Burrito boom: London's obsession with Mexican wraps

This ritual is being repeated all over London, even as you read, because the burrito has become the capital's fast food of choice. In less than five years the Mexican wrap has gone from selling a few dozen to shifting tens of thousands each week. With reports of lengthy lunchtime queues in the City and furious online debate about where to find the best, London is in the grip of a burrito boom.

"The burrito is the new sandwich," declares Mark Selby, co-founder of Mexican street food restaurant Wahaca which started in 2007 and has since developed into five fashionable sites and an even trendier food truck situated near Liverpool Street. "Principally people like the idea that it's a meal contained in one and is something much more wholesome and hearty than your average sandwich. It also seems very good value for what you get in it, will fill you up, and the Mexican flavours, such as unusual salsas and meats, are done slightly differently from what the British palate has been used to over the last few years."

London might have latched on to the burrito feeding frenzy but, as with the burger, it spread across the US first. Over there you can now find more differentiations than any newly acclimatised Burrito Brit could fathom: there are San Diego versions (with rice), California styles (with chips inside), naked burritos (no wrap), wet ones (chilli-slathered) or even burger-burrito combinations.

But on these shores, it all began in 2005 when a pair known together as Daddy Donkey began selling out of "kick-ass" Mexican-style burritos from a market stall in the City of London. Since then, what was once a 100-burritos-a-week operation from one outlet has expanded into a whole city gorging on an estimated 50,000 every week.

While most of the activity centres on a core of eight companies selling an average of 1,200 per outlet per week for about £7, there are dozens more trying to top their sales.

London's burrito bomb has also exploded online. A number of specialised London blogs (including a 52 burrito dates challenge), debates, tastings and quests for the best in the city have been started in its honour. Twitter and Facebook are awash with followers for London's top 10 burrito vendors, while a London Burrito Research Institute has launched to establish a burrito benchmark.

On Twitter, the search for #bestburritoinlondon sparked an instant debate. @hungryhippo tweeted: "It's got to be @wahaca hasn't it?!" @crosraguel retorted: "Poncho No 8 for ingredients, depth of flavour, avoiding the 'stodge' trap, and the owners' hilarious blog." @Daisyparker said she liked "@Chilango_uk in Angel - minimal post-burrito slump and good guac, [guacamole]." @FuschiaPR agreed that it had to be Chilango: "Fast food at its best, and at a good price ..."

After initiating a Facebook poll to gauge my friends' favourites, answers streamed in within the hour. "Daddy Donkey on Leather Lane for burritos - amazing!" suggested Jess. "I massively second Daddy Donkey," offered Sarah, to which Jimbo replied: "But obviously the best burrito place is Poncho No 8". "Chilango on Upper St or the Luardos burrito van in Whitecross Street Market. There, the woman smiles and seduces you and then all you want to do is buy one," said Tim and Matt, just before Alex offered up his own ranking: "Chilangos > Benito's Hat > Tortilla".

Tommy piped up with Poncho No 8 and Dan plumped for Mas Burritos on St Martin's Lane.

It is hard to reconcile these levels of near-hysteria with what is essentially a meat and bean wrap. How did the humble burrito inspire such devotion amongst Londoners?

To find out what all the fuss is about, I am sweating away on the burrito production line at lunchtime in Chipotle Mexican Grill. The multimillion-dollar Chipotle (pronounced Chee-pott-lay) chain is the largest burrito purveyor in America. It launched its second restaurant in London last month to encouraging reviews and instant queues.

With 1,200-plus people visiting its two sites every day for burritos (they also sell tacos), the way things are going it looks like Chipotle could dominate London, too. However, American manager Jacob Sumner is coy about its progress. "I think Londoners are excited. It's something new. I think they enjoy the new flavours. We're certainly very happy and we do plan to grow in London," he smiles.

That morning, I joined his team at 9am, donned a cap and black T-shirt emblazoned with "Keep It Real" ("Locals Only" was another option as Chipotle takes pride in what it calls "food with integrity", using only local producers and supporting family farmers). Together, over a soundtrack of what Sumner describes as "meat mincing music", we diced onions, sliced tortilla wraps, cut tomatillos, warmed pinto beans and skimmed-off hot meat fat into silver containers while he explained how he manages the crowds.

"It's all about trying to build your prep levels, having the most amount of staff in your peak lunch and then getting down to minimum levels for prepping and back up for dinner. So as a customer you're not waiting on the front line. We're really aiming to deliver a treasure to each customer because we have enough staff." In spite of all this activity, the mood is calm.

By midday, the team and I have mashed 96 avocados for a single batch of guacamole, unloaded more than 10 crates of meat - seared and braised the previous night - from the chiller and poured 20 crates of rice into serving basins.

"Everybody knows what they're responsible for ... Sometimes you go into a kitchen and everyone's screaming. Here we're running a real restaurant. People get their jobs done," insists Sumner.

The burrito experience is key to Chipotle's popularity. In most cases this begins with a well-designed, über- friendly website where "burrito friends" can learn about "the journey", the "inspiration" and how you can communicate or talk to - not contact - the owners.

In fact, at the recent Webby awards, Chipotle's website won the People's Voice prize in the restaurant category. It's all service with a smile, slick branding and encouraging customers to share their experiences. And it works.

Standing behind the counter awaiting the hungry mob, I can almost smell excitement. Two mums with children tell me they're American: "So we've been to Chipotle for years ... The meat is fresh, the sauces are good. It feels like good quality. It's healthy. There are a lot of calories - the tortilla is not worth all those - but for a burrito it's healthy. At least it's, like, fresh."

Then I approach a pair of bankers: "It's just damn good," one insists. "Have you had one? You feel pretty good after you've taken a bite of one."

Finally, two marketing trendies say they have been looking for decent Mexican food for ages: "And then this place arrived. I think it's good quality and it tastes really good. It's not the cheapest lunch - but it's better than getting a sandwich from Pret."