14-09-2017
Milanese Simone Merati is chef at restaurants Filosofia and Ambrosia, inside hotel Casa Malca in Tulum, a popular destination in Yucatan, Mexico (photos by Tokyo Cervigni)
This year there’s been much talking about Tulum. The spring pop up Noma in Mexico, after closing the historic restaurant in 93 Standgrade in Copenhagen, placed this city on the map of many people across the world. Located on the Maya Coast of Yucatan, one hour south of the much more touristic Playa del Carmen, Tulum is a coastal town where an elitist tourism has grown, like in Ibiza and Bali, in a triangle of eternal summer. Except this jungle location by the sea has attracted the attention of many very talented chefs over the past few years. Starting from Eric Werner and Mya Henry, who opened Hartwood in 2010. According to Redzepi this is the “perfect restaurant”, a pioneer for a special type of restaurant offer. Simone Merati, left Italy over 10 years ago and arrived in the old home of narcotrafficker Pablo Escobar in 2014, after working in starred restaurants in England, Australia and Spain. He was initially hired as cook when Casa Malca, luxury hotel of New Yorker art collector Lio Malca, opened. Simone soon established a unique format of restaurant on Costa Maya, focusing not just on flavours and techniques, but on sustainability too, given Tulum has a fragile ecosystem enclosed among mangroves, jungle and natural reserves.
Beetroot salad in different textures
photo casamalca.com
Roman pastry chef Fabrizio Pellegrini
Taco with prawns
Crème brûlée with red fruits coulis
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A media professional divided between Paris, London and Tokyo. He writes about restaurants as an excuse to speak about many more things