A few months delayed writing this one up, so shall have to be short.
Quinta Pupusa is London’s one and only restaurant specialising in the cuisine of El Salvador, although it actually seems to have been set up by a Brit who spent some time in the country. On their website they have a page titled ‘What the f**ck is a pupusa?’, which struck me as a rather silly thing to put on your website (and a daft neon sign in the window saying ‘eat my pupusa’). That said, the web page was quite useful, as I didn’t know what a pupusa was.
As it turns out, a pupusa is a corn tortilla stuffed with various Latin American staples – think black beans, pulled pork, cheese, jalapenos and all that kind of stuff. When they say ‘tortilla’, it’s not your Old El Paso style wraps. More a stodgy, flat cake, slightly sweet, slightly savoury, about the size of your palm.
We went there with my partner and my parents, so we got a round of various pupusas in, plus some tasty tacos with huitlacoche – which Google informs me is a fungus that grows on corn. We also ordered some perfectly good nachos, and a Mayan salad, which came with various fermented bits and bobs. Maybe a bit too much of the tangy stuff going on for me, but I’m sure our gut flora benefited.
They didn’t have much in the way of desserts, and half of what they did have wasn’t available. We shared a parmesan cake, which was savoury and dry, but rather nice – could’ve done with some ice cream though. Alf got a chocobanana which did exactly what it said on the tin.
Overall, a nice enough introduction to El Salvador’s cuisine. The sole waiter, while very nice, seemed to know little more than us about El Salvador’s food.
Score: 6/10
Price: Forgotten
Address: 18 Bute St, South Kensington, London SW7 3EX
The A to Z of World Food in London 