Restaurant review: Benito’s Hat, N1

As more good quality diners sprawl their way across the new and rather swanky mezzanine level at King’s Cross, the place becomes less a functional travel terminus and more and more a destination in itself.

Sandwiched between an Italian place and another eaterie, with it’s own collection of tables, lies Benito’s Hat, the fourth branch of the popular Mexican outlet.

The concept is familiar – choose your filling, pick your salad and sauces and get handed an enormous burrito.

Where Benito’s Hat scores highly is the quality of the ingredients; the chunks of steak are well-marinated and succulent, the grilled chicken is deliciously seasoned and the pork is braised with just a hint of cinnamon.

The spicy and medium salsas are packed with flavour and, though the guacamole was a little bland, with so much else going it didn’t matter.

Tacos are also available and a nice quirk of the King’s Cross branch is the burrita – a scaled down version of the main event, presumably aimed at the weight conscious.

Not me, though: I tore through my delicious burrito with gay abandon and, after washing it down with a Pacifico, one of the finest lagers on the planet, I wished I had a long train journey to sleep it all off.

The Margaritas are also very good – intriguingly made with lemon or passionfruit rather than the traditional lime – though at almost �7 for quite a small glass they need to be.

Benito’s Hat is good enough to be worth a trip to the station even if you are not travelling, and if you are, it’s tasty enough to pop down early.