Benazuza review – Cancun hotel fine dining falls flat on its face
★★☆☆☆ / Mexican / Modern European / Modernist

Benazuza review – Cancun hotel fine dining falls flat on its face

This review of a Cancun restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage El Bulli, Ferran Adria’s famed modernist restaurant, must have employed half a continent’s worth of people given the number of chefs claiming some connection to that now closed Catalan institution. Benazuza is located half a world away in the basement … Continue reading

La Chaya Maya review – Merida breakfast with a bit of cheesiness
★★★☆☆ / Breakfast / Mexican

La Chaya Maya review – Merida breakfast with a bit of cheesiness

This review of a Yucatan restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Hotel breakfasts can be a repetitive, dispiriting experience. Over the course of a few weeks in Mexico, I stayed at mostly mid-range hotels. Most of them seemed to enjoy inflicting omelettes or fried eggs with toast on their guests for … Continue reading

Rosas and Xocolate review – just as sweet by any other name
★★★★☆ / Eclectic / Mexican

Rosas and Xocolate review – just as sweet by any other name

This review of a Yucatan restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Rosas & Xocolate is an odd name for a restaurant and an even odder name for a hotel. Even if it didn’t have a distinctive name, the pink yet graceful mansion-esque premises is hard to miss. The dining room at … Continue reading

Kuuk review – lovely mansion, shame about the food
★★☆☆☆ / Mexican / Modern European / Modernist

Kuuk review – lovely mansion, shame about the food

This review of a Yucatan restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Kuuk almost certainly has two meanings. Firstly as a play on the word ‘cook’, which suggests a small, quirky and playful restaurant. The fully apostrophised name, ‘K’u’uk’, is almost certainly an allusion to the Mayan name for the prehispanic deity … Continue reading

Tierra y Cielo review – delightfully different Mexican fine dining
★★★★☆ / Mexican

Tierra y Cielo review – delightfully different Mexican fine dining

This review of a Chiapas, Mexico, restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Drinking while eating out can be a thoroughly disheartening experience if you don’t imbibe alcohol. Dare to wander away from the usual carbonated drinks and you’ll encounter, like I have, watered down Virgin Marys, insipid cordials and thinly-disguised … Continue reading

Casa Oaxaca review – grasshoppers and stone soup on a rooftop in the south of Mexico
★★★☆☆ / Mexican

Casa Oaxaca review – grasshoppers and stone soup on a rooftop in the south of Mexico

This review of an Oaxaca restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Oaxaca may be best known to Londoners, if it’s known at all, as the inspiration behind the name of London mini-chain Wahaca. But this city in southwestern Mexico has a rich culinary tradition that’s barely touched upon in Wahaca’s menu. … Continue reading

Nudo Negro review – culture clash dining in Mexico City
★★☆☆☆ / Eclectic

Nudo Negro review – culture clash dining in Mexico City

This review of a Mexico City restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Wandering around Mexico City’s Roma neighbourhood is a pleasant way to while away a couple of hours. Previous residents had a curious European fixation with some of the streets humorously named after continental cities. Many of the late 19th … Continue reading

Kaah Siis review – beautiful but overwrought and far too fussy
★★★☆☆ / Mexican / Modern European / Modernist

Kaah Siis review – beautiful but overwrought and far too fussy

This review of a Mexico City restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Mexico City (or the DF in local slang) is hardly the most beautiful metropolis I’ve ever visited, but it does have its charms and quirks. Polanco, DF’s moneyed equivalent to Mayfair or Chelsea, has streets amusingly named after (mostly … Continue reading

Biko review – glossy, classy Mexico City fine dining
★★★★☆ / Mexican / Modern European / Modernist

Biko review – glossy, classy Mexico City fine dining

This review of a Mexico City restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Biko is a glossy and sleek fine dining restaurant decked out in refined and soothing shades of beige and brown. It really could be anywhere in the world, but what it lacks in aesthetic distinctiveness it more than … Continue reading