ROUGH-ONLINE Night Out At Cielo Blanco - Exmouth Market

Nestled within the understated food mecca of Exmouth Market is the new eatery, Cielo Blanco. The Mexican influenced street food chain opens its second and first London branch built with an ethos of offering a unique dining experience of ‘social eating’, dishing out an authentic Mexican taste to the big smoke.

The decor is vibrant with an airy, blue, red and tawny colour palette that runs throughout the restaurant. Religious imagery and dia de los muertos skulls, a ubiquitous sighting during 2015’s Halloween, add cultural elements to the neutral settings, an ode to Mexican artistry.

The attentive staff talked us through the menu - a smorgasbord of Mexican foods from sharing boards, feast menus to super food salads! Some of the dishes, I was au fait with, such as the tacos, burritos, quesadillas etc. but the names and descriptions of tostadas, crispy fried rolled corn tortillas and flautas (pronounced fla-otas) jumped out the menu and made it impossible to ignore! We decided to stay true to the street food experience by ordering six small dishes, along with crisp sweet potato chips with the aoili sauce.

Presentation wasn’t too fussy, with brown wooden slates and small metallic and ceramic plates to reflect the Mexican dining arrangement. We kicked off the foodie marathon by getting our munch on with the starters which included home made tortilla chips with fresh guacamole and queso fundido - tacos with melted cheese topped with crispy chorizo. The guacamole was rather lackluster however the creaminess and indulgence of the queso fundido was just right. The six dishes (from £4.45 per dish or £13.50 per person for six) were all served in bite size portions and included the moreish smoky chicken and ground beef quesadillas, spicy slow cooked goat meat pibil flauta glazed in onions and sour cream and the chiles rellenos or ground beef with cheese on chili peppers which had a kick of hot pepper once eaten... not for the mild hearted! The spicy roots toastadas with sweet potato, feta cheese and sunflower seeds was packed with flavour, injecting an earthy dose to the selection - a great veggie option. The beer battered fish in soft shell tacos was the overall winner - melt in your mouth tasty morsels of crispy fish! We topped the meal off selecting from Cielo Blanco’s wide selection of cocktails (or Cervezas)

We opted for thePink grapefruit & Pineapple margaritawhich had a slightly overpowering taste and the pleasantly sickly sweet Strawberry Kiwi margarita. The non-alcoholic MMMMMbongo was a refreshing fusion of pineapple, papaya, mango, lemon and passion fruit, however we had ours topped up with complimentary shots of tequila - a thumbs up for the drinks! Dessert was of course the churros - fried and doughy with the rich chocolate sauce though not overwhelmingly sweet. The most satisfying finish to our foodie marathon.

Must Try:

 The beer battered fish taco, spicy roots tostados, queso fundido, MMMMMbongo drink and the churros.

Avoid: 

Chiles rellenos - the weakest link out of dishes.

Verdict:

 Overall the food was good quality and one to re-visit in order to get through all those dishes....and drinks! For no-frills, enjoyable food against a relaxed but lively atmosphere - Cielo Blanco is the joint to visit for street cred Mexican dining.

Price: 

From approx. £40 per person for starters, ‘street food’ dishes or sharing boards, drinks and dessert.