The secret since Michelin has exposed it for all to see, but Rosetta is one of the most creative restaurants you can add to your destination list in Mexico City. It looks unassuming at first glance—a giant apartment mansion that looks like any other on the street. But behind those doors lies a culinary experience that mixes the best of Mexico with comfy classics. What Rosetta lacks in flashy exterior, it more than makes up for with a menu that balances innovation and simplicity.
Food and Drink: Succinct but Purposeful
Rather than offering an overwhelming number of options, Plate & Palate focuses on doing a few things really well. The cuisine? Hard to pin down. It dances between Mexican and New American with a few Italian flourishes thrown in for good measure because every traveler loves carbs. Team Tastic came here for dinner and I had a great taste of the following:
- Pan de centeno y mantequilla con hormigas chicatanas ($240 MXN)
- Rye sourdough and butter with chicatana ants
- Mole rosa, betabel y radicchio ($340 MXN)
- Pink mole, beets and radicchio
- Tamales de elote con apionabo y crema ahumada ($310 MXN)
- Corn tamales with celeriac and smoked cream
- Tagliolini de epazote con escamoles, calabacita y limón tatemado ($580 MXN)
- Epazote tagliolini with escamoles, zucchini and charred lemon
- Lechón al horno con puré de camote y salsa de achiote ($610 MXN)
- Baked suckling pig with sweet potato pureé and achiote sauce
- Hoja Santa (~$240 MXN)
- Hoja Santa Leaf
Take the pan de centeno y mantequilla con hormigas chicatanas: a dish that could easily be an afterthought elsewhere, but here it’s treated like the star of the show because you get ANTS in your butter. Chicatana is considered the caviar of Mexico. Perfectly eggy, with just enough flavour and an umami mouthfeel that lingers without overpowering, bread and butter in Mexico is never a disappointment. Rosetta's bread is considered so good that they've also opened a chain of bakeries throughout Mexico City with the recipe.
Next came the mole rosa, betabel y radicchio, a plate that felt simultaneously fun and refreshing —a feat for a dish involving purple chocolate sauce and long strands of radicchio perfect for slurping up the mole.
Another homey hit was the tamales de elote con apionabo y crema ahumada. These were no ordinary tamales. The celeriac and smoked cream were a great complement to the corn-based staple of Mexico and left a satisfying smokiness in the mouth on each bite.
Moving on to pasta, we had the tagliolini de epazote con escamoles, calabacita y limón tatemado. I say we because the restaurant decided to split the dish for us into 2 separate dishes, so the photo below is exactly half a portion. The soup made all the difference for these plump tagliolini. Known as "bird's beak chile" in Spanish, the heat in this soup was harsh but it was immediately tempered by a neutralizing milkiness. I have no idea how they managed that transition of flavour but I was all for it.
Our main was the lechón al horno con puré de camote y salsa de achiote. Pork is quite a popular ingredient in Mexico City and this lechón felt like the hallmark item on the menu to highlight this fact. The sweet potato puree was how I like all my vegetable purees at fancy restaurants and the presentation of the pork was divine with it stacked up like an opera cake dessert. It had a fun crunch on top with tender meat stacked in layers underneath.
Drinks & Dessert: Ending on a High Note
The cocktail menu is small but well-curated. I opted for the Mango Horchata, off the "sin alcohol" menu. This was a rice-based drink with equal parts mango and earthy rice-ness.
Dessert was a revelation: a crystalized leaf of hoja santa atop a bed of chocolate and caramel cream. This Hoja Santa hit all the right notes of sweet, fun to cleave into, and beauty to look at. The party kind of ends once you cleave into the sugar-fied leaf on top because it's almost too beautiful to look at.
Vibes:
Located in the Cuauhtémoc neighbourhood, the interior is both homey and warm. Thick crown mouldings and high ceilings of the original mansion are offset by what looks like an indoor garden with vines and plants wrapping themselves throughout the interior, giving the space a cozy and natural feel.
Seating is tight but thoughtfully arranged, with a mix of lounge space and more traditional dining rooms that invite larger groups or even solo diners to share space. There’s a certain informality here, as if the restaurant wants to remind you that good food doesn’t need to feel pretentious. There is seating for about 80 guests inside.
Service: Warm but Unobtrusive
The service at Rosetta is just right. Servers are knowledgeable without being overbearing, and they strike a balance between professionalism and warmth that makes you feel at home. They know their stuff, too—whether it’s explaining the nuances of an ingredient to a total foreigner or directing guests to their table. And though the restaurant was near capacity on a Wednesday night, we never felt rushed or overlooked.
It is clear that Rosetta is used to foreign travellers coming in to dine because many of our dishes were split into separate portions per couple, such as our pasta. Normally that's not an issue with me – family-style suits me just fine, but if you have a group that prefers not to mix forks, then Rosetta is happy to portion out for you where possible.
Paying the bill was a bit of a pain. We had 6 separate couples dining together and the staff had no idea how to split the bill per couple. We ended up having one person pay and everyone else paying them back.
We made this reservation 4 months in advance and I wouldn't chance it any later for a group of 10+.
Final Thoughts
One-liner: Homey Mexican mansion mixes together classic Mexican with creative flairs and New American familiarities to help foreigners enjoy elevated Mexican flavours
Highlight: Baked Suckling Pig (Lechón) or Hoja Santa
Price per person: $1200-$1400 MXN
Would I go back? Yes.