DF Mexico, Shoreditch

My friend Lottie and I met after work this evening to check out the latest offering from the people behind Wahaca, DF Mexico. Before you ask..DF stands for Distrito Federal which is apparently what the locals call Mexico City. Regardless of whether you're down with the lingo, I'd definitely recommend checking this place out.

It's a short walk from Liverpool Street station and from the outside it's so far, so Shoreditch. 

Inside, the decor has quite a similar vibe to Wahaca- you can tell theres a link between the two places. There is one major difference though- DF is self service, so you are shown to your table, pick what you fancy off the menu and order it yourself on a touch screen till...

They were actually surprising easy to use and really sped up the whole process- which was good cos we were STARVING! Perhaps also due to the DIY element we didn't have to queue either (yay!) which is handy because this is another one of those "we don't take bookings" places. 

The menu did have some overlap with Wahaca- hard to avoid both being Mexican fare- but with a noticeably more American twist. It has more of a "fast food" rather than "street food" theme and the menu was extensive with a lot of options that sounded delicious. 

The drinks were also self service and "bottomless"- something which is the norm in the US but still a (very welcome) novelty here. There were three non alcoholic juice options and Lot and I developed a rather strong affinity for the lime and chia option- this stuff was amazing!

Onto the food... after much deliberation between the beef and the pork and some well meaning input from a vegetarian Lottie, I went for what was essentially a pulled pork burger. It was served in a brioche bun with smashed avocado and fiery pickles. I opted for a "combo"- when you pay a bit extra and add your choice of side, choosing the chilli fries served with chipotle mayo- Lottie also did this and went for the veggie tacos for her main.

The food was really, really good. The pork was really tender and the fries full of flavour and perfectly complimented by the mayo. Lot gave hers a big thumbs up too. A minor gripe was the avocado was pretty non existent in my burger- not great for an avo fiend such as myself (seriously, I have it in pretty much every meal) but there were a lot of flavours going on regardless.

We were served what was probably the perfect amount of food, and with the fries and drink the total came to around 10 pounds per meal. Pretty excellent value in my book. We agreed that the concept was comparable to a much cooler, Mexican Nando's- although comparing doesn't feel quite right considering Nando's is slightly overrated in my opinion.

 Although feeling just the right amount of full, we obviously had to push the boat out and after seeing the girl on the next table with an ice cream in hand it would have been rude not to... 

We both went for vanilla with raspberry sauce and popping candy. Both delicious and unnecessary.

With now very full bellies, we made our way to the tube after deciding that DF Mexico might just be our new favourite place...