The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 ranking is out, and Mexico has three restaurants on the list.
In a ceremony held in Las Vegas, Nevada, 1,080 international restaurant industry experts recognized three restaurants in Mexico City among the 50 Best in the world: Quintonil (No. 7), Pujol (No. 33) and Rosetta (No. 34). The three honorees secured a spot on the ranking just weeks after receiving some of the first Michelin stars ever awarded in Mexico.
For a second year in a row, Quintonil ranked in the Top 10, escalating two positions from the 2023 ranking.
Founded by chef Alejandro Vallejo and his wife Alejandra Flores, the World’s 50 Best praised Quintonil as “a go-to for those looking for fresh, local ingredients and traditional Mexican flavors.” Some of the dishes the panel of experts highlighted include duck pibil tamales with elote cream, braised oxtail in traditional black recado sauce, crème fraîche with melipona honey, cape gooseberry and caviar or prickly pear sorbet. Quintonil opened its doors in 2012.
In his acceptance speech, chef Vallejo highlighted the role and hard work of his entire team, underlining the value of Mexico’s culinary tradition.
Pujol was the next restaurant in the ranking. A staple on The World’s 50 Best for several years, it went down 20 positions from 2023.
Founded by acclaimed Mexican chef Enrique Olvera in 2000, “Pujol presents an innovative proposal rooted in high-quality indigenous ingredients and diverse techniques, adding a modern twist to traditional Mexican recipes,” the list said. The World’s 50 Best praised the restaurant’s colored and elegant dishes, as well as its sustainability efforts. Pujol’s staple dish is its mole madre.
Pujol and Quintonil are the only Mexican restaurants with two Michelin stars.
Finally, Rosetta, which debuted on the list at No. 49 last year, climbed 15 spots in this edition.
Founded by Elena Reygadas, who studied English literature as an undergraduate, the restaurant has evolved from an Italian-inspired cuisine to a Mexican restaurant “with a reinterpretation of traditional dishes.” Reygadas was recognized as the world’s best female chef by World’s 50 Best in 2023.
In addition to these restaurants, the Mexican chef Santiago Lastra’s restaurant Kol, located in London, ranked No. 17 on the list. The World’s 50 Best recognized Kol for its creativity to produce Mexican dishes using British ingredients, a task it defined as “challenging.”
The 22nd edition of the annual ranking spans 26 countries and territories and five continents. The list has been published every year since 2022, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the restaurant industry.
This year’s best restaurant accolade went to Disfrutar in Barcelona, Spain, run by Chefs Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas.
Mexico News Daily
Ignoring high end restaurants that most Mexicans can’t afford, in general the Mexican diet has gone down the tubes – almost literally – over the past decades. Allowing for the odd yearly variation, Mexico not that long ago passed the United States as the most obese country in the world. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is 17% in preschool children, 25% in school children, and 30% in adolescents. For adults, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is 40% and 30%, respectively. That’s a lot of people! The message – carry on eating too much of your Mexican diet and get fat. Or too much of any diet for that matter. Moderation is the key and if there’s one thing Mexico isn’t, it’s moderate – not as far as eating’s concerned anyway.