#17 Sud 777

On the south side of Mexico City, near Six Flags Mexico, you'll find Sud 777 nestled in the mostly residential neighborhood of Jardines del Pedregal. The unassuming exterior accommodates what I can only describe as an intricate treehouse type setting inside.

Just past the hostess stand, the restaurant drops a level below entry where a tree sprouts up next to a pond and tables for seating. As you make your way across the entry bridge, you reach what appears to be a central structure with doors to decks and more seating on either side and ahead. This is easily my new favorite restaurant setting.

I opted for the tasting menu with the juice & infusion pairing. Not very big on wine pairings when I'm dining solo; good wine is wasted on me.

First of the snacks was croquette with a mayonnaise made of ant larvae. Crispy and more dense than a potato puff from Gregoire's in Berkeley, with less of a skin. Great potato flavor with cool, light mayo.

Next was the fruit of a prickly pear cactus that has been soaked in limestone water to soften the texture, cradling a gel of strawberry and ancho chili. Cactus was really soft and tasted like a slightly tart pear. Not too sweet.

The final snack was like a black garlic custart housed in a gelatin of cacao. It was like a little chocolate truffle. You got the essence of black garlic, for sure, but it was not overpowering.

The first appetizer was a tomato from the house garden, salted, vacuum sealed and sous vide for hours. Topped with a ceviche of prickly pear and pomegranate seeds, the tomato sat in a green sauce that was a lemony licorice flavor with a spicy kick. It all reminded me like a thin gazpacho. It was unique and refreshing.

Next was a plate of cherries from Chihuahua topped with anchovies and hoja santo. The cherries were meaty, slightly sweet and not tart at all. Reminded me of a Mott's fruit snack, but less gelatinous. The anchovies were like soft beef jerky pieces, adding a little saltiness to the sweet. The hoja santo sets it off, as per us'ge.

The first of the mains was grilled lettuce with two types of mayo: white was some chili pepper and the green avocado(?). The lettuce was surprisingly good, like it was steamed in some flavorful stock. It was like the intersection of korean water kimchi and ugeojiguk (우거지국). The accompanying mole was spicy and good. Almost like a korean black bean jook. The type was said to be the most important of the types of moles, but I didn't quite catch which.

The second main was seared tuna, seasoned with salt and chive oil. It was super soft and tender but could have used a little more salt and maybe some fresh chives. The accompaniment was a parsnip puree that was the consistency of the coagulated top layer of a hot pot of chowder. Absolutely delicious.

The final main was a pozole of pork belly, spices and toasted corn. The soup base was an emulsion of pozole corn, onion, garlid, spices, and chiles de árbol. It was topped with toasted corn, lime juice and grilled pork belly. The pork belly was fatty but had a meaty consistency like korean chadol. Pozole wasn't as watery as I had come to expect, but not quite chowder thick either. Almost like a lightly limey corn based cassoulet.

The first dessert was almost like a cheesecake à la mode. The cojita cheese base had a rich consistency of cake batter and a hint of saltiness. The asparagus ice cream and globs of reduction were great together.

Next was a two types of dragonfruit marinated in gin topped with lavander and peach ice cream. You definitely taste the gin in the dragonfruit which was had the texture of super ripe, soft kiwi.

The last dessert was a typical fruit of Mexico with a toasted almond crust. I believe the ice cream was made from the pixtle or seed of the fruit. There fruit had a light richness like a custard or mousse dessert. Really good, like pumpkin pie filling but not as sweet. Maybe a bit more like kombucha squash. Ice cream was good and tasted almost like coffee.

From start to finish the meal took 2.5 hours. It was about an hour and 45 min in when we arrived at desserts.

I really liked the music here. The music fun and plaful. It had a lot of my favorites from Polo & Pan and L'Imperatrice, as well as some jazzy soulful songs from the likes of Jorja Smith. I think it would be a cool place to bring a group of friends or a fun way to end a day at Six Flags with your special someone.