The west London cafe giving diners a halal taste of Colombia
Wild Thing Colombian Coffee is bringing different cultures together, one empanada at a time
It’s hard to miss the bold frontage of Wild Thing Colombian Coffee in west London. It sits towards the end of a long shopping street in West Ealing, opposite a branch of Chaiiwala. Inside, the team behind the cafe, bar and restaurant have clearly worked hard to create a little piece of Colombia thousands of miles from home, with hanging plants, colourful paintings, coffee sacks and cumbia music playing in the background.
It’s also a very London business, as can be seen in the strong halal offering on the menu — particularly its signature empanadas.
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Empanadas are baked or fried pastry turnovers, usually filled with cheese or meat. Their origins go back to 7th-century Spain and you can find variations across southern Europe and north Africa. Latin America is, however, the region with which they are now most closely associated. The name empanada itself comes from the Spanish word empanar, meaning to coat with bread. The Colombian interpretation typically uses a cornmeal dough that when deep fried gives a deliciously crisp exterior.
Wild Thing Columbian Coffee offers arepa sandwiches, larger breakfast and dinner plates and, of course, empanadas, with fillings including cheese, chicken, beef and kidney beans. On the menu there’s a clear mark next to items that are halal, including chicken and beef arepas and empanadas. I ordered the beef empanadas (£10.50 for three). Served with aji picante — an assertive salsa of tomato, onion, chilli, coriander and lime — they were deeply savoury and moreish.
“London is a multicultural community, we didn’t want the Muslim community to miss our product,” says Mauricio Silva, director of Wild Thing Colombian Coffee. But there was also a cultural connection too.
“We originally cooked all our food based on Colombian traditions. One of our traditions is that we do the sacrifice of the cow in a similar way to how you do in the halal tradition,” he explains. These time-honoured practices include treating the animal with respect and thanking Mother Earth for what she has given.
Silva is proud that Wild Thing Columbian Coffee is the first establishment in London to sell traditional empanadas that halal diners can enjoy. For him, is it an important part of being a welcoming place to people from all communities.
The Muslim population of Colombia itself is tiny, less than 0.1% of the country’s 54 million people, but Islam has had a presence across Latin America for centuries. It began with the presence of enslaved people from the African continent and their descendants. Then came a newer Lebanese diaspora — of which the Colombian singer Shakira is a member — that dates back to the late 19th century.
As you might expect, Wild Thing Columbian Coffee also prides itself on serving a mean cup of what is now enshrined in law as Colombia’s national drink. Silva explains how he works with coffee producers in Colombia to support their development as environmentally sustainable businesses and bring their products to an international audience.
“We want everyone from every different culture to know that the coffee has gone a long way before it comes to the first sip. The hands involved from the moment of the plantation to the growth to the benefit of the coffee,” he explains.
My pick of the menu is the Wild Campesino coffee (£3.40), which takes its inspiration from how coffee is drunk on the farms where it is grown: very strong, flavoured with cinnamon and sweetened with sugarcane.
It is Silva’s hope that Wild Thing can play a role in bringing together different people and communities to learn and to share. “We are trying to be a little more multicultural and invite everybody,” he says.
