Quetzal: haute Mexican cuisine cooked over an open fire and wood fire
In a restaurant with curved lines, with ten meters of open fire fueled by wood and charcoal, almost all dishes are cooked over a flame or on embers.
Here, fire is not just decoration, and cooking like this demands a great deal of discipline and experience. Chef Steven Molnar and his team are up to the challenge. Quetzal has been open for eight years, and its haute Mexican cuisine seems to get better every time.
Dinner begins with fragrant tortillas, perfectly elastic, made daily with imported Mexican corn, nixtamalized and ground twice in the restaurant. The ceviches and aguachiles are bright and refreshing, with complex textures and well-balanced flavors.
Newfoundland scallops are seared and enhanced with green garlic butter, popcorn, and Tajín. Patagonian squid is dressed with fermented corn miso, macha sauce, clarified butter, ginger, and raw green sauce.
The Oaxacan empanada, made with blue corn masa from Tlaxcala in central Mexico, is filled with lamb neck marinated for 72 hours, interspersed with orange slices. It is wrapped in banana leaves and slowly roasted in a wood-fired oven. It is served with radish and garlic sauce, a spicy blend of guajillo, chipotle, confit garlic, and fermented habanero peppers.
Even the vegetarian dishes are bursting with flavor. The desserts are refined and imaginative, like the tres leches cake and the horchata cream with sea buckthorn.
The atmosphere is lively and vibrant, and the service is highly professional. The carefully curated selection of non-alcoholic drinks includes house-made cocktails, mocktails, and reinterpretations of Mexican classics. The wine list is excellent, offering a wide variety to pair with bold flavors, and the cocktails are superb as well.