Last year I stopped over at Pujol in Mexico City. It was rated as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world, apprently the hype was the chef took local dishes and produce and created something new, and uplifted the traditional cuisines on a global level… let’s see… I forgot to take a picture of the restaurant but their service was fantastic i remember. They paid attention to every detail, bringing me a thingy to hang up my coats and handbag. Our tasting menu started with some weird drink. I read later it was a corn tea but still it felt like a savoury water but no real taste to determine what direction it was taking.
Our first course was served in this gigantic bowls, i’m now sure if it was made from coconut shells or not but it was huge. I loved this course, it was corn in a smokey creamy sauce. It was roasted with the husk on and i could have eaten the whole meal with only that corn. The corn is a 10 10 10 10 10!!!
Now this is interesting:
I’ve been wondering how they managed to slice 2 big discs of avocado, what do they do with the rest of the avocado? How many nie big discs can you slice of an avocado? Weird it’s just avocado with sesame seeds, and a chilli on top. I like guacamole, so this is like eating soft and crunchy and back to nature thing..
If you ate this in one bite, you get the goats cheese, tomato salsa and the roasted chilli bursting all flavours in your mouth simultaneously. The bread was light airy which was a nice contrast with the heavy flavours it was a 9 in my book…
My favorite dish!
The green chilli made the raw beef yummier reminds me of a thai seafood sauce (leaf was a bit weird tasting), however i wish there was more actually. The thin, crispy corn tortilla was a perfect match however i wished there was more of the beef to go around…. YUM YUM YUM
Now to the next genius dish of the night which was every bit yummy as it was pretty:
I thought this was great, combining ceviche and fish tacos together and there you have it. The refried beans (forgive my ignorance if i explained it wrongly) gave it a creamy contrast with the sharp flavours. I give it a 9, the only thing i didn’t like was the leaf underneath which was a bit over powering but made it look cool. The fresh ceviche with the creamy beans was broughtt ogether with the kick of the chillies. So YUM YUM YUM!
I do not eat frog, so my partner ate it but i tasted every other component tho..
Eeeewwww frog…. I’m still a bit squemish… They said it was a pumpkin seed and cauliflower sauce (i think it’s pumpkin seed since it was green), however no high notes here, tasted flat even though it was really beautifully presented.
Now this next dish i think in my mind was some interpretation of a national dish with veggies and some weird cheese but not liking at all. Again a beautiful dish, but not our kinda yummy, or our palate just wasnt ready for this type of taste.
This was an eggplant roasted with a beefy meaty sauce, the white stuffy was a piped pureed onion sauce with pineapple hidden somewhere. I felt that stinging sensation on my tongue which i didn’t like, not really sure what that crispy sheet was on top but it made the dish interesting. Pretty dish but…. i dont eat pineapple because my tongue seems to be sensitive, but without the pineapple, i could have done a bowl of the sauce with a loaf of bread.
This next dish really shined i loved it…
This roast pork belly was melt in the mouth with a crispy crackling, the pickled cauliflower was a nice contrast, the 3 sauces that dotted the plate was almonds, tamarind and a black pepper. I thought the pork belly was lovely on its own with the cauliflower. 9 Points out of 10!
Our first dessert!
I tasted banana but couldn’t place the shavings that instantly melted upon contact with my tongue. It felt like some sci fi dessert. Interesting!
The next dessert was a parsnip ice cream with tomatillo (a cousin to the gooseberry but not a green tomato), lettuce leaves and amaranth seeds covering the ice cream. Flavours was cold, salty i think more suited as a salad dish or as a precursor to the meal.
The next beautiful dessert may make some people’s skin crawl – Lemon Pie interpretation with a maggot tequila ice cream. I didn’t dare tell my companion what it was… hahahaha i convieniently left out the word maggot….
The last dessert was my favorite maybe because it was more traditional….. Chocolate pot with liqueur and orange creme. Dark, citrus flavours worked out really nice.
I thought that Pujol really tried to elevate the local cuisine and the interesting combinations of flavours. I felt the service was attentive and there was a beautiful thought to every detail. Hats off to the chef! Surprisingly i would come again if i’m ever back to Mexico which i actually want to again!
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