In 2012 Punto MX opened its doors betting on authentic Mexican cuisine, showing Spanish diners completely unknown products and elaborations.
A tiny but committed team of Mexican lion hearts and fiery souls armed with a vision, exotic flavours and a tight bank account took a chance at becoming the – then – quite risky culinary fine dining exponent of Aztec culture and tradition.
This May Punto MX reached its fifth year, its 712000th taco, 260000th avocado and 200000th cocktail, and invited four great and very different Mexican chefs to cook in the heart of Spain as a part of a four-month grand 5th year celebration.
This once local restaurant down the corner became one of the hottest dinner tickets in all of Spain. Punto MX is magic – Mexican magic in Madrid and there are numerous of reasons to love this fun-loving, heartwarming and utterly delicious powerhouse solidifying Mexican fine dining.
Let’s start with ten of them.
1. Traditional mexican flavours and culture brought to fine dining level.
“I believe that the biggest misconception about Mexican food is that it’s always cheap to produce, uses low quality ingredients and requires no technique to cook, which couldn’t be further from the truth. At Punto MX we follow the values and traditions of the Mexican heritage, while adding new and innovative techniques and flavors to great Spanish products. We integrate the two while staying true to our Mexican culture,” – Roberto Ruiz.
Read also: Ateriet – Q/A with Roberto Ruiz of Punto MX in Madrid.
2. Punto MX was the first Mexican restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star (2015) and the first to receive two Soles (Suns) from the Spanish Repsol Guide.
Michelin states:
“A Mexican restaurant that steers clear of stereotypes. Both decor and cuisine are thoroughly modern. Traditional recipes are bolstered by a contemporary technical approach while at the same time adapting to local tastes. Highly interesting combination of Mexican ingredients and others sourced from Spain.”
————————————————
3. Spanish ingredients are perfectly integrated to their traditional mexican dishes. The “Carabinero”; Scarlet King Crab mixing high quality Spanish produce with Mexican flavours and techniques being a great example.
Follow: The culinary adventures of Punto MX on Instagram.
————————————————
4. Natural Revolution: The essence does not change, the experience does.
The new tasting menus created by Roberto Ruiz. In the words of himself: “Change is a natural evolution. Over the last five years we have transferred the purest taste of Mexico into our cooking, today in this natural evolution.”
Punto MX used to be an a la carte restaurant but has transformed menus to only include tasting menus in the elegant downstairs restaurant where guests now can choose between 3 different menus:
The 5 year Anniversary Menu, the Natural Evolution Menu or the Cardinal Brothers Menu, that offer a tasting of 9, 11 or 13 dishes respectively.
————————————————
5. Culinary days. Celebrating their 5th anniversary Roberto Ruiz and his team greeted four of today’s top exponents of Mexican cuisine as guest chefs.
Priestess of Mole Juana Amaya of Oaxaca, Edgar Nuñez of Sud777 in México City, Diego Hernández Baquedano (photo) of Corazón de Tierra in Baja California and Jose Manuel Baños of Pinotepa in Oaxaca.
Look into: Honest Cooking – The Beautiful Mind of Chef Diego Hernandez.
————————————————
6. The once local restaurant down the corner that became one of Madrid’s toughest reservations’ tortillas were the first in Europe made using traditional methods and the ancient technique of nixtamalization.
In fact Punto MX has made over 800.000 tortillas throughout the past 5 years!
————————————————
7. The private orchard. An impressive 9 hectares of organic haven located north of Madrid. Created with the vision of bringing a piece of Mexico to Spain, the space grows over 25 different special Mexican seeds, corn, chilis and herbs and supplies the coveted restaurant on a daily basis.
Dig into: El País – The Secret of Punto MX in La Retamilla.
————————————————
8. “All tequilas are mezcals, but not all mezcals are tequilas.”
Tequila is a type of mezcal, much like how scotch and bourbon are types of whiskey. Mezcal is defined as any agave-based liquor which includes tequila. It can be made from more than 30 varieties of agave – the most common varieties used being tobalá, tobaziche, tepeztate, arroqueño and espadín.
Mezcal is mostly produced in nine different areas of Mexico: Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Michoacán, Puebla and Oaxaca, which is where upwards of 85 percent of all mezcal is made.
Punto MX’s Mezcal collection is the by far largest in Europe, with more than 100 references and 35 varieties, including all bottles only of “El ojo de Dios” (The Eye of God); a very limited edition composed of five unique bottles in the world.
————————————————
9. The Bone Marrow, charbroiled in ember oven and served with crushed, roasted tomato salsa and herbs. The fatty gelatinous bone marrow works perfectly with the slightly acidic salsa. Enough said.
See also: Punto MX – the powerhouse solidifying Mexican fine dining.
————————————————
10. Mezcal Lab; the gastro bar on the top floor of Punto MX.
A unique concept, a gastronomic space with the most representative dishes of these last five years and the most amazing mezcal cocktails served in an informal, beautiful space where the most Mexican of flavours combine with an exclusive and relaxed atmosphere.
Armchairs, high tables, and a bar consisting of the largest collection of mezcals in Europe, ideal to accompany the dishes created by Roberto Ruiz and his team.
Every night hungry bellies queue up outside Punto MX for a seat at this swanky yet informal room. Mezcal Lab accepts reservations for the first seating at 9pm, and from then on a first come, first served basis.
Chef Roberto Ruiz exclusively offers his excellence to lectures, food festivals, consultancy and tantalising dinner parties.
In case of interest or/and press, please contact Kristian Brask Thomsen at:
————————————————
Bon Vivant Communications is a culinary embassy representing star chefs and restaurants, chateaux and high-end wineries as well as working close together with various luxury hotels, gourmets festivals and bespoke concierges services.
The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 3000+ luxury diners around the globe.
————————————————
Hungry for more? Have a look at Bon Vivant loves Punto MX.
————————————————
Photos by Rodrigo Vazquez and Beto Troconis.