If you know me, you know that I LOVE the experience of food. I am not the most well-versed in fine dining, but I’ve been to a few memorable fine dining restaurants and appreciate the artistry and thoughtfulness behind a chef’s vision. In this blog, I share my experience going to Pujol. If you want the full context, I made a YouTube vlog that you can check out here!
What is Pujol?
Pujol is chef Enrique Olvera’s restaurant in Polanco, Mexico City. It has been open since 2000, it has two Michelin stars, and the dish everyone talks about is the mole madre, a mole that has been aged and refreshed for more than 3,000 days.
It is a prix fixe menu, and you get to decide which proteins and desserts you get. You can also add on a wine pairing, but I chose to just order my own cocktails!
Pro tip: if you want a reservation, make sure you do it WAY in advance :)
Why I booked lunch
I liked making the reservation for lunch just because it allowed us to have a nicer view, be in the daytime, really appreciate the food, and be able to see everything in the light. Every plate at this place is pretty, and in daylight you actually SEE it: the colors, the flowers, all of it. If you are going back and forth between lunch and dinner, my vote is lunch.
My favorite dish wasn’t their mole.
Even though the restaurant is known for their mole, my favorite was actually the baby corn, the black beans, and the tabbouleh (it has edible flowers in it).
I have an affinity for really simple foods that are done really well and look beautiful. That is exactly what those three were.
What was actually on the menu
So you know what lunch actually looked like: ours started with a choice of lobster, sea snail and Yucatecan lime cold soup, or beet carpaccio with buckwheat tabbouleh, cracked corn, jicama and chaya leaf. That tabbouleh is the one I keep talking about…it comes with the beet carpaccio, and it has little white flowers all over it. I’m such a visual person, and this dish was by far the prettiest :)
Next was the Mayan octopus with pork castacán and heirloom avocado or a carrot and chipilín steamed tamal. For the main course it was fish moné in white recado beurre blanc, Durango Wagyu in black recado with xnipec and quail egg or a plantain escalope with pink pine nut sikil pak.
Okay, the mole
After that comes the course the menu just calls “The Mole madre, the Simojovel mole.” You get the mole madre next to the newer Simojovel mole, so you are tasting the aged one and the younger one together.
While I thought the mole was delicious, I’m not generally the biggest mole fan. I can, however, confirm that it was really tasty.
The vibes were immaculate
Fine dining can be intimidating, because it’s easy to feel out of place. However, every single person on the Pujol staff is so nice. It’s not pretentious at all, and everyone had such a relaxed energy.
Even if you just scooted your chair out a tiny bit, there was someone at your beck and call, taking your chair out, anticipating your needs, etc. That is the part I did not expect, and it is a big part of why I would tell a friend to go.
Dessert is two courses
Before the actual dessert, they bring out a palate cleanser: a small bowl with a single small white scoop in it. It honestly looks like frozen yogurt lol.
Then the actual dessert arrives. The papaya was the best part!
Who should go and who should skip it
Go if you like tasting menus. If sitting there while courses come out one after the other, trying things you would never order on your own, sounds like a good time to you, you will get why people love this place. Book the lunch. Get a cocktail. Let them take care of you.
Skip it if you find tasting menus tedious, or if you would rather order exactly what you want. Skip it if you would honestly have more fun spending the money across a bunch of taco stands.
The logistics:
Where: Pujol, in Polanco, Mexico City. Chef Enrique Olvera’s restaurant, open since 2000, two Michelin stars.
What I paid: $3,595 MXN per person for the tasting menu, VAT included.
Booking: Reservations open on a two-month rolling window and prime slots go fast. Decide early and be flexible.
Lunch or dinner: Lunch, for the daylight and the view!
Drinks: I skipped the wine pairing and ordered cocktails on the side.
Dress code: Smart casual.
