Mexican chef Adriana Cavita to launch first solo restaurant in London

Named Cavita and set to open in November, the Mexican-focused restaurant will be built around the knowledge acquired by the chef on her travels around her homeland and encompass food traditions from all over Mexico; from the capital, Mexico City, where she was born, across to Oaxaca and the Yucatan.

The 70-cover restaurant will have an open fire kitchen at its core, with reclaimed wooden tables for couples and smaller groups, as well as communal dining available at the chef's table. 

Downstairs will be a 'hidden' mezcaleria called Mayahuel, which will have a dedicated entrance on Wigmore Street and serve as a cocktail and mezcal bar in its own right.

Mexican street food staples will be a focus of the restaurant's menu and include tacos with baja fish, cochinita pibil (braised pork), and pastor presa ibérica; tetelas, triangular-shaped corn masa filled with blue corn and roasted pink fir potato; and calabacitas, smoked fresh corn with courgette, tomato and morita sauce.

Larger plates will be based around a selection of moles and include pollo al carbon, ​chargrilled corn-fed chicken served with a herby mole of tomatillo and roasted poblano and pumpkin seeds; carne a las brasas, dry-aged bone-in ribeye with amarillito mole of Guajillo chilli and mixed spices from Oaxaca; and crispy-fried Puerto Nuevo lobster with ajillo sauce of garlic and mixed chillies, avocado and tomato salsa, and black beans. 

The interiors of Cavita will showcase the materials and textures of Mexico with wooden and tile elements, exposed bricks, and an earthy colour palette, 

As well as individual tables, the restaurant will offer bookings at its ‘top table’, which will be a communal dining spot with the best view of the kitchen that will be served by Cavita herself.

Mayahuel will serve a range of 'signature' cocktails alongside a small menu of snacking plates including tuna tostada with macha sauce, avocado puree, ginger vinaigrette; and esquites, a Mexican corn salad with chicken broth, jalapeño mayonnaise and Applebey’s Cheshire cheese, with the option to add bone marrow. 

Cavita, who grew up between Mexico City in Azcapotzalco town and Tlaxcala State in a small village called San Felipe, Ixtacuixtla, first worked in a kitchen at the age of 17 as an apprentice at Nicos in Mexico City, which is currently ranked 31​ on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants list.

She scored her first full time paid job at Pujol in Mexico City, currently ranked 12​​ on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, at 19; and later went on to work as as chef de partie at Ferran Adria's three-Michelin starred El Bulli in Spain, which topped The World’s 50 Best Restaurant list five times before its closure in 2011.