Last Updated on January 16, 2025
Celebrating one year of Zapote
Last week, I dined at Zapote, an authentic Mexican restaurant in Shoreditch, and sampled their celebratory first birthday menu. The menu marks one year since the restaurant opened; founded by Chef Yahir Gonzalez and his co-founder Tony Geary. This was admittedly my first truly authentic Mexican culinary experience. There is a noticeable gap in the market for Mexican food in London, with most options falling into the category of Tex-Mex. When most British people think of Mexican food, it is usually a stereotypical Tex-Mex experience that springs to mind. My experience at Zapote proved to be exciting and thoroughly defied these preconceptions.
My meal started with a ‘Zapote 1’ cocktail, a twist on the restaurant’s signature ‘Zapote 70’. With a blend of tequila and Mezcal, the drink was a punchy, yet not overpowering, opening to the meal. Zapote’s menu has a wide variety of main dishes that arrive one after the other. Two guests are encouraged to order around five dishes, and the wait staff are on hand to provide recommendations for novitiate diners. My main courses were accompanied by a glass of 2021 Löss & Lehm, an Austrian Grüner Veltliner wine. My guest and I made our selections, sat back and enjoyed the sequence of dishes.
First up, we had a dish of pink bream, prickly pear agua chile, fennel and compressed cucumber accompanied by freshly baked totopos. Totopos are akin to tortillas and have a crunchy, brittle texture. I was impressed with my very first bite of the dish. The cold sensation from the pink frozen garnish over the top immediately grabbed my attention and made me consider all the elements at play within the dish. It was my first time trying prickly pear, and it was here compressed, reduced, and then blitzed with chilli, lime juice, salt, coriander, and red onion. The flavour was excellent and the pink bream itself was succulent. The fennel was also well done, providing a bitterness that suited the dish. The totopos were the perfect vehicle for each of these constituent parts that came together to create a dish that was textually varied but consistently delicious.
Next, we were treated to a duck quesadilla with endive and salsa roja. I was floored by just how good this plate was. Ostensibly, a quesadilla may appear to be an obviously tasty item: meat, cheese, and tortilla. However, this went beyond merely tasty and was, for me, the standout dish of the evening, and the best thing I have tasted in quite some time. The richness of the duck and cheese filling was balanced superbly, with a fantastic flavour profile of salt and fat. The chicory salad paired with the quesadilla was also outrageously good, with a coating of delicious salsa roja sauce, that worked doubly well partnered with the duck.
Our third course was the coal-roasted sweet potato with chipotle mayo. This was a good vegetable option to break up the meat courses and was just as delicious. The potato was soft but not overly mushy, with good constituency in each bite. The charcoal flavour left over from the cooking process was smoky and worked well with the gravel of broken wheat crumb and other vegetables sprinkled over the potato. The chipotle mayo was also a nice touch.
Following the sweet potato, we ordered the octopus grilled with pasilla chilli that was carefully configured in a pool of pipian verde, a green pumpkin seed mole. This was fantastic. I am particularly partial to squid and octopus, but putting my bias aside, I felt that the execution of the dish was undeniably well-conceived. The tentacle of octopus was served on its own, save for the sauce, demanding full focus to be given to this core ingredient. The flesh of the octopus was not uniform, with the length of the tentacle showing off the range of what is possible cooking the animal. The tip of the tentacle was crispy and charred, and its other end was cooked perfectly and had a choice texture. Paired with the pipian verde, the octopus managed to stand on its own, without the need for any other distractions on the plate.
Our final main course was suckling pig served with red cabbage, ancho chilli and a bed of steaming soft tortillas. This was an excellent dish, rivalling even the flavours of the duck quesadilla. The pork belly was cooked to perfection and pulled apart easily to allow it to be spread across the tortillas. The pork came garnished with flaky salt that elevated the impact of its taste. The fresh tortillas (served in their own mitten to maintain warmth) were delicious and were glorious when wrapped around the pork and cabbage.
To round out the meal, we tried the specially designed birthday white chocolate skull, with chocolate mezcal and prickly pear ganache. The outer shell of the skull held a sumptuous filling of whipped chocolate mezcal that had the consistency of a familiar mousse. The prickly pear gel that surrounded the skull was splattered artfully and it was satisfying to end the meal with the ingredient which was also present in the first dish. The inclusion of prickly pear is a nod to Chef Gonzalez’s personal childhood flavours and the prickly pears that grow on his wife’s family ranch. The design of the skull is also a homage by Gonzalez to his home of Aguascalientes, a city known for its El Museo Nacional de la Muerte, the National Museum of Death. This personalised dish was a fitting end to a meal that was memorable for the obvious knowledge and vision behind the menu’s inception. Indeed, everything at Zapote Mexican restaurant seems to be steeped in intention, with its décor inviting diners into an open space that conceptually, and literally, removes barriers between the diners and the grills, prep area, and the kitchen. There is an option at Zapote to dine at a twelve-seater horseshoe bar as well as the standard dining tables. I should also mention that the staff were particularly attentive and eager to help with information about the various dishes. The meal as a whole was one of many first times for me, with new ingredients showcased with inventive ingenuity, and as an introductory education in Mexican cuisine, I am keen to learn more.
Zapote is open for lunch Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 – 14:30 and for dinner Tuesday to Thursday from 17:30 – 22:00, Friday to Saturday from 17:30 – 22:30. The bar is also open Tuesday to Saturday from 12:00 to 22:00.
70 Leonard Street, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 4QX
I have dined at Zapote, and was happily surprised at the quality and range of food served. The staff were very knowledgeable with regard the food,with regard where, how it was sourced and prepared. London needed an ” authentic quality Mexican restaurant. Shoreditch has just this .
Thanks for your feedback – we did feel much the same way!