I recently wrote about a disappointing burrito at Poncho no 8 in Spitalfields. In that review I explained I had previously heard good things about Luardos, a van selling Mexican street food on Whitecross St. I had to try it ASAP. A bright, sunny day (one of the first of the year) was all the convincing I needed: I'd phone Samantha and get her to buy me a burrito. She's good to me. She said she couldn't see the front of the queue, and had heard from others standing there that the wait would be anything up to an hour and half. 90 minutes for a burrito! In the end, it was closer to about twenty minutes, though by the time she got to the ordering, there was only the chicken option available - they usually have slow-cooked beef, the aforementioned chicken and carnitas. Additionally, there is a vegetarian option which comes with free guacamole. None of these are over a fiver.
Chicken and chorizo burrito (£5). The chicken burrito costs £4.50 usually, but add some chorizo for 50p extra to turn a decent burrito into a great one. The flour tortilla here is superlative, probably the best of any burrito joint I've tried in London, with good blisters and tasting homemade. The fillings were hit and miss: decent pico de gallo; great spiciness from the oily chorizo; good flavour but a dry and mealy texture to the chunks of chicken breast; fairly judged rice. They did work well together, and with the great flavour of the tortilla (something a lot of places don't pay enough attention to, I feel) it was a good burrito. I'd say that Luardos is one of the top burritos in the city, along with Chilango and Daddy Donkey, though you have to be quick to beat the queues and have a choice of filling.
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5 comments:
I used to work right by that van and I LOVED their burritos. Would go as far as saying the best in London.
Always made me so sad if I got there too close to 2pm and they were sold out. On such occasions though, the felafel stall opposite is worth a try!
Thanks for the tip, Laura! I think I should try more things out at Whitecross St. Great little market.
That is a really good tip, love burritos but had given up trying to find proper burritos in London. I live close to Whitecross St but didn't know about this van until now. Thanks for that.
Luiz @ The London Foodie
The burritos are awesome, but there are also a lot of great food stalls on Whitecross Street. If you ever see the Brazilian stall, I'd recommend the feijoada, and the Roast of Sherwood does a massive roast pig sandwich that is delicious as well. And I second the falafels!
Totally bored of Whitecross Street now. I've probably tried every shop. Enjoyed the burrito's here for a while but they're nowhere near as good as Chilango. The chicken or beef fillings taste pretty awful to me at Luardos nowadays. I do prefer grilled meats in my burrito so that might go a long way to explain this. One thing I think the market could do with is more provenance. Without it I just feel like I'm being served the cheapest and worst quality ingredients around. There are some exceptions to this on the street but those that demonstrate they care are in the minority. Not really what I expect from a food market.
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