Quintonil is the emblem for the gastronomical project headed by Alejandra Flores and Jorge Vallejo. Since 2015, Quintonil has been included on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Today it is ranked twenty-seventh worldwide and eighth place on the 50 Best Latin American Restaurants list.
If you are wondering what is hidden in the meaning of the word Quintonil, we will tell you that it is a specific green Mexican herb that features in some of the dishes and cocktails, and pretty much sums up this restaurant: fresh, authentic and brimming with flavour. Chef Jorge Vallejo’s menu is based on local produce and showcases the best of Mexico.
Much of the produce at Quintonil comes from a nearby garden, where the cooks pick fresh veg and greens on a daily basis. Vallejo and his team keep their carbon footprint so low that many of their ingredients travel just 30 metres from origin to plate.
„The tasting menu’s courses change with the seasons, but diners can expect the likes of Moorish crab with green pípian sauce, sunflower seeds and blue corn toast, or rocket marinaded in rice pasta with Veracruz sauce and parsley. It would be a mistake not to stay for dessert: the strained mango with toasted rice and seaweed is the perfect way to end this Mexican feast of flavours“
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
We are sure that the previous description of a part of the restaurant menu stimulated all your senses and led you to search for this unique gastronomic corner of Mexico City, a city that owes its spectacularity to a rich cultural and historical heritage, but also to people whose smile and soul are as wide as the country they inhabit.
MEET THE CHEF
JORGE VALLEJO
After studying management and the culinary arts at the Culinary Center of Mexico (Ambrosia), Vallejo spent some time on the high seas working on Princess Cruises. He later worked and spent time in the kitchens of restaurants like Noma, Pujol, and the St. Regis Hotel’s Diana Restaurant and the Habita Group. When he decided to strike out on his own in 2012, he opened Quintonil with his wife Alejandra Flores. For ten years, The restaurant has been the core in maintaining the dialogue that Vallejo has established about the memory and current circumstances of Mexico’s culinary tradition.
Jorge Vallejo also refects on the gastronomy’s relationship to the environment, culture, and society, emphasizing on how this impacts Quintonil, and the greater community. This has prompted him to participate in diferent forums and give lectures nationwide and abroad he has also collaborated with research, and conservation projects for both gastronomy and its context.
ALEHANDRA FLORES
Alejandra received her bachelor’s degree in restaurant management from the Centro de Estudios Superiores de San Ángel (cessa), and She received her masters in Hospitality Management, with a specialization in marketing, from Switzerland’s Les Roches School. In 2012, opened Quintonil with her husband Jorge Vallejo. Alejandra’s vocation and knowledge focused on the dining room and operations area have made it possible to forge Quintonil’s hospitality-based strategy. This has resulted in effective communication between the kitchen and the dining room, and, of course, a full experience for the restaurant’s guests.
contacto@quintonil.com
Source: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
