Bodega Leicester

Bodega (http://www.bodegacantina.co.uk/) is a South American inspired chain. Leicester’s one is in St Martins Square( http://stmartinssquare.co.uk/

Bodega released their new menu and I joined a few bloggers last night to sample it out. Bodega wants to cater for the vegan market and serve better fresh food. They have also changed their menu and moved away from plastic straws.

Food

To start the night we sampled some tortilla chips. We had a combination of the Guacomole, Salsa Fresca and Refried beans. My favourite was the salsa. Bodega do the best tortilla chips. For less than £3 this is a good value dish to start with.

We then moved onto Tacos. Their new tacos are made with blue corn; not sure they taste any different to their original ones. We tried a chicken and vegetarian filling, both made with mole, a mexican sauce which is supposed to have a combination of great ingredients:

• Mole mushrooms, refried beans, cheddar, spicy onions, queso fresco : This was tasty and had a nice flavour to it. It could have done with a bit more spice
• Mole chicken, iceberg lettuce, sesame seeds & coriander: This has shredded chicken and the filling lacked flavour. It definitely needs more seasoning and spice.

To finish off we tried the following:

• Quinoa Chifa: The quinoa was mixed with vegetables and a spiced teriyaki sauce. The dish was slightly sweet however was enjoyable. I would not order it on its own and would have it as a sharing dish
• Xim Xim: This is a brazilian classic which had chicken and prawns in a creamy peanut butter & coconut milk sauce with some dirty rice. The dish did have a smoky taste to it that was from the rice. It was nice however hoping the sauce would be more rich and tastier.
• Sticky Agave Sweet Potato: This side dish is tasty and comes with black olives, queso fresco cheese and agave syrup. Weird combination, but i think i could get used to it.

Drinks:

• Pornstar Daiquiri: A twist on the original martini. I actually prefer this one. It is Bacardi shaken with lime, pineapple juice and passion fruit & topped with a shot of prosecco in the passion fruit. Definitely one to try
• Bombay Sapphire Gin served with juniper berries, lemon and Fentimans herbal tonic; (**big sip**)
• Caiprinha: We were lucky to have a little cocktail class on how to make a caiprinha and were let loose to make our own. The base is Sagatiba (Cachaca made from fresh sugarcane). I made a sweet one with passion fruit and it was delicious. Also unlike the ones you sometimes get with a lot of crushed ice, this one just had ice.

Overall their food was average but their drinks were amazing. I would go back for nibbles and drinks for sure.