Interview: Chef Roberto Solís on Mexican Food and the Flavours of Yucatán

At the centre of his cooking are some of Yucatán’s defining flavours: achiote, sour orange, habanero and recado negro, alongside techniques shaped by smoke, fire and cooking underground. But Roberto’s approach begins with something simpler – the ingredient in front of him.

“I’m a chef always seeking not to be comfortable. My approach to food is always about the ingredient – seasonality, freshness, lightness, and of course, flavor. Everything I cook starts from what the land is giving us at that moment, and my job is to treat it with respect and let it speak.”

It is a philosophy that has developed over a career spanning more than 23 years, although Roberto’s relationship with food began much earlier.

Growing up, some of his formative memories were of the food being prepared around him at home, from Saturdays spent watching his father grill to his grandmother making tortillas using ingredients bought fresh from the market.

“My earliest memories of food go back to when I was really young – my father grilling every Saturday, and my grandmother cooking, making handmade tortillas, everything fresh from the mercado. That’s when I realised that becoming a chef was what I was meant to do.”

Those early experiences continue to influence his cooking. As his career has developed, the ingredients, traditions and techniques of Yucatán have remained fundamental to the food he creates.

Asked which best tell the story of the region, Roberto points to a combination of ingredients and methods that have shaped its distinctive culinary identity.

“Achiote, naranja agria (sour orange), habanero, recado negro, the use of smoke, and cooking underground in a pib. Together they tell the story of Yucatán: a cuisine shaped by Mayan roots and centuries of outside influence, where fire, earth and time do as much of the work as the cook. These are the flavours I grew up with, and they’re the foundation of everything we do.”

For international diners who have yet to discover Yucatecan cooking, Roberto believes there are several dishes that deserve to be far better known.

“Dishes like pavo en relleno negro, papadzules, and tikin xic tell you so much about Yucatán, and they deserve to be far better known. Relleno negro, for example – turkey in a jet-black recado of charred chiles – has this haunting, smoky depth that you find almost nowhere else in the world. These are dishes with real history behind them, and I think anyone who loves food would be moved by them.”

His own cooking takes those foundations and approaches them through a contemporary lens. If there is one dish that Roberto feels particularly represents him as a chef, it is black onions with xcatic chile mayonnaise.

“It looks simple, but it carries everything I care about: a humble, local ingredient treated with real technique, the smoke and depth of Yucatán, and a little heat from the xcatic. It’s familiar and unexpected at the same time – which is exactly what I want my food to be.”

That focus on ingredients extends to the way Roberto develops his menus. Seasonality and relationships with local producers determine what arrives in the kitchen and, consequently, what reaches the plate.

“They’re essential. The moment an ingredient comes into season, we start working with it and build new dishes around it – the whole menu moves to that rhythm. Our relationships with local producers are the backbone of the kitchen; when you cook this way, the season decides the menu, not the other way around.”

Over more than two decades, Roberto has built and led Michelin-recognised restaurants while continuing to develop his understanding of his own region and what he wants his cooking to communicate.

Looking back at the beginning of his career, he believes that sense of clarity is something that could only have developed with experience.

“I wish I’d had more discipline, more maturity, and a deeper knowledge of my own region earlier on – a clearer sense of what I really wanted to say through my food. But that kind of clarity only comes with time. It’s taken me more than twenty-three years to get here, and honestly, I don’t think there’s any shortcut. You have to live it.”

Michelin recognition has inevitably brought a greater international spotlight and a new audience to Roberto’s restaurants. What it has not done, he says, is fundamentally alter how they cook.

“Michelin changed the restaurants, of course – especially in terms of the guests now coming through our doors. But the way we do things hasn’t changed at all. If anything, it’s given us a platform to keep climbing – to take the next step, and the one after that – while staying completely faithful to who we are. Our philosophy is the same: to showcase Yucatán, the same flavors we’ve always loved, but more refined and more thought through. In the end, it’s simply about trying to be better.”

For UK diners, the opportunity to experience Roberto’s food closer to home has yet to materialise. There are currently no UK appearances in his calendar, but Britain is somewhere he would be keen to cook should the right opportunity arise.

“If the right opportunity came along, I’d be there in a heartbeat.”

After more than 23 years as a chef, Roberto’s attention remains firmly on what he can discover next. It is a mentality that circles back to his description of himself at the beginning: a chef determined not to become too comfortable.

“Curiosity – discovering new things and refusing to settle into my comfort zone. The real challenge is to improve against myself, to be better than I was. That’s what keeps pushing me toward new ideas and new goals. There’s always more to reach for – and I always want more.”

Quick Fire Questions

Where was the best meal you’ve eaten recently?

Noma.

What’s one dish you think everyone should experience at least once?

A truly great taco.

Who is the chef you’d most like to cook for?

Anthony Bourdain.

What is one ingredient you couldn’t live without?

Corn.

What’s your go-to drink after service?

A glass of silky red wine.