Tortilla chips and salsa, chili con carne, and fajitas are now typical European bar food. Rare is the English pub that doesn’t serve “nachos.” The influence of Tex-Mex on world cuisine fascinates us here at Texas Eats. So when our correspondent, Julia Walsh, moved to Manchester, England in January 2017, we asked her to chronicle Tex-Mex influences on the local English fare. Here is her latest report:
Nachos are probably the most common Tex-Mex dish in England–they are front and center on the pub grub Hall of Fame. But my first taste of English nachos wasn’t very inspiring. On the menu they were described as being “stacked high and covered in jalapeño cheese sauce, jalapeño peppers, melted mozzarella, sour cream” and then topped with my choice of either salsa and guacamole, or chorizo and cranberry salsa (huh?). I chose the more traditional of the two, wanting to stick to a more authentic Texas taste for my first try.
When the nachos hit the table, I was baffled. Nachos in a bowl?! The slightly scorched chips were standing upright in a funnel-shaped bowl with all of the toppings piled on top. By the time I was finished taking pictures, they were half way to soggy. The chips I was able to pick up and eat tasted good, though it was a challenge to keep any of the toppings on them as the slightly sodden tortilla chips collapsed under the weight of all those toppings. Other than that, they weren’t bad, and the combination of toppings and chip mush at the bottom of the bowl was actually pretty tasty.