As the woman behind one of Latin America’s most celebrated restaurants, chef Martha Ortiz has been celebrating food and art at Mexico City’s Dulce Patria for years. In preparation for the launch of her London restaurant in February at Park Lane’s Intercontinental hotel, we made a date with Ortiz to talk chillis, insects and couture tacos.
Words: Neil Simpson
First things first: does the restaurant have a name yet?
We are still finishing that part as I’m about to see the logos; I think words mean so much, so the choice is very important. I approach and read menus as I do literature, so I will take time in naming the dishes too.
We know that the restaurant is being designed by David Collins Studio – can you tell us about the look?
The restaurant will have a very alternative Mexican look. A little bit of modernism, mixed with classicism. We will have beautiful china from Mexico and Mexican arts and crafts, which can be as good as art. You will be amazed when you see what we have.
Will the look be different from Dulce Patria?
Yes. Dulce Patria (below) is a very simple restaurant, with a lot of colour. This is going to be ‘Mexican in London’, using the jade greens that you see in Mexico, as well as black onyx.
How about the layout?
It has an independent entrance on Park Lane [the restaurant will replace what was The Cookbook Café], with a small cantina just beyond serving small bites such as quesadillas with salsas, as well as drinks.
Can you tell us more about the drinks?
We will have lesser-known, agave-derived Mexican spirits, sotol and bacanora. One of my cocktails will be bright red, the colour derived from grana cochinilla [an insect], mixed with mescal and garnished with feathers from Mexico. It’s called Garerra, ‘female warrior’ – I’m a feminist. I would like to bring five small-batch beers from Mexico too, very good ones.
We hear that you love chilli…
Yes, there will be spicy salsas with lot of character, not mild. They won’t be shockingly spicy, but spice is the spirit of Mexican food. To me chilli is like a lover: you need to feel its presence.
Sounds tasty. What else is on the menu?
I prefer a very consistent menu, rather than a having a lot of dishes, so it won’t be long. I love to make moles; I will bring a green mole and a black, beautiful mole from Wahaca. It tastes like ashes.
We’ll also make a refried bean sauce derived from the north, paired with lobster cooked in pig lard. It makes for the best taco in the world, believe me. The tacos will be painted, as the Aztecs used to do: couture tacos.
I think the salt worm in a mescal is fantastic, so we’ll have a salad using that salt, with grasshoppers.
The Chicatana ant has a very deep flavour, so I will also make an inflated corn tortilla [inflada] filled with pork skin, salt from the ant and coriander – people love it.
Why did you choose London and have you considered elsewhere?
London is a very cosmopolitan city and you’re very willing to try things. I also plan to open one more Mexico City restaurant in a beautiful, historical building. So I will have two more children which is enough for me, or I’ll be like Brangelina.
How will you split your time?
I will come to London once a month, for a week at a time, once the opening has settled down. My head chef from Dulce Patria is moving here and more of my cooks are coming. My mission is to educate my staff and everybody else about food as a form of culture – it’s an art form.
Have you had time for anything else on this visit?
I had dinner with Edson [Diaz-Fuentes, of just-closed Shoreditch restaurant Santo Remedio] last night; I think he’s adorable. I couldn’t believe the closure. It's so sad, he was doing well.
My ex-husband is an opera director and I love opera, so I went to Glyndebourne [East Sussex]. Opera is like food, it’s complete: the whole experience is beautiful.
Martha Ortiz at the Intercontinental Park Lane will open in late February/ early March 2017.
This article was published 29 September 2016