unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen
chevron-rightnext
Happy customers at El Califa de León.
1 / 2Photo: Fernando Llano/AP/TT
You eat standing up, surrounded by corrugated iron and with another soft drink.
It may not sound like a star restaurant, but little El Califa de León in Mexico City is now the world’s first taco stand to be praised by the Michelin Guide.
– Está chido, está padre.
Mexican slang – something like “it feels cool, it feels calm” – is chef Arturo Rivera Martínez’s reaction when the AP news agency asks for a comment about his “hole in the wall” getting a star in the world-famous guidebook.
It may well be the world’s smallest starred restaurant. The area of the premises is only three by three metres. And half of it is taken up by the grill, which Rivera Martínez emphasizes as one of his professional secrets: the trick is not to be careless with the roasting temperature, it must be a full 360 degrees.
That, and the simplicity, is the only thing he wants to reveal.
– It’s just a tortilla, red or green sauce, that’s all. And the quality of the meat.
Rivera Martínez’s suggestion for drinks to go with the food is also said to be unique for a Michelin chef:
– I suggest a coke.