For the very first time, Michelin has introduced its esteemed restaurant guide to Mexico! During a ceremony in Mexico City on May 14, restaurants in Baja California, Quintana Roo, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Los Cabos and Nuevo León received their inaugural stars. In this first edition, 16 Mexican restaurants were awarded one star and two restaurants earned two stars.
In addition to unveiling Mexico’s first Michelin-starred restaurants, the guide also included 42 establishments in its respected Bib Gourmand list, which showcases quality restaurants offering good value. Michelin further recognized six restaurants with green stars for their sustainable and ethical practices.
From popular locales serving traditional fare and delicious tacos to sophisticated modern dishes, the first Michelin Guide Mexico demonstrates that El Águila Real is a country rich in flavor and style.
Below, view the complete list of the 2024 Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico, organized by star rating and alphabetically by region.
Two Stars
Mexico City
Enrique Olvera’s renowned restaurant features a lively, contemporary space with sharp-dressed servers and eager diners. Known for its taco omakase and seasonal tasting menu, the restaurant blends tradition and innovation in dishes, like scallop ceviche with egg salad and grilled Baja rockfish with butternut squash puree. The meal culminates with mole madre, celebrating Mexican history and cuisine. The wine list boasts many regional vintners, some exclusive to the restaurant.
Chef Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores’ restaurant, named after an Oaxacan herb, offers a chic and unpretentious dining experience behind a discreet facade. The elegant cuisine blends excellent local ingredients with creative execution. The evolving tasting menu features refined dishes, such as crab with blue corn tostada and pipian verde, enhanced with elements like galangal and lemongrass. The chef’s skill is showcased in a finale of crème fraîche sorbet, caviar and Melipona honey.
One Star
Baja California
Animalón delivers on its promise of a transporting dining experience. In season, it offers al fresco dining under a centuries-old oak tree, while colder months see a move to a pop-up space. Owned by Javier Plascencia, Animalón features contemporary Mexican cuisine with influences from across the country.
This rustic-chic collaboration from the teams behind Deckman’s and Casa de Piedra winery excels in seafood and sparkling wine. The outdoor dining area features communal tables, café lights and a lively instrumental playlist. The seafood-focused menu includes aguachiles, ceviches and warm dishes such as seared abalone. Each dish is visually stunning with balanced flavors, including clam ceviche served in clam shells on small pebbles and a crispy oyster taco.
Damiana, nestled on the Viñedos de la Reina property, features outdoor dining under shaded rows of trees. Chef Esteban Lluis’s multi-course tasting menu highlights local valley products with contemporary Mexican cuisine. The kitchen creatively plays with presentation, offering bold and brilliantly executed dishes, like crispy duck over pickled cabbage with carrot purée and duck confit wrapped in Swiss chard. Memorable desserts include pumpkin crème brûlée on mandarin dacquoise cake and guava flan with crispy phyllo sheets.
Baja California Sur
Located in the Grand Velas hotel, this plush oceanfront restaurant features a sophisticated atmosphere with a resort-formal dress code. The terrace offers bites, cocktails and views of a koi pond. The multi-course tasting menu is primarily Mexican with global influences and daring flavor combinations. Highlights include farm-raised sea scallops with miso butter and tempura-fried shiso leaf, and beef tenderloin with celery root purée, poached beets and maitake mushrooms.
Mexico City
Emilia, named after Chef Lucho Martinez’s daughter, offers an intimate dining experience with a contemporary take on Mexican seafood. Start with a cocktail at the moody 686 Bar upstairs. Top menu choices include a crispy carrot buñuelo with roe and grilled corvina with spinach in garlic foam. The signature mamey dessert features a tart, tiramisu and ice cream.
This hot spot offers a secret, Instagram-only reservation system for its covered rooftop setting adorned with lush greenery. Chef Ana Dolores González and her team create a tasting menu for two with strong technique and quality ingredients. Choice dishes include grilled cod in green mole with ripe plantain, fava beans and pumpkin seeds, and a masa and plantain tamal filled with red-tinted fish and salsa macha.
Rosetta, led by Chef Elena Reygadas, offers creative Mexican cuisine with global influences in a lively, communal setting. Dishes like cabbage tacos with warm Savoy cabbage, pistachio puree and romeritos are highlights, blending interesting flavors and textures. Sweet potato tamal with buttermilk sauce and salsa macha balances sweet and savory. Desserts, like honey jelly with brown butter ice cream and vanilla sauce, provide an exquisite finish to the meal.
Sud 777 in Mexico City’s Pedregal neighborhood offers a modern, spacious setting with a multi-course tasting menu and extensive à la carte options. Chef Edgar Núñez features dishes like kampachi tostada and Oaxacan tamal soup for starters and red snapper al pastor and local turkey with “mole amarillito” for mains. The tasting menu showcases vegetables, including beet tartare, avocado with foie gras and spinach in sherry with almond-garlic puree.
El Califa de León, a taqueria with over half a century of history, is renowned for its minimalist setting and exceptional Gaonera taco. Thinly sliced beef filet, cooked to order and seasoned with salt and lime, pairs perfectly with freshly made corn tortillas. Other options, like bistec, chuleta and costilla, also impress with high-quality meat and tortillas, making the duo of house-made salsas almost unnecessary.
Nuevo Leon
The Rivera-Río brothers (Rodrigo, Daniel and Patricio) combine their talents to create a unique restaurant showcasing the new face of Norteño cuisine. Their inventive and bold-tasting menu celebrates local ingredients and traditional dishes. Dishes include suckling pig with mole neolonés and a tender reimagined cabrito with plum and foie gras. The restaurant offers thoughtful and memorable cocktail pairings, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, emphasizing pride in local traditions and ingredients.
After 25 years, Chef Guillermo González Beristáin’s flagship restaurant remains a pillar of Monterrey’s fine dining, blending Mexican cuisine with Asian and French influences. The stylish venue offers both an à la carte menu and a tasting menu that showcases the kitchen’s skill. Dishes are flavorful and well-seasoned, featuring items like sweet tamal of winter squash with crème fraîche and caviar, and crisp-skinned quail with foie gras mousseline, pistachios and cherries. Elegant desserts include Pavlova with raspberry compote and lychee-white tea sorbet.
Oaxaca
Chef Thalía Barrios Garcia offers a colorful and creative take on traditional Oaxacan cuisine at her restaurant, featuring a shaded, breezy courtyard setting. Her menu prioritizes vegetables, as seen in dishes like local tomato salad with fruit vinaigrette on beet puree. Meatless tamales, learned from her grandmother, are a standout. Recent versions include delicate masa with duo of moles and squash blossoms. Heartfelt, comforting dishes like machucados blend tortillas and pipian salsa. The experience is complemented by ancestral beverages.
This Oaxaca favorite, with over 20 years of history, continues to innovate and refine its offerings. Set in a dazzling open-air courtyard, the restaurant features personable service and a vibrant atmosphere. Start with hoja santa filled with goat cheese in tomatillo sauce, then try the mole sampler, showcasing expert sauce work. Salsa borracha with tender pork ribs is a must-try. Finish with a light guava cheesecake topped with mamey cream. The restaurant also crafts its own mezcal for their finely made cocktails.
Quintana Roo
Back at Grand Velas resort, Chef Nahúm Velasco’s creative vision shines in a sophisticated modern tasting menu. The opulent experience includes live music and attentive service. Dishes feature novel flavor combinations, like spider crab with silky jackfruit and roasted pork with black garlic, decorated with beet and butternut squash leaves. Desserts incorporate honey from the resort’s Melipona beehives.
Ha’ Restaurant at Hotel Xcaret offers a French-influenced cuisine with a confident use of Mexican flavors and ingredients. Chef Carlos Gaytán’s training shines through with bold, creative flavor combinations and strong technique. Highlights include mushroom beignet with cauliflower crisp in truffle-mint sauce, and seared filet mignon with crispy potato mille-feuille and house-cured ikura. For a complete experience, opt for the wine pairing to explore Mexican wines.
Le Chique, nestled in Azul Beach Resort, offers a charming and swanky dining experience with polished service and theatrical presentation. The tasting menu showcases Mexico’s regions with style and personality, impressing with creativity, excellent ingredients, and impactful flavors through dishes like green passionfruit with foie gras parfait and maax ik and brûléed marrowbone with escamoles.