Reasons To Be Cheerful Part II

(If you're wondering what this is all about, click here.)

#9 - Mission

Mexican food: uncomplicated, relatively cheap, fresh, colourful, bursting with flavour and heat, and unspeakably delicious. So why isn't it everywhere (not just London)? A mystery - but at least one small local chain is trying to spread the word.

Mission Burritos - who have two branches in Oxford city centre and further outlets in Bath, Bristol and Reading - take inspiration from the famous Mission District of San Francisco. As the name suggests, their focus is firmly on that street food classic the burrito. My preference is usually for the carnitas (marinated and pulled pork) but the steak is almost equally delicious. That main filling in place, the flour tortilla is then liberally loaded up with peppers and onions, rice, refried beans, salad, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and your choice of salsa (from mild through lip-tingling to sauce of Satan). The result: a burrito the size of a small barrel for about £6.

OK, so it's a fast food joint (even if the pulled pork has been slow-cooked for hours) so the seating arrangements are basic - a great long table you inevitably share with others or stools perched in the window where you feel like a shop dummy advertising the product to hungry passers-by. But if I'm in town, in a hurry and en route for a gig (a common occurrence, needless to say), then it's to the Mission that I head for quick, satisfying sustenance first.