends with fellow country-people, Marty and Megan, who also turned out to be bloggers. I am very jealous because they got a post up THAT NIGHT all about their experience. Bryan and Stacey were good about reminding me to self-promote, so I gave out my Londonelcious blog cards to anyone and everyone who would take one. As it turned out, Simon from Luardo’s was there, as were the guys from Freebird Burritos in Exmouth Market, which I have yet to try out. It was a fun totally random night.
The Verdict: Mucho mas, por favor. (That’s a yes.)
7 comments
This is great – I just happened to walk past Mucho Mas last night and gave it a try. And I was planning to post today about it, but I see plenty of bloggers have already beat me to the punch.
I agree the food was good and it was not unlike Chipotle in concept and food quality.
Great taste in music!!!!
any idea of the Freebirds is the Freebirds from Texas?
Not sure if they’re related to the US Freebirds. It’s two English guys, that much I know. If I ever make it over to Exmouth Market at lunch, I’ll find out.
Hello. I’m one of the founders of Mucho Mas. I’m the British one. The other guy (the Scandinavian looking one) is Eric, who grew up in Chicago. We started Mucho Mas because Eric got me hooked on burritos when we worked together at Skype, and he’d always been banging on about how there was no decent Mexican food in the UK. Chicago is something of a Mecca for Mexican food, because of the massive Mexican population there. Thank you for the great review. We’re very pleased you got here on the opening night! The guy who runs Freebirds on Exmouth Market is called James. He’s a super nice guy, from Australia, and his burritos are excellent. He’s not related to the US Freebirds — it’s his own thing.
I agree, Mucho Mas is good. Such a good deal and their steak is excellent! Try Freebirds or Tortilla as well…they are both just as good and taste slightly different. Although, I keep missing Freebirds during the lunch hour, wish he had a store too!
just a reminder about mexican food in relation to burritos:
burritos are not a mexican dish. it is a US invention. therefore good burritos are not synonim of good mexican food.
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