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“It’s a little bit of home”


all plain sailing and, after just six months of oper- ation, Cavita was forced to leave the country. She explains: “I was getting divorced and we


had a lawyer who did not advise us well and so I had to go back to Mexico. We thought it would be two or three months but it was eight. It was horrible – at some point I had a panic attack – but I said to myself: ‘I need to let it be, what’s going to happen will happen’. “I wrote the book and just spent time


with my family. Looking back, I see the good and the bad.” Cavita’s “amazing” team stepped up in exceptionally difficult circumstances and she returned to the UK in May last year. Since then she has been on the ground, pouring her creativity into the restaurant. While Cavita has worked at high-end, fine


dining restaurants, it is those recipes passed down through generations in the domes- tic sphere that underpin much of her cook- ing; albeit by the time reach the menu they have been refined and adapted, often with playful twists. She says: “I wanted to do the most representative cooking, but I also needed to adapt recipes as we’re in a different country and using different ingredients. Some of the recipes we serve are very traditional and others are more modern. “I don’t want to close anything off – I think


the creativity should be open. For me, the important thing is to keep some recipes very authentic and traditional so those flavours are there, but I also think it’s important that I’m not afraid to play with the flavours and


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plating, otherwise I’m constraining myself as a chef and it’s less fun for me and for the customer. It’s fun if they see something different or playful on the menu.” It’s also important to Cavita that she shows


the breadth of Mexican cuisine and dispels some of the ‘myths’ that surround it. For example, bacalao a la vizcaina, a fish stew which originates from Veracruz, appeared as a Christmas special. The stew, originally made with cod, was adapted into a vegetarian dish that surprised guests with its Mediterra- nean feel, combining tomatoes, onion, garlic, olives and capers. The chef says: “It’s because of all those influ-


ences from Spain. We serve it with potatoes, pimento peppers, aubergine, cauliflower or any vegetable we have. Sometimes people are like ‘is this Mexican?’ and I like that. I like to share different things with people. Mexico has had influences from Asia and Europe and people don’t realise that we have a huge diversity of flavours and textures.” Looking forward, the chef is focusing on


fine tuning every element of the restaurant. “I feel like the most rewarding thing I can have is a happy team and a successful restaurant,” she says. “It’s about creating a stable business. If we can pay everything and everyone and have some money to make this place better, that’s enough at the moment. If more comes, it’s welcome, but I’m not focused on that. For me, I have my kitchen where I can create and share what I love to do. Somehow that’s really enough.”


From the menu


Raw bar O Chutoro tostada: sashimi-grade tuna dressed in a soy and ginger vinaigrette with sesame seeds and avocado purée,


served on an heirloom corn tostada O Mooli ceviche tostada: pomegranate and avocado in a burnt Habañero and onion salsa with lemon balm served on an heirloom corn tostada


Appetisers O Tamal de puerco: crushed handmade


corn dough stuffed with slow-roasted free-range Norfolk pork in a guajillo sauce,


steamed in a banana leaf with a little duck fat O Tetela de hongos: a handmade triangular corn parcel cooked on comal, filled with potato purée and topped with seasonal mushrooms, goats’ curd guacsalsa and mixed herbs with arbol sauce


From the street O Tacos de pastor: Secreto Iberico pork in a


pastor marination, grilled over charcoal and served in handmade tortillas with guacasalsa,


grilled pineapple, Habañero sauce and coriander O Quesabirria: slow-cooked beef shin marinated in a guajillo adobo sauce served in folded crispy raclette cheese tortillas and veal bone consommé


To share O Pescado zarandeado: wild line-caught sea


bass cooked over live fire in herbs marination with a green sauce of jalapeño, lime and


pumpkin seeds served with rice and tortillas O Berenjena a la vizcaina: smoked aubergine finished in a traditional sauce from Veracruz of tomatoes, olives, almonds and parsley, served with charred sourdough


8 March 2024 | The Caterer | 25


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