Le Chique is quite the unique dining experience. We have been to the restaurant twice. The first time in 2011 when we stayed in a Karisma resort for the first time. The resort was named Azul Sensatori at that time and is now called Azul Beach. We had a fantastic experience, but I don’t think we fully appreciated everything we experienced. We traveled to Mexico again in February 2023 to celebrate 40 years of being a couple and thought a return to Le Chique on Valentine’s Day would be appropriate. This is the tale of that meal, as best as we can remember it. I took notes as the courses were presented but know I didn’t capture all the fine details explained to us. Rhonda took photos of each course to help our memory.
We are staying at El Dorado Royale, a Karisma resort a little south of the town of Puerto Morelos, on the Yucatan peninsula in a region known as the Riviera Maya. We need to take a taxi to the sister resort, which is on the other side of Puerto Morelos. Security is tight at the gate both ways, with the taxi driver having to provide our names, his name, his taxi number, and our destination. We arrive without incident and are curious to see Azul Beach after so many years. Not too much has changed, and we enjoy the stroll through memory lane and the flora on the way to the restaurant. We are early and decide to have a drink at the Zavaz bar overlooking the Caribbean. There is a wedding party moving from the bar to the beach when we arrive. Having a destination wedding on Valentine’s Day must have taken some coordination. After a bit we get checked in at the restaurant and have a seat in the lounge area where we wait to be seated.
The restaurant is small, and completely open. Some short walls with small recesses for stemware and other accoutrements break up the space a bit. The lounge is to one side and has five couples in it, waiting to be seated. The menu is fixed and extensive, so the meals are paced appropriately. Being seated at your table triggers a series of events that are timed so each course that is being prepared for each table is being prepared at a different time. Thus, when the appetizer courses are finished in the kitchen for the first table, then the appetizer courses for the second table can be started while different the staff in the kitchen begin working on the next courses for the first table. At least that is how I imagine things proceeding in the kitchen given the pacing and detailed attention given to the presentation of each plate. Also, the fact I never see another table eating the same course at the same time we are contributes to this assumption.
Once seated our napkins are plucked from the table by our waiter with long tweezers and placed in our laps with a flourish. The sommelier comes by and presents us with three different wine pairing options. These are displayed on a tablet where we can explore each wine to help decide. There are a couple of different grades of international wine selections, and then one that is almost all Mexican wines. Since the meal will be focused on showcasing Mexican flavors from around the country, we opt to go for the Mexican pairing. We have had Mexican wines before, and they are quite good. We don’t see them at all north of the border because production is not much larger than what the Mexican restaurant industry consumes. I will proceed by inserting pictures of the courses followed by a description in the paragraph that follows.
The waiter first brings by an aperitif while our wine selection is being prepared. The aperitif is a play on a common mezcal drink that has orange juice in it. It is served in a small wooden cup with cricket salt on part of the rim. I have had cricket salt before, which is traditional to serve with mezcal drinks. It is roasted red grasshoppers ground with chilis and sea salt. My only issue with it this time is the gelatinous substance they used to stick it to the rim. I don’t find it appealing, but the drink is tasty. Rhonda avoids the salt altogether because she doesn’t eat bugs.
The first set of appetizer courses is brought to the table. There are four items, two of which are single bites and two which are two bites, or a single large bite. It starts with a margarita ball. A marble sized chocolate ball is filled with margarita ingredients and wrapped in gold foil. It is nestled in a bed of gold painted corn kernels within a black, rocky bowl. When taken in one bite the drink bursts into your mouth and is very tasty. The next is a guacamole bite that looks like a quail’s egg sitting in a nest of pepitas. The egg shell is a gelatin substance that has the consistency of cooked egg whites. There is a black spot on the shell where it was pressed into some ground, toasted pepitas. Again, you take it in one bite and the shell and contents blend in your mouth to give you the taste combination. The third item is a small piece of fried venison topped with crispy onions which has flowers and micro greens perched on it. It is presented on a plate with sand under it making the morsels looks like seas urchins wearing a flowered wreath on the beach. This we take in two very delicious bites. Lastly, there is a Caesar salad roll which has been present in in a hollowed-out cavity in a book. The book has a map highlighting the location of the restaurant in Tijuana where the Caesar salad was invented. The roll is about an inch and a half long and has the wrapper made of crushed croutons surrounding the ingredients of a classic Caesar salad. When eaten at once, the ingredients blend to create the salad in your mouth. The start of the meal has been wonderful.
The next course is presented on its own. There is a bowl full of unshelled walnuts. On the top of the pile are what looks like two shelled, whole walnuts. They are foie gras appetizers encased in a shell with a snap like almond bark, though not that substance. It is tasty and the shell is a nice crunch to go with the foie gras. Another foie gras dish follows which is also served on its own. A passion fruit shell nestled in a decorative arrangement of leaves is brought out for each of us. When the top half of the rind is removed to reveal the contents, we see a beautiful soup. It is a cold passion fruit soup over the top of a piece of foie gras. On top of the soup are small dots of various fruit purees. Over the top of that in a lovely arrangement are several small flowers. Within the ring of flowers is a small bit of ground chili, though not a hot chili. The presentation is fantastic and almost too pretty to eat. Eat we do, however. The tartness of the passion fruit mixed with the fatty foie gras blends into a delectable bite. Fortunately, the soup provides four or five bites of this culinary artistry.
The next course comes in two separate parts that are joined at the table. Firstly, there is a small, wide bowl that has a rim that gives the impression of being carved out of bone. In the middle is a small amount of a dark green soup or puree of corn and poblano chili. Second, there is a wand shaped like a bone that has a single green, triangular chip perched on the end of it. The chip is the same two base ingredient made in a different fashion. On top sits puree of black beans, a green eggy mixture, and a lovely presentation of flowers and micro greens. We are instructed to place the chip in the bowl on top of the soup and eat them together. The combination is delicious blend of tastes with different textures represented.
The next set of five courses takes us to the ocean. Each is presented separately along with a bowl with two “floating” spoons and a centerpiece. The centerpiece is a large dish with a ring of seaweed and other greens that the waiter pours a liquid into. The liquid creates a plume of mist that settles until it looks like fog rolling in on the seashore. At the start we have a single oyster each served in a half shell with a coconut and lime mixture. The shell is decorated with tiny flowers and set in a dish full of the same seaweed seen in the centerpiece. Neither Rhonda or I are fans of raw oysters, but I give it a try. The flavors are good, but the texture of the raw oyster still puts me off a bit. Next, we have a thin slice of raw yellowtail, my favorite sushi, served on top of a blue corn tortilla construction with some other ingredients I didn’t catch. Taken in one bite it is very lovely and flavorful. A great recovery from the raw oyster. There is a crab carapace turned upside down in a bowl of pebbles and filled with pebbles itself. On top of the rocky bed are two tiny rolls with salmon row and a salty fish in them. This is another wonderful single bite. There are two long spoons, each balanced in a crevasse in a wood block. On the bowl of the spoon is another single bite consisting of a dollop of a black bean mixture topped with a crisp and then some caviar. Again, the combination of textures and flavors in the mouth works wonderfully. The last course requires us to use the spoons suspended on some clear film to look they are floating. It is a large clam shell half nestled in a wooden box. In the shell is a smoked clam in a dark mole. There is an array of flowers and micro greens setting to one side while some powdered chicharon is sprinkled on the other. The dish has some spice to it and the mole complements the clam very well.
As you can tell by now, presentation is very important and a way to entertain the eyes and get the brain excited for what is to come. The table is cleared, but we stay at the sea. Next a bowl that looks like concentric rings of waves is placed down. In the bowl is another mole in which a shaved slice of a large scallop is covering a shrimp. It is served with a small tortilla round that we are to scoop the ingredients onto. The last touch is michelada. Michelada is a spicy Mexican drink that combines Clamato, cerveza, and hot sauce. They have frozen the drink and turned it into a powdered ice. The waiter takes a big spoonful and quickly splashes it into the dish. Upon contact the powder produces a smoke that rises and then dissipates. If some of the michelada dust is taken by itself, it melts on your tongue and turns back into the cocktail. I enjoy the dish, but Rhonda is starting to slow down. She takes a couple of bites but doesn’t finish the course. She knows there is much more to come and has to start being conservative.
The last of the seafood items is beautiful. There is a combination of some small pieces of lobster topped with small dots of apple puree sitting in a bowl. Resting on top of that are three white flowers and several purple flowers. The waiter drizzles some dark mole around the perimeter, creating a wonderfully colorful scene. The deep and slightly spicy mole combines well with the rich lobster and tangy apple. Once again, taken together a wonderful experience for the mouth is created.
Beef is big in Mexico and a last couple of entrée courses featuring that are next. The first is very playful. A wooden board is brought out that has what appears to be a feather duster on it. A thin handle, like a long chopstick has a piece of veal skewered on it. Surrounding that is a mass of paper that they have made out of onions. Another dark mole is drizzled over the onion mass. Charred onions have been turned into a dust that is sprinkled over the duster. There is a small corn tortilla served with the dish. The waiter instructs us to put the tortilla in our palm, place the duster in that, then squeeze and pull the whole combination off of the skewer to make a taco. This mole compliments the onion and veal very well and I can eat the whole affair in a couple of bites. This is Rhonda’s favorite course.
The last of the savory courses is upon us. I too am starting to fill up. While every course is small, or even a single bite, it all adds up. The waiter presents us with a selection of sharp knives in a box, and we each choose one. A plate that looks like crackled earth is brought out. On it are three small items. The first is lengua set on some eggplant puree and topped with a chocolate mole. Next to that is a small semi-circle that looks like a grilled onion, but is instead potato that has been thinly sliced and formed into an onion shape. Last is a bit of cauliflower imbedded with micro greens. There is a small green, soft tortilla that can be used to make a lengua taco. Rhonda doesn’t care for the tongue, but I find it pleasing. The hit of the plate is the potato turned into an onion. At this point, even I am sampling everything without finishing. We have been observing a couple of tables near us that are a course of two ahead, and we know there is a lot yet to come.
The first of the desert courses is light and citrusy. There is a bed of snow on a plate that looks like a snowfield itself. Thin sheets resembling cracked ice sit on top of the snow. Then a large lacey maple leaf that give the impression of a sparkling snowflake sits on the top. This is one of those dishes that is so light and refreshing that you can’t stop eating it, even when you know you should. Everything melts in the mouth and wakes the palette back up after the heavier previous beef courses, somewhat like a sorbet.
The next desert is based on the honey from melipona bees. This is a small, stingless bee that live in Yucatan, Mexico. We are presented with a primitive looking wood half cylinder. There is a small jar of honey in the depression and a honeycomb shaped mat suspended over the second half. On the mat sits two lovely looking treats. There is a white meringue between two crisps that are like a cross between a waffle cone and graham cracker. On top sits a honeycomb shaped wafer. All around the sides there are flowers imbedded in the meringue. We are told to drizzle a little of the honey of the top and enjoy. The honey is lighter and thinner than the honey we are used to. It also tastes of flowers, particularly roses. The treat is lighter than expected and very delicious.
Next comes chocolate. We are presented with wide, dark colored bowls. In the center is a chocolate moon sitting on a bed of ice cream pebbles like Dip-N-Dots. These are white, gold, silver and brown. We are told to crack open the moon and eat everything together. Upon cracking the moon with a spoon we see a small amount of mousse and a cakey substance. The chocolate flavor is deep and mixed with cinnamon and chili. It is deliciously decadent without being too rich. Neither of us has a prayer of finishing it though, which is a shame.
Three courses are served together to finish the meal. There is a dish that looks like a hollowed out cocoa pod. The dish is filled with whole cocoa beans and sitting on top is what looks like a bite-sized donut about an inch and a half wide. We are told these are liquid donuts. There is a thin shell filled with fluid. We are just to take then them as a single bite. Upon biting the whole thing fills your mouth with the flavors of a cinnamon donut. The effect is quite amazing. That is the last bite I can manage, though. There is a tray with a series of truffles that look like marbles. There is also a glass tower with various cavities in it that hold different chocolate coated items. We ask the waiter if we can take the chocolates away with us. He says that is possible and proceeds to package them up so they don’t get mixed together. We will enjoy these the next day and discover the marbles are peanut butter, caramel, vanilla, cinnamon and dark chocolate. The items from the tower are a couple of nuts and seeds, peppercorns, raspberry, golden raisin, coffee bean and chicharron.
The meal has been a fabulous experience. The wines, which I neglected to take notes on, were well paired and complimented the food. The food was beautiful, playful, unusual and delicious. Only a couple of courses didn’t suit our tastes, but that is really good when you span twenty-two courses. The problem is there are twenty-two courses. We talk with the waiter as he escorts us to the lobby and our taxi. We find out he has been at the restaurant for ten years. We chat about his experiences during the pandemic and other items. One that we all agree on is that an option to dine on fewer courses should be provided, even if the shorter list is still fixed. Rhonda and I agree that it has been the most original dining experience we have ever had and appreciate the culinary artistry that was presented which entertained all of the senses.
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