9

Quintonil

Mexico City

• The Best Restaurant in Mexico 2024

Leading the charge of new-wave Mexican gastronomy

On the Pass

Jorge Vallejo

Avant-garde Mexican: Quintonil is the setting for chef Jorge Vallejo’s boundary-pushing Mexican cuisine and his wife Alejandra Flores’ exceptional hospitality. Focused on fresh, local ingredients and traditional Mexican flavours and techniques weaved into modern preparations, it is fast becoming a classic.

Herbaceous medleys: Named after a green herb that features in some of the dishes and drinks, Quintonil brings a unique brand of creativity to the plate. The tasting menu might contain seasonal dishes such as tamales of duck pibil with elote cream, braised oxtail in traditional black recado sauce, crème fraîche with melipona honey or prickly pear sorbet. Many of the ingredients travel just 30 metres from urban garden to plate.

Take a seat: Grab a pew at the counter seating area that serves a shorter menu including insect-based tacos with grasshoppers and chicatana ants, and a view into the open kitchen. The main dining space is split into two sections, a cosy entrance area and a light and bright room filled with Mexican art.

Winning team: A former Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award winner, Vallejo studied management and culinary arts in Mexico before working on cruise ships and then in top restaurants including Noma and Pujol. He opened Quintonil in 2012 with Flores, who has a masters in hospitality management from Switzerland’s prestigious Les Roches School and previously worked as operations and commercial director for the Enrique Olvera Group. The charismatic duo brings a winning combination of warmth, energy and exceptional food that has diners returning again and again.

Contact