Ku’uk restaurant in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico is housed in a restored mansion.
It presents wonderful eating with dishes impressed on Mexican dishes and substances, with some Lebanese influences because of the Lebanese group in Mérida.
We opted for the 21 course tasting menu (MXN 2100, roughly 105 euros) with beverage pairing (MXN 1100, 55 euros) for 2 cocktails and three glasses of wine. The programs are served in teams, with lots of them the dimensions of an amuse bouche. The menu had a pleasant fold out of the mansion.
The primary programs had been paired with a cocktail of mezcal (Mexican distilled beverage from agave), nixta (corn liqueur) and candy Mexican vermouth. It was properly balanced and never too sturdy, and paired effectively with the dishes.
Codzito DzikilPaak. A really crunchy fried corn tortilla roll (codzito) with a scrumptious filling that included pumpkin seeds. The waiters converse English however with such a thick accent that it’s arduous to know the descriptions of the dishes.
Warak Enab in Tetela: Lebanese-Mexican fusion. A grape leaf stuffed with rice and floor lamb (warak enab), inside tetela (a triangular pocket of corn from Oaxaca), served with a dried chile mole.
Yucatán lime soup, served inside a lima (a neighborhood kind of lime).
The soup contained tiny slivers of tortilla.
The chef likes to play with visible results, just like the ‘faux fossils’ that had been served beneath a dome with smoke.
The smoke was properly aromatic.
The faux fossils had been crispy and really tasty.
Esquite pibinal: corn cooked in a gap within the floor for 72 hours, served with corazón cheese, butter and xcat’iik chile. Scrumptious.
Tabbouleh, labneh, and star apple. One other Lebanese affect, served on a porcelain leaf.
The wine for the subsequent dishes was a Grenache rosé from Mexico, fairly just like rosé from the Provence.
Extra visible results.
This one imploded after some time.
The pib pumpkin inside was candy, which didn’t actually work with the dry rosé.
The sunflower with squash and mole was scrumptious and seemed nice. The mole had a really deep taste, which sadly was too candy for the rosé.
The next wine was a Gewurztraminer from Mexico, dry and with a mineral model.
The lion’s paw scallop with coconut and fenugreek was scrumptious, and a very good pairing with the Gewurz. The scallop taste was excellent.
The Tikinxic octopus was scrumptious as effectively.
The mahi mahi with three spinach kimchi was scrumptious, though the kimchi was not bitter and never spicy. It had extra of an earthy/soy sauce taste.
The ultimate wine was a Malbec from Argentina, with hints of bay leaf and licorice.
The creole suckling pig with lentil stew was fairly good; the pulled pork had been pressed right into a sq. form and was then seared to a crisp. The meat was a bit dry, however flavorful and good with the lentils. The wine was a bit sturdy for the dish.
The presentation of the braised beef tongue with mole was superb (the tongue connected to the fork couldn’t be eaten).
Then it was time for dessert.
The primary one was known as ta’uch and was gentle and crispy.
The second cocktail that was served with the desserts was made with habanero, rosemary, honey, and star anise. It was fascinating how a number of the desserts introduced out the rosemary, because the aniseed and habanero had been the extra apparent flavors.
The piña colada was additionally gentle and crispy, so not what one would count on.
The honeycomb was scrumptious and crunchy with corn and honey.
Extra smoke with the chocolate and tomato. The tomato was frozen with liquid nitrogen however didn’t have a lot taste.
Rice and radish.
Guava, meringue and amaranth.
Seeds and grasshopper brittle, and a espresso bonbon.
The presentation of the entire meals was stunning and authentic. A number of the dishes had been scrumptious, some appeared to be extra about presentation than about taste. However not one of the dishes had been unhealthy and so they had been all very effectively executed. The cocktail pairings labored very effectively, the wine pairings not a lot. There isn’t a lot competitors for this sort of restaurant on this a part of Mexico, so this will likely very effectively be the perfect wonderful eating restaurant of the world. The worth may be very affordable.
After the 21 programs I used to be nonetheless hungry, so I made a decision so as to add a twenty second course on the ‘restaurant’ positioned subsequent to Ku’un…
