Alterna

What Alterna is

Alterna is a tasting menu restaurant at Juan de la Barrera 112 in Condesa, Mexico City. It opened in 2026 as the newest project of Gruppo Noi, the Italian-Mexican group behind Vecchio Forno Trattoria, Casa d’Italia Ristorante and the Magazzino wine bar a few streets away on Pachuca.

The format is a small dining room with a double central bar, two tasting menus of three or five courses, and a short a la carte for people who do not want to commit to a set sequence. There is a long wine list and a cocktail programme, and the room is designed to be sat in for a while: the lighting is recalibrated through the evening and there is a proper hi-fi system rather than a playlist on a speaker.

The name is a statement of intent. The restaurant was going to be Osteria Alterna, and the group dropped the osteria to avoid promising a particular cuisine. What arrives is Italian in technique and global in reference, with Mexican ingredients used where the kitchen wants them.

Who cooks here

Cosimo Branca is head chef at Alterna and executive chef of Gruppo Noi. His training is Italian: he worked at the Michelin-starred Atman under Igles Corelli, collaborated with Gambero Rosso, and cooked at Coro Ristorante in Orvieto before Mexico. In Mexico City he ran the kitchen at Magazzino, the group’s wine bar and chef’s table in Condesa, which is where most people in the city first ate his food.

Above him sit Patrizio Cesarano, the founder and creative director of Gruppo Noi and the chef behind Magazzino, and Nicolo Cesarano, co-founder and managing director. Alterna is described by the group as the next stage of that portfolio rather than a spin-off of any one of its restaurants.

How the menu works

Alterna is a choose-your-length restaurant rather than a single fixed menu. The kitchen writes one sequence and you decide how much of it you want.

• Three courses, 1,395 MXN: the short version, and the sensible one on a weekday.
• Five courses, 1,995 MXN: the longer sequence, and the one worth the trip.
• What both include: a welcome bite, the house bread with “Aceit-illa”, the courses themselves, and petit fours to close.
• One rule: the tasting menu has to be chosen by everyone at the table, so agree on the length before you sit down.
• A la carte: a short list arranged in three groups, with a minimum of two dishes per person, desserts not counted.
• Drinks: not included in either menu. There is a deep wine list, a three-glass pairing called Alterna, and both classic and signature cocktails.

The a la carte is the clearest picture of what the kitchen is doing. The first group is cold and sharp: hamachi with fermented tomato, lovage and cherry at 450 MXN, asparagus with pistachio, hoja santa and kaffir lime at 390, and a scallop with jalapeño, green apple and Asetra caviar at 880. The second group is the pasta, which is the clearest trace of the group’s Italian side: lumache with 30-month Parmigiano Reggiano, mushrooms and BBQ chicken at 540, chitarra with tomato, coconut and fig leaf at 510, and agnolotti of lamb with star anise and lemon verbena at 540. The third is the mains: pork with chamoy, achiote and grapefruit at 650, chicken with tosazu, spinach and bacon at 620, totoaba with bergamot, sake and a bone sauce at 690, and grilled saddle of lamb with pistachio and a raspberry jus gras at 650. The bread, a grilled potato focaccia with sage butter, is 140.

What I ate

I went in July 2026 and took the five-course menu, which came to about 105 USD a head and included both a pasta course and a main. That is the useful thing to know when you are choosing between the two lengths: the pasta is not an add-on, it sits inside the sequence.

What it costs

Prices below are from the printed menu on my visit in 2026. They are in Mexican pesos, and they move.

Item	Price
Three-course tasting menu, per person	1,395 MXN, about 73 USD
Five-course tasting menu, per person	1,995 MXN, about 105 USD
Alterna wine pairing, three glasses	700 MXN for 60 ml pours, 1,200 MXN for 120 ml
A la carte, starters	390 to 880 MXN
A la carte, pasta	510 to 540 MXN
A la carte, mains	620 to 690 MXN
Bread and “Aceit-illa”	140 MXN

Drinks are not included in either tasting menu. Five courses with the larger pairing comes to about 3,195 MXN a head before anything else, which puts Alterna in the top price band in Condesa, alongside the neighbourhood’s better known tasting menus. The cheaper way in is the bar: two dishes a la carte, a glass of wine, no menu commitment. Confirm current prices when you book, because a restaurant this new adjusts its menus often.

How to book

Reservations are recommended. The dining room is small and Thursday to Saturday fills.

• Instagram: @alterna.restaurant, which is the channel the restaurant points people to.
• Walk-ins: the bar is deliberately held for walk-ins and last-minute reservations.
• Timing: Tuesday to Thursday the restaurant serves dinner only, from 18:00 to 23:00. Friday and Saturday it runs from 14:00 to midnight, and Sunday from 14:00 to 18:00. It is closed on Mondays.
• Groups: ask before booking a large table. The room is not built for it.

Getting there

• Address: Juan de la Barrera 112, Condesa, 06140 Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City.
• Neighbourhood: a residential street in Condesa, a few minutes from Avenida Nuevo Leon and its bars, and a short walk from Parque Mexico.
• Metrobus: Line 1 along Insurgentes, at the Sonora or Campeche stops, is about a ten minute walk.
• Metro: Chilpancingo on Line 9 is about fifteen minutes on foot.
• Driving: Condesa parking is difficult in the evening. A taxi or a ride app is easier, and valet is common on the main avenues rather than on the side streets.
• On foot: the walk from Parque Mexico or Parque Espana is pleasant and well lit, which makes Alterna easy to pair with a drink nearby.

Before you go

• Agree on the length before you sit down. Three courses or five is the first question you will be asked, and the whole table has to pick the same one.
• These are tasting portions. The plates are composed and small. If you want a full plate of pasta rather than a course of it, order a la carte.
• Tell them about allergies when you book. The menu says dietary requests are handled subject to what the kitchen has that day, which is a softer promise than most places make.
• The bar is the flexible option. No reservation and a la carte, though the kitchen asks for a minimum of two dishes per person.
• Book for weekends. Thursday to Saturday is when the room is full, and Friday and Saturday are the only afternoons it serves.
• Wine is the point, not an afterthought. The group came to Alterna from a wine bar, and nothing to drink is included in the menus, so budget for the pairing or a bottle.
• Pair it with a walk. Condesa’s two parks are minutes away and the streets around Juan de la Barrera are made for a slow walk afterwards.
• Check the hours before you go. The hours on this page come from the venue’s public listings, which drift, so confirm on Google Maps or the venue’s own channels before a special trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above is the short version of the room and the plates, filmed on my visit. For the rest of the city, open my map or browse the Mexico City recommendations.