Bribón

What Bribón is

Bribón is a rooftop restaurant on the top floor of the María Condesa boutique hotel, at Calle Atlixco 132 in Hipódromo Condesa. The hotel is small, 16 rooms over five floors with interiors by Pineda Covalín, and it is the kind of building people walk past without registering, which is most of the appeal of what is on top of it: a planted terrace that gets full sun.

The cooking is Spanish at the base with Mexican ingredients worked through it and a few international detours. OpenTable files it under traditional Spanish. The menu carries a tagline under the logo on every card, canalla por naturaleza, which translates as scoundrel by nature and matches what bribón means.

It is new. At the time of writing there is no press coverage at all and only a handful of reviews online, which is both the reason to go now and the reason some basic facts below are marked as unconfirmed.

Who is behind it

I could not establish this, and it is a real gap rather than a small one. No chef is named anywhere I could find, no owner, no opening date, and no Instagram account I would be willing to print. The only listing that exists is on OpenTable.

There is some history at the address worth knowing. The hotel previously ran a restaurant called Terre and a bar called Maruka, with Oaxacan food and a long mezcal list, and a natural wine bar called NIV has also been listed at the same building. Whether Bribón replaced any of them, and whether it is the hotel’s own project or a separate tenant, is exactly what to ask when you go.

How the menu works

Three cards: food, cocktails, and a wine list.

The food splits in two. Entrantes o para compartir is the long section and the interesting one, running 190 to 590. It holds both of the dishes the place is built around, and a lot of straightforwardly Spanish cooking either side of them: Iberian ham croquettes six to an order, an ensaladilla with bonito del norte and piparras, a salpicón with habanero vinaigrette, a Galician empanada subject to availability.

Platos fuertes is shorter, six dishes from 320 to 890. The octopus and the salmon both arrive over potato purée, the octopus specifically over a Robuchon purée with a burnt chipotle reduction. There is a smash burger with truffle sauce and bacon jam at 390 and a 450 g sirloin with Café de París butter at 890, both marked prime beef on the card.

Two things repeat across the menu and are worth spotting. Gold appears twice, on the foie gras bikini and again on the strawberry dessert. And anise flambé is a house move: the garlic prawns are flamed with Spanish anise, and the strawberries are glazed over an anise flame at the end of the meal. Several dishes also carry the word Legada, which the tiradito description reveals is the name of their own salsa macha.

Cocktails are five house drinks at a flat 270 and a row of classics from 185 to 320. The wine list is mostly Spanish, with Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas and Toro, plus two Mexican reds from Valle de Parras and Valle de Guadalupe and one French rosé. Glasses start at 180 and bottles run from 725 to 10,490.

What I ate

The caviar omelette, which is the reason to come. A Japanese-style omelette over caramelised onion confit with 5 grams of osetra on top, assembled at the table and eaten with a pearl spoon. Then the foie gras bikini under its gold leaf, the mussels glazed in spicy coconut curry, and the octopus and the salmon, both over that purée. The smash burger with truffle sauce is there for the table that wants one. To finish, the Basque cheesecake.

What it costs

Item	Price
Tostada de atún rojo	190 MXN
Carpaccio de calabacín · ensaladilla · ensalada fría Bribón	280 · 320 · 320 MXN
Cogollos gratinados · croquetas de jamón ibérico, 6 pcs	340 · 360 MXN
Bikini de foie gras al oro de 24K	390 MXN
Mejillones al curry spicy · aguachile · camarones en ajillo	390 · 390 · 395 MXN
Tiradito de atún rojo · salpicón a la española	480 · 490 MXN
Falsa omelette con caviar, 5 g osetra	590 MXN
Popcorn de pollo con salsa Thai	320 MXN
Pulpo asado over Robuchon purée · hamburguesa with truffle	390 MXN each
Salmón with salsa macha and honey, 300 g	480 MXN
Bacalao, 300 g	590 MXN
Solomillo, 450 g, Café de París butter	890 MXN
Tarta vasca · tarte tatin · piña caramelizada · fresas Éclat Doré	280 · 280 · 280 · 320 MXN
House cocktails · classics · wine by the glass	270 · 185 to 320 · 180 to 220 MXN

Worth separating two things here. The caviar at 590 is genuinely inexpensive for osetra, and that is the honest basis for calling it a treat. The restaurant as a whole is not inexpensive: a starter, a main and a cocktail lands around 1,100 to 1,250 a head, and OpenTable places it in its top price band. Go for the caviar and the view and it is good value; order through the menu and it is a proper night out.

How to book

• OpenTable carries Bribón, Ciudad de México, and is the only booking channel I could confirm.
• No Instagram handle is verified. Several accounts use the name; I would not guess one.
• Go for the light. It is a roof terrace with planting and the appeal is the afternoon and early evening sun.
• Ask what is in. The Galician empanada is printed as subject to availability.
• Confirm the hours, which are not published anywhere I could find.

Getting there

• Address: Calle Atlixco 132, Hipódromo Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, 06170 Mexico City, top floor of the María Condesa hotel.
• Finding it: the entrance is a small hotel rather than a restaurant frontage, so look for the hotel and go up.
• Metro: Patriotismo and Chilpancingo on Line 9 are both a walk, and Condesa is easiest on foot once you are in it.
• By car: Condesa parking is difficult in the evening, so an Uber or DiDi is simpler.

Before you go

• Order the omelette first. It is the dish, it is served at the table, and it is the cheapest caviar you are likely to find in the neighbourhood.
• The gold is on two dishes, not one. The foie gras bikini and the strawberry dessert.
• Watch for the anise flame. Two dishes are finished with it, one savoury and one sweet.
• The cheesecake is bought in from Casa Rivera, which the menu says openly.
• Wine by the glass starts at 180, which is the easiest way to keep the bill sensible.
• It is new and barely documented. Hours, chef and ownership are all worth asking about on site, because none of it is published.
• Check the hours before you go. There is no published schedule for this address yet, so confirm before making a trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above is the short version: the terrace, the caviar and the gold. For the rest of the city, open my map or browse the Mexico City recommendations.