Benito’s Hat has a colourful and vibrant interior with an orange and green theme! These fresh and striking colours are reflected in the food! There’s a funky mural on the back wall towards the bar area of the restaurant. All these elements set the theme of a relaxed eatery!

The restaurant is made up of a long communal high wooden table with many high chairs. There are also seats against the wall with scattered cushions and some window seats, if you fancy watching the world go by!

At the counter, there is the vast array of rainbow coloured fillings to choose from! These include rice, beans, chicken, pork, salad items, sauces and garnishes! The food is all fresh and locally produced where possible.

A vegetable burrito makes for a filling and satisfying meal! The fillings that I chose for my vegetable burrito were refried beans, cilantro lime rice, grilled vegetables, guacamole and salad. The vegetables were a good mix of peppers, courgettes and chayote.

There are a choice of sauces depending on how spicy you would like your meal. Or for something mild, there is always the option of sour cream. The other choice of fillings are grilled chicken, tender chicken thighs, grilled steak, braised pork and some seasonal specials.

I’m always surprised at how much is packed into a burrito and also how the staff manage to wrap it all up into a neat tight roll! The burrito was served with some lovely fresh tortilla chips!

Benito’s Hat does fantastic tasting burritos but if you fancy something slightly lighter, then they also have smaller tacos, homemade soup and salads! The salad is basically all the fillings and toppings, without the tortilla wrap!

The staff are extremely friendly and gave us lovely service. We were definitely given service with a smile! All throughout the meal, the staff came to see if everything was ok and if we needed anything else. They also made sure that the dining area remained clean and tidy by clearing up the tables straight away.

Even though the burrito was extremely filling, after a while, we decided to share a dessert! The bunuelos were crispy cinnamon tortilla strips and vanilla ice cream. It was served in a martini glass! A lovely dessert, not too heavy, and it hit the spot just right!

Benito’s Hat has some interesting drinks on offer! One of them was the horchata which was a sweet milk based drink. The drink that I preferred was the hibiscus one. It had the strong purple colour like blackcurrant but its taste and flavour is a lot softer!

Benito’s Hat does great quality fresh tasting Mexican food! All the elements of Benito’s Hat are just right, from the food, the atmosphere, the drinks to the service and staff!

Benito’s Hat, 19 New Row, Covent Garden, London, WC2N 4LA

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A mid week Mexican lunch meant a visit to Chimichanga! The restaurant is really spacious and has the booth seating on a raised level at the back. The interior is made up of large stone arches and large wooden posts!

It had to be the classic nachos to start with; this would also give us time to decide on the rest of our meal! The sharing appetiser of chicken nachos fit the bill perfectly. We were presented with a huge bowl of crispy tortilla chips, topped with chunks of chargrilled chicken, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa! There was no disappointment with these and we happily munched our way through these delights!

Seen as I had filled myself up on the nachos, I couldn’t face having a main dish as I assumed that they would be big portions. So I opted for the side dishes of Mexican rice and black beans. This was a good combination and the rice was not too spicy. The beans were whole and not mashed up like refried beans. It was a filling meal, even though they were side dishes!

The rest of my family had the wraps! These were huge and were generously filled! They were served with chips. I’m glad that I did go for the lighter option as I definitely wouldn’t have managed to have such a big meal!

The staff were friendly and gave service with a smile. They did not bother us through the meal once it had all been served. It meant that we could have a relaxing lunch and did not feel that we were being rushed!

Chimichanga has a good menu with lots of choice! It’s a nice place to go to for a gathering with family and friends!

Chimichanga, Unit 2b Chaplin Square, Great North Leisure Park, Finchley, London, N12 0GL

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We went to Lupita after my friends and I had met for drinks, then realised that it was later than we thought, and some food was in order!

Lupita had tapas style Mexican dishes. At first, from the outside, this restaurant looked quite small and crowded. But when we entered, we saw that the dining area extended to the back with the open kitchen area in the centre. The decor was quite cool with its dark wooden brick walls, metal tables and chairs.

Our waiter was really friendly and helpful! We basically let him choose the dishes for our meal and he didn’t disappoint us!

There was a little confusing incident that we came across though. We asked for some tea, but the waiter said that they didn’t have any. Yet, he did provide us with cups of hot water! He didn’t explain whether they had just run out of tea bags!

Nachos is always a great way to start off a meal! These nachos were generously topped with melted cheese, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. The salsa was quite spicy!

The two vegetable quesadillas were different to what I had expected. The soft flour tortillas were folded in half with the filling inside. Hongos had the fresh wild mushroom filling. It was ok but I couldn’t taste the garlic and herbs.

The second quesadilla was more intriguing and interesting! It was the Nopales quesadilla! Lupita describes Nopales as “…a cactus which has been used for thousands of years by Mexican natives as a food for enhanced health and vitality”. Nopales looked like sliced green peppers but it tasted like pickled cucumber/gherkins. I was glad that I had tried it, but it wasn’t something that I would go for again!

The costras was my favourite. This was two wheat tortillas topped with crispy cheese and filled with vegetables. The costras was something just that little bit different due to the crispy cheese. The flavours of this dish were good!

Lupita’s staff and service were excellent. The food was fresh and the portion size was just right! It was nice to have a good selection and variety of food!

Lupita, 13-17 Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6ND

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