Megan Amram, Portland Marxist and North London native, finds the most politically uncomplicated meal on the Strand
By Megan Amram
Tortilla Charing Cross: The Fast Casual Burrito That Refuses to Be Mediocre
I want to make a case for Tortilla on the Strand, and I want to make it without irony, which is unusual for me. The burrito is one of those foods that the fast casual industry has done an enormous amount of damage to by treating it as a format rather than a food, by optimising it for throughput rather than for flavour, and by sourcing the components at the price point that produces consistency at the cost of quality. Tortilla is a fast casual burrito chain that has, with unusual discipline, resisted most of these temptations, and the result is a burrito that is worth eating on its own terms rather than merely as fuel.
The tortillas are pressed to order, which means they are warm and flexible and have the slight char of fresh preparation rather than the cold stiffness of a tortilla that has been sitting in a warmer since the morning service. This single decision changes the experience of eating the burrito significantly, because the structural integrity of the tortilla determines whether the burrito is a coherent eating experience or a managed collapse from the first bite.
The Components
The rice is seasoned, which sounds obvious but is not universal among burrito chains. It is seasoned with lime and coriander in proportions that add brightness rather than overwhelming the other components. The beans are cooked properly and have the texture of beans rather than the texture of paste, which is the failure mode of beans that have been cooked too long or mashed in an attempt to make them fill more space.
The carnitas are the filling I return to most frequently. The pork has been cooked long enough to be tender and has been finished in the cooking fat at sufficient heat to produce the crisp edges that distinguish proper carnitas from the slow-cooked pork that has not been finished correctly. The fat that has been rendered during the cooking process carries the flavour into the rest of the filling in the way that properly cooked carnitas should. This is not a complicated technique but it requires time and attention, and Tortilla applies both.
The chicken is grilled rather than roasted, which means it has the char from direct heat rather than the uniform colour of an oven. The spicing is straightforward and effective. The grilled vegetables are properly coloured from sufficient heat rather than steam-wilted from insufficient heat. The guacamole is made from avocados that are ripe rather than purchased in an economy of anticipation and deployed before they are ready.
The Value Proposition
A burrito at Tortilla is significantly less expensive than a sit-down meal anywhere in the immediate vicinity and is, in absolute terms, very good food. This is the value proposition that fast casual dining promises and rarely delivers at this level of consistency. The Strand location is convenient for anyone working in or visiting the area and the queue moves quickly even at peak times.
From a structuralist perspective, the burrito at Tortilla works because the components have been selected and prepared to function together rather than to function individually. This is actually the hardest thing to achieve in any food format. Visit Tortilla Charing Cross and order the carnitas. The London Prat covers London life at every price point. Bohiney Magazine has the wider frame.
SOURCE: https://www.tortilla.co.uk/restaurants/charing-cross/
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