Adriana Cavita's debut restaurant set for May opening
Cavita, which was first announced last summer, will serve the eponymous Mexican-born chef's takes on traditional dishes from her homeland, which 'tell a story of her heritage and the people who taught her the craft of cooking'.
The menu will open with a ‘raw’ selection, combining the wealth of British seafood available with Mexican flavour profiles of chilli, lime and smoke. Dishes will include Carlingford rock oysters with Clamato oil and jalapeño vinaigrette; and yellow tail aguachile rojo with watermelon, mezcal and ‘grasshopper’ seasoning.
Mexican street food staples will also form a core element of the 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 70-cover restaurant will showcase the materials and textures of Mexico with wooden and tile elements, exposed bricks, and an earthy colour palette. It will have reclaimed wooden tables for couples and smaller groups. There will also be a communal dining experience available at the 'top table', which will overlook the kitchen and be served by Cavita herself.
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.
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 number nine 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.
