Migrante

What Migrante is

Migrante is a contemporary restaurant at Chiapas 186 in Roma Norte, opened in 2021 by chef Fernando Martínez Zavala. Its subject is migration, taken literally: Mexican ingredients cooked with the techniques and seasonings that reached Mexico from Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, on the argument that this is what Mexican food has always been. The restaurant puts it as a celebration of movement, transformation and evolution.

The room reads casual-industrial rather than formal, with an open kitchen at its centre and a Japanese influence in the design that the chef attributes to his own affection for the country. A robata grill does much of the work on fish and seafood. The Michelin Guide’s own note on it singles out the young team and the welcoming attitude alongside the cooking.

Migrante is listed in the Michelin Guide Mexico as a Selected Restaurant, the guide’s base level of recommendation, picked up in the 2024 selection. That is a listing, not a star, and not a Bib Gourmand. It matters to say so clearly: the guide’s starred houses in the city are a different and shorter list.

Who cooks here

Fernando Martínez Zavala was born in Uruapan, Michoacán, and has worked in Mexican kitchens for more than twenty years. He trained at Les Moustaches, the long-running Mexico City fine dining institution, and that period led to his being named Cocinero del Año México in 2014.

Before Migrante he ran Yubán, a high-end Oaxacan restaurant in Mexico City that made La Liste, and he worked at Seneri and at Raíz Polanco. He also competed in the first season of Top Chef México. His stated method at Migrante is to put the experience of his own travels into a casual setting, combining international technique with local ingredients and local stories.

Awards and press

• Michelin Guide Mexico: Selected Restaurant, from the 2024 selection onward. No star, no Bib Gourmand.
• Fernando Martínez Zavala: Cocinero del Año México, 2014.
• Yubán, the chef’s previous restaurant, was included in La Liste.
• Top Chef México, season 1: the chef was a competitor, and he has since sat on national cooking competition juries.
• Covered by Time Out Mexico, Food & Wine en Español, Excélsior, Hotbook, Gentleman and Food and Pleasure.

How the menu works

There are three ways to eat at Migrante, and the à la carte list is the one most visitors overlook.

• Tornaviaje, six courses, the shorter tasting menu. Named for the return leg of the Manila galleon route.
• Meridiano, nine courses, the full menu.
• À la carte: snacks, six starters, four mains and three desserts, which lets you eat here for considerably less.
• Drinks: wine pairings for both menus, plus zero-alcohol pairings, and a bar list.

Recurring dishes across the guide’s notes and the restaurant’s own descriptions include a blue crab tartlet, crispy prawns with house-made mandarin kosho and radish salad, shredded venison salad, bao with suadero, aged duck breast, striped bass cooked over charcoal with mussels and a yuzu beurre blanc, and churros with charred mamey, butternut purée and seared foie gras.

What I ate in July

The plates from my visit that the caption names are the butter served with Japanese wasabi, Spanish croquetas made with French foie gras, a scallop ceviche that was as fresh as any in the city, and lamb cooked to the point of collapse. The portions were bigger than I expected for a restaurant of this kind, which is worth knowing before you add snacks to a tasting menu.

What it costs

Prices are in Mexican pesos, taken from the restaurant’s own menu in 2026, and include tax.

Item	Price
Tornaviaje, six courses	2,100 MXN, about 115 USD
Tornaviaje with wine pairing	3,400 MXN, about 185 USD
Tornaviaje with zero-alcohol pairing	2,850 MXN, about 155 USD
Meridiano, nine courses	3,000 MXN, about 165 USD
Meridiano with wine pairing	4,900 MXN, about 270 USD
À la carte snacks	315 to 575 MXN
À la carte starters	295 to 465 MXN
À la carte mains	585 to 1,125 MXN
Desserts	225 MXN

The cheapest honest version of Migrante is à la carte: a starter and a main comes to roughly 900 to 1,600 MXN per person before drinks. The tasting menus put it firmly in the top price band for Mexico City. Cards are accepted and prices move, so check the current menu when you book.

How to book

• OpenTable: the restaurant’s own recommended route, listed as Migrante, Ciudad de México.
• Instagram: @migranteroma for the current menus and any closures.
• Weekends: book ahead. The dining room is not large and both tasting menus need to be arranged in advance.

Service runs seven days a week, lunch and dinner, which is unusual at this level in Roma Norte. Lunch from 13:30 is the quieter, easier table.

Getting there

• Address: Chiapas 186, Colonia Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, 06700 Mexico City.
• Neighbourhood: the southern end of Roma Norte, close enough to the Roma Sur line that some listings file it there. Mercado Medellín is a few blocks away.
• Metro: Hospital General on Line 3 and Chilpancingo on Line 9 are each about ten minutes on foot.
• Metrobús: Line 1 on Avenida Insurgentes, stop Álvaro Obregón or Sonora, then a walk east.
• From the airport: about 12 km, 25 to 40 minutes by car depending on traffic.
• Parking: metered street parking on Chiapas and the surrounding grid. Ride apps are simpler in the evening.

Before you go

• Decide on the menu before you arrive. Six courses, nine courses or à la carte are three different evenings and three very different bills.
• Do not call it starred. It is a Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant. If a star is what you are after in this city, the list is Pujol and Quintonil at two, and nine houses at one.
• Come hungry even for the short menu. The portions are generous for the format.
• Lunch is the value play. Same kitchen, quieter room, easier booking, and the à la carte list is available.
• Ask about the migration behind a dish. The concept is the point and the team explains it without being asked twice.
• Pair it with the neighbourhood. Payna on Medellín is the casual seafood counterpoint a few streets away, and La Pantera Asador on Colima is the fire-cooking option.
• 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 runs through the plates from that July dinner in a few seconds. For every place I have filmed in the city, open my Mexico City map or browse the Mexico City recommendations.