Quintonil

10 course lunch over 3 hours with friends on a perfect autumnal day in CDMX: life doesn’t get much better. The food and service were exquisite with white Bordeaux to match. Some dishes contain insects (not visibly) and almost none contain gluten. It is not cheap but this level of cuisine might unaffordable in other cities, even if you could get a table.

Update 5 Dec 2024: Quintonil is in a new era - my experience this time round is phenomenally different from the last and I would say it is now one of the finest tasting menus in the city! We had the chef’s menu and it was creative, delicious, and beautifully presented. Every dish was well constructed and the flavors present thoughtful layers. My only wish is for the wine pairing to be better. For me, the food was 5 stars but the wine pairing only 3. Overall worth trying and I am so happy that it can accommodate celiac and make the dishes gluten free. ——————————————— My original review below: Had high hopes for this coveted dining establishment... but personally I don’t think it’s great value and the dishes did not “wow” me. Sat at the counter for the tasting menu. Interestingly, it says that you must order the tasting menu if you want counter seats on the online reservation page, but the server offered me ala carte option as well. Since this is my first time at the restaurant, I opted for the tasting menu. However, in hindsight, I would have gone for the ala carte menu, because the dishes from the tasting menu were not particularly memorable. In my opinion, the presentation was a little messy. The central theme was not obvious to me. I did enjoy the meat dishes tremendously. Both the chicken and pork were grilled to perfection, and tasted tender & juicy. They were the saving grace of my meal. If I were to return to the restaurant, it would be to try the other meat dishes. Unless you have a lot to splurge on fine dining, I would not put this on the top of the list of must-try restaurants.