{"id":361,"date":"2011-05-19T20:09:50","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T20:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/?p=361"},"modified":"2012-04-16T12:20:23","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T12:20:23","slug":"the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/?p=361","title":{"rendered":"The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we’d tried Mas Burritos courtesy of vouchers<\/a> and linked to a few sites that offer \u2018special\u2019 deals, including occasional burrito related ones. However I don\u2019t want to give the impression that I\u2019m particularly endorsing these sites \u2013 some of the so called special offers seem remarkably unremarkable and most aren’t tempting. However, Dr Chimptington and I have benefitted from a few of these deals so I thought I\u2019d let you know how varied they are before you start clicking on \u2018BUY NOW\u2019<\/strong> without thinking<\/p>\n

The Good <\/strong>\u2013 The Poet<\/a> & Mas Burritos<\/a>
\nI\u2019m lumping the Poet and Mas Burritos together for a couple of reasons. Firstly because they were both good value and delicious but also because they\u2019re from the same stable.<\/p>\n

The Poet<\/strong> is tucked away between Liverpool St and Aldgate. On the same street as Flying Burrito<\/a> (it\u2019s on my burrito-to-try list, not least because the ceiling lights are made of Kilner jars).<\/p>\n

I would probably walk past the Poet if I hadn\u2019t had vouchers \u2013 the purple and chandaliers made me think it would just be a cocktail joint. They don\u2019t even do cocktails so that shows how wrong I was.<\/p>\n

This deal was for a three-Course Mexican Meal For Two for \u00a312 at The Poet Bar & Kitchen (apparently Worth up to \u00a330). Normally when I have a burrito I can’t even think about having anything else to eat so when I go back I don’t think I’d bother with pudding – not that there was anything wrong with the pudding (me a baked vanilla cheesecake, the good doctor went for churros).<\/p>\n

I went for a quesadilla to start and Dr Chimpington went for soup. Both were lovely. Dr C’s soup was spicy and laced with crispy shredded tortilla that pretty much melted into the soup by the end.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My starter (check out that guac!)<\/p><\/div>\n

My starter was lovely – filled with black beans and melty cheese and accompanied by sides of salsa, sour cream and gorgeous chunky guacamole. Dr C drizzled some of the sour cream into his soup as the sides were plentiful.<\/p>\n

I next had a pork burrito and Dr C opted for a chimichanga.
\nMine was lovely, not as huge as the one I had from Mas, but I wasn’t complaining when there was still a third course to be had. One of the really lovely things about this one, and I’m not sure how intentional it was, was that they’d obviously let the tortilla sit for a smidge longer in the George Forman style tortilla warming up pressy iron thing. Most places just press it down for the briefest of time (even when there isn’t a queue), but this had teeny blackened bubbles that gave it a lovely extra bit of flavour. That’s a bad description but it genuinely added to the taste. Wahaca sear their burritos so they also have a bit of added tortilla oomph. Other places are you listening???? <\/em> Try it, you might like it. All in all a very lovely burrito.<\/p>\n

Dr Chimpington’s chimichanga – golden and crisp was fantastic. I’ve not seen him so happy for a long while. \"My<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

CHIMPichanga<\/p><\/div>\n

I really liked the Poet. Most burrito places are a bit wam, bam, thank you ma’am<\/em> but this is a place you can linger. The bar was good and the service was great – warm and attentive and really helpful.<\/p>\n

I’ve already mentioned Mas Burrito but this was another example of an online deal done well -we had a burrito, nacho and guacamole for \u00a33.40 each!!!!!<\/p>\n

The Bad<\/strong> – burrito bros<\/a>
\nI’m being unfair calling this bad, but it was certainly bland and underwhelming.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d been looking forward to this one. A lot. You can see Dr Chimpington\u2019s review here <\/a>for the details but this deal . The deal this time was Any Regular Mexican Burrito, Including Chicken, Pork and Vegetarian Options for \u00a32.60 at Burrito Bros (\u00a36 Value) so I can\u2019t be too angry about it but it was definitely a disappointing experience. Not least because, never one for doing things by halves, I had purchased four vouchers so I still have two more to use up. Anybody want to join me for a free but not terribly exciting burrito?<\/p>\n

T<\/strong>he Ugly<\/strong> –Le Bouchon Breton<\/a>
\nThis was a burrito-free experience but I am bunging it in here because it was so spectacularly grim that I thought it merited a mention. On days off, yes even Burritologists are entitled to the occasional day off, we have been known to partake of foodstuffs other than burritos. We are both especially keen on a Sunday Roast so when I saw the offer of “A Traditional Sunday Roast with all the Traditional Trimmings\u201d for \u00a37.20 at Le Bouchon Breton apparently worth \u00a318 I jumped at the chance and got us a voucher each. A Sunday roast for \u00a315 sounded like a good deal. It wasn\u2019t. Not only was the food grim (tinned vegetables and frozen roast potatoes to name but two of the negatives) , the service slack (we got our overpriced lemonades after we\u2019d finished our meal) but they whacked on the service charge as though the meal had cost \u00a318 so we ended up paying another \u00a315 for bad service and a lemonade. The place was pretty soulless and the food was, frankly crap. I would never go there ever again \u2013 Spitalfields has a host of much more interesting places to eat. Even though they are mostly chains \u2013 Leon, Wagamama, S&M, (and newcomer Poncho No.8) \u2013 they\u2019re still head and shoulders above this place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we’d tried Mas Burritos courtesy of vouchers and linked to a few sites that offer \u2018special\u2019 deals, including occasional burrito related ones. However I don\u2019t want to give the impression that I\u2019m … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lbri.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}