Mexico City Part 8: Fine Dining (Pujol)

Pujol

One of my top priorities when visiting Mexico City was to snag a reservation at Pujol. This is no easy feat. I booked months in advance and was still only able to find one time slot over the course of my 8 day trip, and that was at 9:30 pm.

The reason it is so difficult to secure a reservation at Pujol is because it currently ranks number four on the list of the world's best restaurants. In fact, it has been a fixture in the top ten for decades now and continues to climb in the ranks. Pujol has also received two stars from Michelin, been featured on numerous other top restaurant lists and was featured on Chef's Table and Somebody Feed Phil.

Panucho

Pujol offers a tasting menu featuring local ingredients and Mexican cooking techniques. The pace of the restaurant is relaxed, so plan on spending about 2-3 hours enjoying the seven-course meal, or more if you prefer an even more leisurely dining experience.

In addition to the courses on the menu, Pujol, like most fine dining establishments, starts you with a complimentary amuse bouche or two. Our first amuse bouche was a panucho. Panuchos are fried corn tortillas, topped with a variety of ingredients. This one was served with beans, avocado and salmon roe, the latter being a departure from traditional panucho toppings.

Roasted Baby Corn

Our second amuse bouche was a nod to the popular street food, elote, or corn slathered in mayonnaise, chili powder, and cheese. Pujol's version of this dish took an interesting and delicious departure.

Instead of mature corn cobs, this baby corn comes to you on small skewers, in a smoking, pumpkin bowl, filled with corn husks. In lieu of regular mayonnaise, Pujol serves the corn with chicatana (ant) mayonnaise made with crushed ants and chile costeño.

Chicatanas are a specific species of flying, leaf-cutter ants, collected and consumed after the first seasonal rains. They are considered a delicacy in Mexico. Together with the mayonnaise and chilis, they gave the corn a buttery and spicy finish.

Amberjack Ceviche,

Our first course of the tasting menu was an amberjack ceviche. The fresh, slightly sweet fish was served over charred avocado and tomato, in cactus juice and topped with caviar.

Corn Chips

To enjoy with the ceviche, we were given quelites topped chips. Quelites are edible greens, named after the Nahuatl word "quilitl," which means "edible green."

Black Truffle Tostada

Our second course was vegetarian. It was a tostada topped with shaved black truffle, wild herbs, aged sheep cheese and ayocote puree. Ayocote, also known as the "Mexican runner bean" or "purple bean," is a thick-skinned runner bean, native to Mexico.

Mahi-Mahi

Our third course featured mahi-mahi. The mild and sweet fish was accompanied by a pumpkin puree, shellfish emulsion and amontillado (a variety of sherry wine).

Octopus

Another seafood course we enjoyed was the octopus, served with cabbage, mashed potatoes, chorizo, vegetable jus and morita, or passionflower.

Mole

Our final savory course was also the restaurant's signature dish, the mole. Pujol serves two moles in concentric circles. The inner circle, made fresh every day, is called "Mole Nuevo" or new mole.

The outside ring is the Mole Madre. On the day that we visited, its base was 3,280 days old. As a Michelin writer eloquently observed in 2024, "The mole madre, or mother mole, as it’s called, has outlasted three Mexican presidencies, survived the pandemic, and watched as Pujol this year received one of Mexico’s first Two Michelin Star distinctions."

The contrast between the two moles was beautiful and gave me a new appreciation for the complexity of flavors and ingredients involved in making a mole. While the newer mole was delicious, the nearly 10 year old mole was far more earthy and robust. For dipping purposes, Pujol served it with a corn tortilla pressed with a hoja santa leaf.

Or, if you prefer, they also provided an indigenous, criollo corn tortilla.

Arroz Con Leche

The main dessert course was an arroz con leche, or sweet rice, cooked with milk. It was combined with coconut and served with a sake sorbet and yogurt.

Cinnamon Conchas

We were also given some cinnamon conchas, gratis. They were crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, and to my surprise and delight, they were filled with a lite, warm, vanilla cream.

That concludes my meal at this fabulous restaurant that was well worth the planning and the price. This also concludes this series on Mexico City. I have a strong suspicion I will be back again, as CDMX is on a very short list of my favorite cities that I have ever visited. For now, I'm deciding which of my travels to share with you next. Feel free to reach out with any requests or suggestions. Cheers!