*I wrote this piece almost 2 weeks ago but do to some
seizures and other issues it didn't get posted until now. So any references to
time will be a few weeks off.
The quest continues this time with Poncho 8. Poncho 8
currently has 5 locations all in central London. I accompanied Priya to work
Monday morning and decided rather than rushing home I would use the opportunity
to try a new burrito. I had heard about Poncho 8 online through another blog
and I had walked past one of the locations before. The location I ended up
eating at is right next to St Paul’s Cathedral, which is one of the large
tourist attractions downtown. The location is about a mile and a half from
Priya’s office. There is actually a Poncho 8 location that was closer to
Priya’s office but when I got to that closer location it was only about 9:40am
needless to say it would be a little while before lunch time so I decide to
keep going. On a surprising note I discovered that this particular Poncho 8
location, closest to Priya’s office, opened at 8am and served breakfast
burritos. Part of me wanted to go in and try one but I always prefer a real
burrito to a breakfast burrito. Maybe in the future I’ll go ahead and try one
but not this time. Since it was so early I just kept walking mostly to waste
time. I ended up by St Paul’s around 10am. That location did not open until
10:45am so I had to wait around. I went into St Paul’s for a little while to
look around. It wasn't my first time there but it is still a cool building to
look at.
St Paul's Cathedral
Finally it was 10:45 and while I knew I should probably wait
until 11am to go there in order to give them more time to have everything ready
I just couldn't wait and I went in. I soon discovered I was right to want to
wait because their chicken was not ready. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves
rather let’s recap how I judge the burritos. I do it based on eight categories.
First is the quantity of available options on the menu. Second is the quality
of the individual ingredients. Third is the ratio of those ingredients in the
burrito basically how much of each ingredient is there. Forth is the strength
and execution of the wrap, does the tortilla tear easily or fall apart in my
hand? Fifth is the size of the burrito bigger is usually better. Sixth is the
overall taste of the burrito. Seventh is the price of the burrito. I’m willing
to pay for quality. Eighth and lastly is what I call the two hour tummy factor.
Meaning how does the burrito makes me feel a few hours later because it can be
great in your mouth but not so great in your digestive system especially if you
are walking home, which I almost always am. Now the other variable that is much
harder to take into account is that of the individual server who is helping
you. Often when a burrito is made it is difficult to know if the ratios of each
ingredient given to you are those that the restaurant wants or just those that
the server feels like giving. Similarly when it comes to the strength of the
wrap it often comes down to the skill and experience of the person wrapping the
burrito rather than just the quality of the tortilla. Due to this is can be
hard to properly judge a place without going there a few times unless the food
is just horrible than what’s the point, right? So I try to be fair to all the
places I go especially the first time and focus more on the food rather than
the service.
So I walked in at 10:45am and of course I was the only
person in the restaurant. The store is fairly small but it can comfortably sit
about 15 people, which for a small restaurant in central London is quite a lot.
Most of the employees were in the back working on getting all the food prepared
for the day. This gave me a chance to look at the menu closely. I found the
selection to be quite impressive. I ended up ordering a pork burrito because
the chicken was not quite done cooking (downside to being there right when the
door opens). I got it on a white tortilla with tomato rice, black beans, pico
de gallo (mild) and green chili (medium) salsa, cheese and jalapenos. So let me
now rate this burrito.
First comes the quantity of options. Poncho 8 did quite well
in this category. They had the typical four meat options (chicken, pork, steak
and barbacoa) and then for the vegetarians they had tofu that had been
marinated in their special spices. I hadn't seen that anywhere else yet but
since I’m not a vegetarian other things stuck out more to me than that. First
was they had two tortilla options one was the normal white tortilla while the
second was a brown whole wheat tortilla for those who may want to feel like
they are eating healthier, even if they’re not. Another nice option was that
they had fresh cut jalapenos as one of their fillings. I haven’t seen that
anywhere else and I really liked it. The rest was pretty much what would be
expected. Two kinds of rice, brown and tomato and three different salsas
(mild=pico de gallo: medium=green chili: hot=red chili) then sour cream,
cheese, guacamole, grilled vegetables and lettuce. You could order all of this
as a burrito, a salad bowl, tacos or what they called a nacho box. I saw
someone after me order a nacho box. They basically just dump everything on top
of tortilla chips and I admit it looked pretty good because they certainly did
not skimp on the amount of ingredients they put on there and you end up with tortilla
chips, which looked great.
Second comes evaluating the individual ingredients on their
own. Before I placed my order I asked if I could sample their hot and medium
salsa so I could choose which to get. I knew I would get the pico de gallo
because I just love it. The medium was the green chili and it was great. It had
a nice kick to it and just a hint of sweetness if you left it on your tongue
without washing it away with other food or water. The hot salsa was a red
chili. It was certainly hotter and while it was good I just didn't like the
flavor as much as the medium. I am partial to green chili over red chili salsas
so my opinion there really is not a surprise. The rice was fresh and moist. The
tomatoes in the white rice made the rice nice and juicy as well as giving it
some flavor. The black beans were fine, nothing amazing but nothing bad. The
pork, which they said is marinated overnight, was good though I would be
interested in trying the chicken. I liked the pork but not as much as say the
carnitas at Chipotle. In part because I felt it was shredded a little too much.
It would sometimes get stuck between your teeth because the meat was so thin.
That tended to only happen when I ate the meat alone once it was mixed with the
salsas and other stuff that issue didn't really reoccur still it was shredded a
little thin for me. The flavor of the pork was good though I don’t know if the
medium salsa was the best compliment for it. The salsas were great but like I
said I might not have picked the best combination of meat and salsa. The cheese
was great and the jalapenos were fresh and wonderful. The jalapenos might have
been my favorite part of the burrito they really had a lot of spice since they
were just raw not cooked down in anything else. So overall I would say all the
ingredients I had were of high quality.
Third is the ingredients ratio in the burrito. The server I
had was very nice to me and did a great job spreading out the ingredients. She
gave a nice amount of rice and beans and didn't over stuff it with meat like
has happened to me at a few other places. I know meat is the expensive part and
so you would think a place that gives you more meat is giving you more for you
money but I just find that a burrito with too much meat ends up being a bit
boring and plain because all the other ingredients don’t get mixed together as
well. So again she put a good amount of pork in the burrito, not too much. The
salsas were good, She knew to spread around the pico de gallo a bit more than
the green chili salsa because it isn't really a liquid like the other salsas
are and thus it won’t weave its way through the burrito the way a liquid salsa
can. The cheese was perfect and the jalapenos were laid out all over. At first
I thought she gave me too many jalapenos but once I had the burrito I found out
that she had been right and I was wrong because they were great.
Forth is the wrap. When the server wrapped my burrito I
thought one of the ends was already breaking open as I could see salsa on it
already. When I got to my seat and opened the foil I found that the burrito
wasn't actually tearing rather some of the salsa must have gotten on her gloves
as she rolled the burrito and ended up on the end when she pushed it together. The
burrito stayed perfectly wrapped the whole way through. I was even able to stop
eating half way through, stand it up and hold it with one hand to take a
picture of it and there were no structural issues with a torn tortilla or
ingredients spilling out everywhere. The wrap was so good my fingers actually
stayed dry, no salsa or meat juices, all the way to the last bite. This was one
of the best wrapped burritos I have had here in London so I give Poncho 8 high
marks for that.
Fifth is the size. Now part of the reason the burrito held
up so good was that it wasn't a huge burrito. Lengthwise it was a bit longer
than most of the burritos I have been getting here, including the average
Chipotle burrito, but widthwise it was much skinnier. The width was about the
size of a coke can. Now there are benefits to skinnier burritos such as I have
already mentioned they tend to be easy to hold because you can do it with one
hand. Also the ingredients tends to distribute better and you get less areas
dominated by a single ingredient (meat bite or rice bite) such as can happen
with larger burritos. Still I wish it had been a bit larger around.
Sixth, overall taste. Here I would give Poncho 8 very high
marks. I enjoyed every bite of my burrito and while I said earlier I might not
have picked the best salsa, meat combination it was still very good. The rice,
salsas, cheese and jalapenos were my favorite parts and they all went well
together. The pork was good though I really want to try the chicken next time.
I think chicken would go better with the medium salsa. I think the hot salsa
would have complimented the pork a bit better. Still when I am eating something
great and I know it could be even better that makes me pretty happy and excites
me to come again.
Seventh is price. The price of the burrito was average. It
was 6.30 pounds for a pork burrito and 1 pound for a can of coke. I will say
they do keep their coke cans fairly cold. Many places I go around town hand you
a coke can that is barely chilled when you first get it so you are lucky to get
even 3 good, cold sips out of it. But here their coke stayed cold making the
pound definitely worth it.
Eight and lastly is the two hour tummy factor. Now here I
don’t know if I can be a fair in my judgment of Poncho 8. After I left the
restaurant I had to walk to the British Museum and then to a tube station to
get home, about 2 miles of walking. This in of itself is not a big deal but
something bad happened in that once I got on the train and headed home I
realized I had lost something from my wallet. I began to freak out a little and
I had to get on the train going back into London and try and find what I had
lost. I spent 3 hours basically running everywhere I had been that day trying to
find what I had lost and this led me to develop a stomach ache. Not the kind
where you feel nauseous but rather where you have a sharp pain in your side more
like a muscle cramp than a stomach ache. The combination of soda, worrying and
running around is mostly likely what caused the pain not the food itself. I
didn't have any bad bathroom experiences so despite the stomach pain I would
have to say Poncho 8 is a good burrito to the digestive system.
So based on my one visit I would have to say that Poncho 8
is already one of my favorite burritos here in London. I would give it an 8.5
out of 10 and I have a feeling the chicken could make it a 9. I would recommend
this place to anyone who lives here and wants a good, fresh burrito or perhaps
a nacho box. You will get your money’s worth at Poncho 8.
Here are some pictures.
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