Tonight we visited Pujol, regarded one of the best (if not the best) restaurants in Mexico and even in the world. The reservations are made at least one moth in advance online (at least I made mine online). You must provide your credit card with your reservation and in case of a no-show, you are automatically charged the cost of your would-be meal. Moreover, you must confirm your reservation 24 hours prior to your dinner date, or else it will be automatically cancelled (and you will be charged). You do not get to choose what to eat, the restaurant offers a six-course dégustation menu only. As my boyfriend put it, you go there to eat when they want you to, what they want you to eat and you pay whatever they charge you for it. Needless to say, the place was full.
Pujol, located in the fancy V session of Mexico City's hip Polanco neighborhood has repeatedly made the list of the world's best restaurants and is commonly regraded the best in Mexico. For example, just last year it was number 20 on the list of the world's best restaurants -
The World's 50 Best Restaurants. It's also been reccomended to me by locally-living friends. Everybody seemed to love it, underlining that each bite is worth the (high, especially for Mexico City) price you pay for it. And so we went.
I was excited! Having originally made the reservation back in October, later postponing it a couple of times for logistical reasons (each time having to delay it by another month), I was looking forward to tonight's dinner very much. "Think about it as an experience, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, rather than just a visit in a fancy restaurant", I found myself telling my somewhat scheptical boyfriend. We arrived a bit early (only 15 minute tolerance - the e-mail said!) and were seated in the pretty garden. The first impression was good. And then came the food.
In short, I do not reccomend this restaurant and I strongly advise you to spend your money elsewhere. Here's why.
1. The wine guy. As you would expect in any high class restaurant, your meal will be catered to by a large network of waiters, including a special person offering beverages. I am not calling him a sommelier, because he does not advise on wine. We wanted to order some wine to go with his degustation menu, but the wine guy completely failed to understand what was being requested. And no, it was not a linguistic issue. He's just bad at his job.
2. Food was fresh but very average. The quality of the ingredients used in the dishes was good, no doubt. Unfortunately, in a restaurant of the level Pujol aspires to, this is not enough. Actually, the only plates we liked were the sea bass seviche appetizer, the new corn in a basket ('street snack') & the sorbet with chile served as a pre-desert. I also found the blue corn tortillas, served with mole, interesting. They were made of blue corn and adorned with an hoja santa leaf (that leaf is a new discovery for me & I consider it the only part of the meal worthwhile). Overall the dishes were average, at best, rather bland and honestly boring.
3. Price vs quality. For this price, the meal was extremely disappointing. We were unimpressed and bored, and were actually happy when the experience came to an end. Looking around the room, other people looked likewise unimpressed. If i were served this meal in any average mid-range restaurant, I would have probably said it was ok paid 25% of the price (the cost of a meal in Pujol, without drinks, is about 2000mxn per person; a meal for two in a normal mid-range restaurant in Mexico City, with wine is around 1000mxn). However, for this price, it is not acceptable.
The ambiance & presentation were nice & we really liked our waiter, but only one of the many people serving us. Don't go. Better fly to Oaxaca for some real authentic Mexican food. This is not a fine dining restaurant, its an average overpriced restaurant which does not deserve its 1-month waiting list and the reputation. Here are some pictures I took of our dinner. Sorry for the quality, but Pujol is obviously not an Instagram-friendly place & the lighting was very bad for pictures (apparently, they don't need more publicity, as they are completely packed even on a Tuesday). The mood was nice though.
 |
Octopus with calamata olives and olive oil |
 |
Finally a decent dish! Seabass seviche. |
 |
Lobster with beans & choriso inside a pastry. |
 |
The famous and highly reccomended cauliflower with chicken fat. Really average at best |
 |
Lamb with mint "mole" |
 |
Duck |
 |
The mole was accompanied with blue corn tortillas with hoja santa leaves stuck to them. This was a doscovery for me! I loved the smell and taste of these leaves! I'd say, it was the best part of my meal |
 |
2 kinds of mole: aged "madre" & fresh mole of the day |
 |
The street food is much better in the street! |
 |
The baby corn was one of our favorites |
 |
One of the main attractions is supposed to be the mole - the "madre" ("mother"), over 1500 days old and the fresh mole made the same day in the morning |
 |
First impression was good! I loved the menu waiting for us to break the seal |
 |
Pre-desert: some kind of sorbet with chile & nopal (cactus) |
Comments
Post a Comment