Corn comes from Oaxaca. Robert Mendoza cooks it in an alkaline solution, lets it soak for fifteen hours, washes it, makes it into a paste from which he forms dough pieces, presses them and grills the result for fifteen seconds on each side. “I prepare my tortillas from the grain as my grandmother taught me, says this young chef born in California to Mexican farm worker parents. The process takes two days, but it’s the only way to get the flavor and texture of real tortillas. » Soft, elastic, with a strong taste of corn, these authentic tortillas were served this winter in the Parisian fashion and design store Merci, where Robert Mendoza ran an ephemeral restaurant, the Flor Cantina.
Having worked notably at Le Saint Sébastien and Vivant 2 in Paris, Robert Mendoza has until now been renowned for his refined, original, vegetal bistro cuisine… and not at all Mexican. When he started out, he preferred to travel the world to learn French or Italian techniques. “I didn’t want to be known as a Mexican who cooks Mexican food, it just seemed so cliché! », he explains today. But when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, he found himself confined to Paris, and his family began to miss food. Idle, the chef started making tacos in his kitchen, then taking orders on Instagram, delivering kits in the capital.
“It’s a solar destination, distant but accessible, with two very different coasts and nuggets”, Evane Haziza-Bonnamour and Fabien Guyon, editors of the magazine “Voyage Voyage”
The moment was propitious. As he reconnected with his roots, all of France, it seems, fell in love with Mexico. “We wanted a country that would make you dream, both urban and rural, with design, architecture and a strong culinary culture”, remember Evane Haziza-Bonnamour and Fabien Guyon, who launched their guide and magazine Travel Travel in February 2020 with an issue on Mexico, their biggest hit to date. “It’s a solar destination, distant but accessible, with two very different coasts and nuggets also in the countryside. The culinary scene and mezcal culture appeals to chefs and novices alike. »
Three years after this issue, their Instagram posts on Mexico are still breaking audience records, but their subscribers are no longer content to dream: they are asked for their addresses, from the architect’s villa to the taco stand. According to the Mexican tourism ministry, arrivals of French citizens have increased from 157,000 in 2021 to 295,000 in 2022.
You have 78.88% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
