Santiago Lastra was born in Cuernavaca, “The City of Eternal Spring”, 45 minutes south of Mexico City. After a stint working in the Mexican capital, he set out to learn his trade from the best in the world, first at Europa in Pamplona and then Mugaritz in San Sebastian. In 2020, he opened Kol in Marylebone, where he limits the ingredients he can import to corn, chocolate and chillies, relying instead on British ingredients to make his hugely imaginative modern Mexican dishes.
According to the famous list, Kol is currently the 49th best restaurant in the world, one of only two London restaurants in the top 50. Running Kol and his new venture, Fonda – a more casual restaurant in Mayfair that serves regional Mexican dishes – clearly keeps him busy, but he still finds time to head back to Mexico City two or three times a year. He talked to us about where to eat in Central America’s culinary capital.
The thing you need to know about Mexico, and Mexico City in particular, is that we have a lot of meals throughout the day, all of which are important. I recommend people start the day at one of the city’s many amazing markets. If you’re staying in Roma or Condesa, go to Mercado de Jamaica, or any local market, to have some quesadillas or some carnitas in the street.
Also excellent is Tamales Madre in Colonia Juárez. Tamales are cakes made with masa (corn dough) that get filled and then steamed inside banana leaves or corn leaves. You can have them with pork or rajas, which is filled with poblano peppers, or with sweet fillings, and the ones they do at Tamales Madre are very good. Or for excellent pastries and coffee, go to Panaderia Rosetta, a bakery that serves breakfast classics, some of them with a hint of Mexican flavours.
Mexico City is incredible for coffee shops. My favourites are Buna, which has three cafés in the city, and Drip, which has a fantastic house blend and has specialty coffees that change all the time. But the unmissable experience is the amazing hot chocolate at La Rifa. They have a shop in Juárez where they sell single-origin cacaos: they don’t label it “dark chocolate” or even chocolate from a region, they sell specific varieties of chocolate like Blanco Jaguar or Soconusco. And the flavours are incredible with these really fruity notes; some of them taste like passion fruit. You can also buy cold chocolates and cacao, or do a chocolate tasting.
When I want seafood for lunch, I go to La Docena. It does platters, incredible ceviches and aguachiles, and its own kind of sashimi, which has a Japanese influence but uses Mexican ingredients. If you go, be sure to try the oysters with bone marrow, and the fish tacos.
Another great place for lunch is Contramar, which is an institution in Mexico City. It does tostadas and whole fishes grilled on the barbecue, as well as ceviches (be sure to try the snail aguachile: snails, cucumber, onions, chilies and lime juice). When I go, I always order the incredible shrimp broth, which is a hot spicy shrimp soup that comes served in a cup.
For pre-dinner drinks I like Hanky Panky for cocktails, or Licorería Limantour, which has a terrace on a busy Roma Norte street, and there’s always a great atmosphere. For dinner, you could go to a nice, fancy restaurant like Quintonil, which has earned two Michelin stars for its super-creative use of Mexican ingredients, or Sud 777, for a vegetarian take on Mexican fine dining in a beautiful place setting.
Or for something really cool, head to Expendio de Maíz, which is an upscale hole-in-the-wall in Roma Norte. It doesn’t do reservations, there’s no sign and no menu, and the décor has a kind of Mad Max feel to it, but the food is amazing. The chefs cook really progressive dishes from the Guerrero region in the south of Mexico and they just got a Michelin star.
After you’ve been out for dinner, you might want to go out for the night. And if you do, once you’re done, you’ll need to go to a late-night taqueria for a last bite to eat before bed. My favourite is a taqueria called Los Cocuyos on Simón Bolívar in the Centro Histórico. It’s open all night, which makes it a great place to go at 4am when you want a quick snack. My favourite is the pork ear, but you should also try the beef eye tacos, which are unbelievably great. Obviously, each cow only has two eyes, so they can’t do many of them, but if you ask them nicely and, if they like you, they will make you one.
Try Santiago’s cooking at Kol, 9 Seymour Street, London W1H 7BA; kolrestaurant.com
Interview by David Annand, editorial director of Secret Trips
