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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This Chiquto was quite a big Mexican restaurant and it sure did not feel like it lacked on space. It felt a little dark though as it was quite dimly lit even though it was the daytime.

While we were deciding on what to order, we were served with some tortilla chips and a salsa type dip! It was nice to munch on these as we went through the many items on the menu!

We started off with a few starters as we were fairly hungry! The garlic flatbread tostades were a lot like quesadillas. They were filled with spicy chicken and topped with some cheese. The flatbread tostades were a little greasy but that may have been due to the cheese and the garlic base.

The calamari was a fairly small portion. They were cooked well and we enjoyed them with the chipotle mayonnaise. The last of our starters were the classic sticky barbeque chicken wings! These did not disappoint and were thoroughly enjoyed by all!

Surprisingly, after the starters, we did have some room for the main dishes! The spicy chicken burrito was a really big and filling dish. It was generously filled with the chicken, spiced rice, refried beans, chilli con queso and cheese. All the flavours went well together and it was good that it had additional toppings of guacamole, salsa, sour cream and tomato sauce.

If you’re wanting something quite meaty, then the chicken and ribs is a good option. The chicken was grilled and tender and the ribs were glazed with a smokey barbeque sauce. It was a complete meal as it came with chunky fries, coleslaw and corn on the cob.

I decided to have a couple of side dishes. The Mexican spiced rice was a big portion and to accompany it, I had the refried beans. I was expecting the refried beans to be fairly mushy but it was nice that they were a mixture of mushed up beans and whole ones!

Chiquito has quite a lot of non alcoholic cocktails and other drinks too. The virgin pina colada was perfect with its rich coconut milk combined with the pineapple juice.

The staff were fairly helpful and efficient. They did not rush us but asked us throughout the meal if everything was ok. We got service with a smile!

A cute thing to note is the gecko just inside the entrance of Chiquito! It has a little sign by it to say to rub its head for good luck! So, if you feel the need for some good luck, don’t forget to pay the gecko a bit of attention!

Chiquito, Hagley Road West, Warley, Birmingham, B68 0LH

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Tex-Mex Experience was discovered when we were trying to escape from a very rainy evening in Fulham! Initially, we went into the Fulham Broadway shopping centre to take shelter from the rain and then realised that there were restaurants in the building. Another enlightenment was the fact that it was actually time for dinner and once seeing the restaurants, hunger seemed to appear!

This Tex-Mex restaurant had a quirky red and lime green decor including Mexican hats along shelves and great ornamental artwork on the walls. There is the bar at one end and the restaurant dining area at the other.

The breaded mushrooms were filled with Mexican cheese and garlic and were served with some salad. I chose the rice and beans to make it into a main meal. It was all very tasty and the flavours worked well together.  The mushrooms were not greasy and I was pleased that they were not overfilled with cheese!

I’m not sure what type the beans were! They were in a tomato based sauce. When we asked two different staff what type of beans they were, we were given two different answers! One said that they were pinto beans and the other said that they were Mexican beans! Whatever they were called, they were good!

The vegetarian chimichanga was a soft tortilla filled with lots of vegetables and topped with cheese. It was a generous portion as it came with rice and beans as well. A great choice for a satisfying meal!

The mango juice was very nice; quite a big glass of it! It wasn’t pure mango juice, more of a carton drink, but that was fine. There were also a tempting range of non-alcoholic cocktails on the menu!

The service was good and the staff were friendly. Even though the restaurant got busier towards the end of our meal, we were not rushed and could easily have spent a lot of time sitting there. At the end of the meal, one of the waitresses brought us the wrong bill. When we raised the issue with another waiter, he swiftly replaced it with the correct bill. As we were leaving Tex-Mex Experience, the waitress apologised to us about the mistake.

Tex-Mex Experience has daily offers on drinks and food! This makes it an even more appealing place to go for dinner!

Tex-Mex Experience, Unit 2, Fulham Broadway Retail Centre, London, SW6 1BW

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