When will you be cooking?
Today!
What will you be cooking?
The menu is still in progress and the final ingredients depend on what nice fruit and veg I can find when I get there, but this is what it looks like at the moment!..
Squid Ink Bun & Roast Mussels
Raw Beef & Bottarga Tostada
Sea Urchin, Sweetcorn & Honey
Grouse Taco
Mallard & Burnt Apple
Damson Ice Cream, Elderberries & Elderflower Meringue
Brown Butter Cakes
Are you bringing any ingredientsover from London?
We do a monthly event at the restaurant called The Guest Series. The idea behind the project is that I invite a chef over from abroad to come cook with me and the team for two nights, and ask them to bring over some produce from their own restaurant. For instance, when we had Elena cooking here as part of The Guest Series she brought over this incredible fruit called mamey. It’s sort of similar looking to a papaya but tastes like nothing else I’d ever had before. We created a desert with the raw flesh of the mamey, and used the stone to make an ice cream – it was a beautiful simple dish that showed off this foreign ingredient no one was really familiar with. I guess what we’ve noticed by doing The Guest Series that both the chefs and guests really enjoy trying new things. Personally, I get really excited about trying new ingredients and that’s exactly why I love traveling abroad, you learn so much from traveling and being introduce to other cultures.
Previously we had Jeremy Charles from Newfoundland who brought over the most beautiful maple syrup and labrador tea, and James Henry from Bones brought some of his amazing charcuterie over from Paris. In a way, these menus almost become a bit of a snapshot of seasonal and interesting produce from two countries.
It’s game season here at the moment so I really wanted to bring some grouse and mallard over. I’m also bringing over damsons and elderberries, neither of which you’ll find in Mexico.
I’m arriving a few days before the dinner so Elena and I will go to some of the markets in Mexico City. The Mercado De San Juan is an incredible source for finding interesting fruit and vegetables, a lot of chefs shop there so I hope we can pick up a few great things there. I’m also definitely keen to use some sea urchin, it’s very different to the urchin we get in the North Atlantic, it’s much richer, more fatty and sweeter. I wouldn’t say it’s better, just different!
What do you hope to get out of your trip?
I hope to learn and try lots of new things! And hopefully eat lots of amazing tacos 🙂
Find out more informationabout Lyle’s atlyleslondon.com
Find out more information about Rosetta atrosetta.com.mx
James Lowe by Per-Anders Jorgenson
Words by Sophie Cater