Steemit...I think I have had the best meal of my life...
And I want to share it with you!
On our last day in Mexico City, @ucsdsu and I decided to spend a little bit of extra dough to celebrate our trip. Heck, let's be honest...we were trying to be like a certain travel blogger (sweetssj) and her posts!
We went to Pujol, a Michelin-star restaurant in the heart of Mexico City. If it sounds familiar, that's because it was on Chef's Table on Netflix!
We HAD to go.
When you arrive, you're greeted by a doorman standing by massive slatted-wood doors...
Our anticipation built as we walked up the concrete steps to the restaurant...
Upon entering and checking in, we were swiftly guided to our table and what looked like an old-fashioned letter was waiting for us.
It was the menu. I looked at @ucsdsu and we opened it with wide eyes:
We were told that we had to choose one item from courses 2, 3, 4, and 6. Here's @ucsdsu struggling to choose between what all looked like wonderful options:
The first course was "street snacks." This first snack was fried corn with suadero, a cut of meat with special spices, and an avocado on top. It was a mixture of crunchy and savory that's hard to describe:
Next was our favorite street snack: baby corn with this incredible sauce on top of it that was made of mayonnaise, chiles, and dried ant powder. We'd already eaten ant eggs on this trip, so nothing could stop us!
After the first course, I decided it was time for a mojito and @ucsdsu decided it was time for a negroni:
@ucsdsu told me to look behind me, where I saw a beautiful olive tree nestled in the middle of the restaurant. If you know me, you know I'm a HUGE gardener, so this made me happy to see:
On to course two. I chose the rice with geoduck clam and scallops, which tasted like the definition heaven. Buttery, savory, with a delicious rice texture to boot:
Jon went with the octopus, which I got to taste. Usually octopus is a bit too chewy for my taste, but this had a flaky texture and when combined with the smokiness of the chiles and sauce, it was to die for:
After seeing @gardengirlcanada and her foraging posts, I HAD to go for the wild mushroom soup in course 3:
Jon went with the lobster in a crispy shell with shaved lettuce and greens on top, which was also incredible:
Time for the fourth course! I chose the lamb with mint mole, baby potatoes and crisps. They also gave us freshly made tortillas to make little tacos. The mint mole was INSANE:
But if I'm honest, I liked @ucsdsu's choice better - crispy duck. The skin was crunchy, rich, but also a bit tart and the flavor of the duck was nuts. Once I have my futuristic farmstead going, I am going to be raising primarily ducks as they are my favorite bird for sure!
Course five was mole. However, not just any mole. It was done two ways - on the inside was new mole made that day. On the outside, mole that was 1492 days old - that's insane! They recommended that we taste the new mole, then the old mole, then a mixture of the two:
But that's not all. They also gave us tortillas fused with hoja santa, a leaf:
Here's the other side of the tortilla. We spread the mole mixture on these and mopped up our plates:
Here's a shot of the plant, grown outside in their kitchen garden:
Speaking of kitchen garden, here's a shot of the full garden:
We decided to take our dessert in the outdoor patio to soak up the beautiful scenery and plants:
Our first "dessert" was a palette cleanser of nopales (cactus) and pulque sorbet, which is made from the agave plant:
I went with a fancy dessert - in the middle you can see avocado puree with coconut flakes and macadamia. The clear balls are a coconut gel. The light-colored ones are a lemongrass custard. And to the left you can see a coconut sorbet on toasted coconuts:
@ucsdsu opted for the apple tamale, crisp, and ice cream:
Finally, AS IF THAT WEREN'T ENOUGH DESSERT, they brought out a "post dessert" of a spiral-shaped churro that was absolutely fantastic.
FIN.
You want to know the best part of this meal?
It really wasn't that expensive. Sure, it was more than your average fast-food or casual dining, but for the caliber of food that we ate, this is not a meal that breaks the bank.
Highly, HIGHLY recommend you go to Pujol if you ever venture down to Mexico City. Just tell them you're part of the Steemit crew and maybe they'll hook you up!
Thanks so much for taking this culinary journey with me - let me know what dish was your favorite down in the comments!
Thanks For Reading!
If this is your first time reading my writing, thank you! Please leave a comment so I can get to know you better.
My name is Kevin and I run Epic Gardening, a website, podcast, and YouTube channel. My goal is to teach 10,000,000 people how to grow their own food.
I'm a big believer in Steemit and decentralized platforms, so I'm going all in on Steemit, dtube, and dsound. Be sure to check me out there too! You'll find me writing about gardening, travel, health, and philosophy - I can't seem to stick to one topic :P
Thanks and happy Steeming,
Kevin
This post is making my tastebuds swell. Iss der a dotta in da hoss?
:) - get on down there, powered by STEEM!
OMG that sounds amazing... 1492 day old mole! holy moly!! lol!
what an epic excursion! thanks for sharing... makes me wanna travel to mexico and soon! :D
If I had to choose I'd eat the new mole every day, but the 1492 day one had a deeeeeep smokiness that made it absolutely delicious as well! Get your butt to Mexico!
haha exactly! wow! gotta try that holy moly ;)
With how many people did you sat? Damnnnnnnnn, looks good! Is it sea-salt that I see on the lambsrack?
Just me and @ucsdsu! And yes, a sprinkle of sea salt on the lamb...it was so good...
Its 2 am here, and you made me hungry. Walking to the fridge
Rest looks good as well!
Eat up my friend! :P
What a delicious meal. Burnt a hole in the wallet...but came away with my new favorite cocktail...the NEGRONI MEZCAL!
Give me the Negroni w/ tequila for this lightweight ;)
oh did you mention the NEGRONI MEZCAL in the post above?! if so, i missed it ;D always wanted to try a high quality mezcal!
If you like mezcal, you need to buy a ticket to Oaxaca right this second! I'm still dreaming of mezcal...
Hey man... I'm also Kevin, currently living in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I've been all over Mexico but never to the City! I've been saving the best for last I suppose - and I'll have to check out that restaurant! I've worked in some of Canada's best restaurants as a server so I definitely have a great appreciation for the finer sides of dining.
Are you living in Mexico or was this just a vacation?
Get to know me here!
Bahaha nice to meet you and nice name! I was just traveling...back home now :)
San Diego is a pretty great place to be in the states! But you'll be back to Mexico, it's hard not to keep coming back!
You should have told us, we would have stopped by to say hi!
Haha... next time come say hi, I might not be in Playa Del Carmen but I'll probably be somewhere in Mexico!
It’s 11 PM and I stayed up way past my bedtime to sew. Decided to take a break on Steemit. Now I’m literally going to eat a snack, this post made me so hungry!! I’ll have to make do with yogurt and granola, though :)
Hey, probably healthier in the end ;)
GIMME ALL DA CHURROS. Beautiful food pics! Baby corn and fried corn dishes were some of my faves there yummm
Yeah, that baby corn was sooooo much tastier than I expected!
Gosh. This really is tempting. Never thought of going to Mexico (I've heard some horrible stories like not a safe place for a young girl sorta things), but now I've found the reason to go there!
It's pretty safe from my experience! At least Mexico City.
This looks like one of those experiences that'll come back to you as you lay on your deathbed, and which'll make you sigh and smile contentedly. Amazing, thank you for sharing this! I love the format, too, you really captured the little details that made it a vicarious pleasure! =D