Jan Rasmussen loves burritos. And I mean really loves burritos. In fact he is so enamoured with the spicy street snack that he left a successful career in IT in order to spread the love across the UK. And now Bath is reaping the rewards of his dedication in the shape of Mission Burrito.
The Kingsmead Square store is the fifth branch of Mission Burrito that Jan and his partner Sharon have opened, so it would seem that the plan to share the passion has been successful.
Jan’s love affair with the burrito began in San Francisco.
He said: “There was this place down in the Mission district of San Francisco which always had massive queues and where the staff only spoke Spanish.
“For three years we were customers but when we came back to the UK we just couldn’t get burritos.
“I have no catering background, but I thought ‘It can’t be that difficult’ and decided it was worth a shot.
“So we went back to the States and started ordering burritos with a completely different agenda.”
So in 2008 the Mission Burrito empire began and Jan and Sharon opened their first store in Oxford, with a Mexican chef, who still works with the couple today, to develop the recipes to ensure they are as tasty as possible.
The burrito began life as a Mexican peasant lunch, a tortilla packed with meat, beans and rice, but when the idea reached California in the 1970s it was reinvented into something bigger, and extra ingredients such as sour cream were added. And it is this Tex-Mex-style version that Mission Burrito dishes up. And it seems that so far Bath is loving it.
Mission Burrito opened its doors with a fanfare, or rather the sound of a Mariachi band in August, by giving out free burritos to anyone who was willing to queue up for long enough and since then it has been going from strength to strength.
“It has been going really well since opening,” said Jan.
“The biggest issue in just to get people in for the first time and persuade them that it is not a wrap – it is a proper meal.”
And indeed it is a proper meal. Each burrito weighs around 1lb and is packed with meat, beans and rice.
Mission Burrito prides itself on the freshness of the ingredients. Everything (apart from the tortillas which are bought in) are made on the premises every day. This means that there’s no additives in the guacamole and no extra salt in the salsa. There is no frying and no freezing. It’s that elusive product – fast food which is actually good for you. And it’s authentic too. The chillies are specially imported from Mexico.
The menu is kept deliberately small, to ensure that the high standard of ingredients can be maintained. But the nature of the burrito is such that even with a small number of ingredients the combinations can be varied to give a large number of options.
As well as the standard chicken, pork, steak and vegetable fillings, specials regularly appear on the menu too so even the most dedicated burrito-muncher can mix it up from time to time.
Rolling the perfect burrito is an art in itself.
“It’s all in the wrist,” said Jan. “If you don’t flip at the right time then it will all go wrong.
“You have to be confident or it will fall apart. We say that once you have rolled 100 burritos then you will be able to roll them in your sleep.”
While as a nation we have embraced many foreign cuisines, as a nation our favourite dish is Chicken Tikka Massala after all, somehow Mexican food seems to have been left by the wayside.
But Jan believes this is slowly changing.
He said: “When we started there was only one place in London where you could get a burrito but by the time we opened there were about six.
“Now there are something like four major chains in London and it seems like people are becoming more interested.
“But it is nice to think that we were there at the beginning.”
And it is also nice to think that Bath is getting in on the action too.
For more information on Mission Burrito visit www.missionburrito.co.uk.
Our thanks to Emma Dance for her review.