Wahaca Launches Test Kitchen in Shoreditch
Wahaca, the Mexican restaurant group founded by Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby, has launched a new test kitchen restaurant on Tabernacle Street in Shoreditch.
A driving force in bringing Mexican food and culture to the UK since opening in Covent Garden in 2007, Wahaca’s new Shoreditch restaurant will act as an innovation platform to develop new ideas and recipes – with the ambition of taking many of the dishes created to the group’s restaurants around the UK.
Inspiration from her recent trips to Mexico City, Oaxaca and the Yucatan will allow Tommi and her team to bring to life their interpretations of contemporary Mexican cooking. As well as continuing to feature Wahaca classics such as the iconic pork pibil tacos, Tommi and the team have developed a whole host of new dishes, including nlackened cauliflower tacos with cashew nut mole and Market Boards to share, including whole roast sea bream with al ajillo butter and kohlrabi slaw.
Tommi and her team are collaborating with El Blanco Niño to produce a bespoke, traditionally-made ‘nixtamalized’ (soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution) corn tortilla that uses non-GMO corn and is naturally gluten free.
Wahaca will continue to work with small producers like Trealy Farm for their sobresada, a Mexican-style chorizo, and Jude’s ice-cream. Traditional Mexican cooking techniques will continue to be at the forefront of the menu, featuring moles and charred salsas, which are set to change seasonally and as and when new experimentations allow.
Tommi Miers said: “Wahaca has always been at the forefront of innovation, bringing new Mexican dishes to the UK, and after ten years we’re hugely excited to have this new Test Kitchen to help us continue to push the boundaries and find new ways to explore the incredible variety of vibrant flavours and ingredients from Mexico’s extraordinary range of cuisines.”
The new restaurant seats 120 and, as with all Wahaca restaurants, the design has been inspired by the neighbourhood that it is in as well as the heritage of the building itself. The space is laid out over two levels, with a central communal table and an open kitchen letting guests see the chefs at work. Street art murals from Lelo, a renowned street artist from Zaachila in Oaxaca, Mexico, will adorn the walls.
