Salazar

What Salazar is

Salazar is a restaurant and terrace on the eighth floor of Paseo de la Reforma 333, directly facing the Ángel de la Independencia. It opened in early 2023, developed by ITERATIVA and co-created with Edo Kobayashi, the restaurateur behind Rokai, Sushi Kyo and Enomoto Coffee, whose group also runs places in Miami, New York and Tokyo.

The room is the opposite of what the address suggests. The architect Alfonso López-Velarde built a continuous wooden structure, and the intention was a farm building, a barn dropped into the middle of the city, set against the glass and concrete towers on every side.

The news is the kitchen rather than the restaurant. Chef Ricardo Galván took over and rewrote the menu into something deeply Mexican and tied to the Gulf, which Mexican food press covered in May 2026. Almost everything is cooked over firewood and charcoal, the kitchen is open, and vegetables get the same treatment as protein.

Who cooks here

Ricardo Galván is from Xalapa, in Veracruz, and started cooking at twenty. He has worked at Máximo Bistrot, Em and Loup Bar in Mexico City, plus kitchens in the Riviera Maya, California and the Bahamas. He describes his own style as no style, so that each dish is left to speak for itself.

His framing of the menu is the interesting part. He treats the Gulf of Mexico not as a region to represent but as a historic crossing point between Asia, Europe and Mexico, which is why a plate of baby corn arrives with XO sauce and a tostada arrives with aka miso and yuzu.

A note on credentials, because it gets repeated wrongly. Salazar holds no Michelin distinction. Máximo Bistrot and Em, on Galván’s résumé, both hold a star in the Michelin Guide Mexico, and Salazar’s previous chef had worked at Martín Berasategui and Akelarre. Those are other restaurants’ awards.

How the menu works

One page, no tasting menu, and everything ordered to the centre of the table to share. The kitchen runs on wood and charcoal.

• Starters, 110 to 520: Caesar toast on sourdough 110, tripe sope 180, roasted baby corn with jocoque and XO 180, kampachi tostada with avocado, aka miso and yuzu 180, romeritos with green pipián 180 or 280 with shrimp, creole rice with beans, shito sauce, basil and Jerusalem artichoke 235, duck enmoladas in black mole 280, pork shank tacos on homemade roti 300, Ensenada oysters 430 cold or 450 hot, tongue in adobo made with smoked wagyu 490, roasted shrimp in chipotle meco and coffee butter with focaccia 520.
• Salads, 210 to 245: radicchio and gremolata with kale and orange 210, endive with butter lettuce, thai sauce, mint and furikake 220, tomatoes and bagna cauda with garlic cream and fried shallot 245.
• Mains, 310 to 1,600: roasted parsnip with celery root, caramelised cauliflower and mole manchamantel 310, catch of the day al ajillo with blue corn tortillas 520, mussels with chorizo, kaffir and eureka lemon 650, braised pork shank in adobo 790, half roasted chicken from Campo Alegre Farm 900, Veracruz-style red snapper 1,300, national rib eye with morita chilli jus 1,600.
• Sides: sourdough 112, hoagie 150, mashed potato 140, fries 220.
• Desserts, 95 to 220: ice cream or sorbet 95, flan with Valencia orange, Veracruz vanilla and smoked caramel 197, coconut tres leches with diplomat cream and miso caramel 210, Choconube of creamy chocolate, vanilla ice cream and a flamed marshmallow 220.

Weights on the menu refer to the complete dish with the protein weighed raw, and prices include IVA. Cash and all cards including Amex are taken, and the menu states that a tip is not obligatory.

What I ate

The roasted baby corn is the dish to start with. The jocoque underneath it is a thick strained yogurt, Mexico’s version of labneh and a Lebanese inheritance, and with the XO sauce it turns into something you want bread for. Order bread, because the menu charges for it separately and you will want it.

The tomatoes with bagna cauda and fried shallot were the other starter worth the space. For the table, the Veracruz-style red snapper at 700 grams is the centrepiece and the most on-story dish on the menu, given where the chef is from. The coconut tres leches closed it, with miso caramel and toasted coconut rather than the syrupy version.

What it costs

Prices are from the printed menu dated 24 September 2026, in Mexican pesos, IVA included.

Item	Price
Caesar toast	110 MXN
Roasted baby corn with jocoque and XO	180 MXN
Kampachi tostada · tripe sope · romeritos	180 MXN each
Creole rice with beans and shito sauce	235 MXN
Tomatoes and bagna cauda	245 MXN
Roasted shrimp with chipotle meco and coffee butter	520 MXN
Roasted parsnip with mole manchamantel	310 MXN
Catch of the day al ajillo	520 MXN
Braised pork shank	790 MXN
Half roasted chicken	900 MXN
Red snapper, Veracruz style, 700 g	1,300 MXN
Rib eye, 400 g	1,600 MXN
Sourdough 112 · hoagie 150 · mashed potato 140 · fries 220	Sides
Coconut tres leches 210 · Choconube 220 · flan 197	Desserts
Signature cocktails	200 to 290 MXN, the Don 1942 at 750

Sharing two starters, a main and a dessert between two people with a cocktail each comes to roughly 1,200 MXN a head. Skip the big fish and the rib eye and it drops closer to 800. Listings quote an average around 750, which holds only if nobody orders the snapper.

How to book

• Book ahead and ask for the view. Tables facing the Ángel go first, and they are the reason to come.
• Instagram: @salazar.rest.
• Getting in: enter through the main door of the office building at Paseo de la Reforma 333 and take the lift to the eighth floor. There is no street-level restaurant entrance.
• Service: reviews praise the view and the staff, with some reporting the service as inconsistent, so a booked table and a little patience are both worth having.

Getting there

• Address: Paseo de la Reforma 333, eighth floor, Colonia Juárez, Mexico City.
• The landmark is the point: the Ángel de la Independencia is directly in front, so the reference is the easiest in the city.
• Metrobús: the Reforma corridor stops close by on Line 7 along Paseo de la Reforma.
• Metro: Insurgentes on Line 1 is about a ten minute walk.
• Driving: it is an office tower on Reforma, so a ride app is simpler than parking at dinner time.

Before you go

• Order bread with the corn. The jocoque and XO sauce is the best thing to mop up on the menu, and bread is a paid side rather than something that arrives.
• The menu is built for sharing. Dishes go to the middle, so order across the table rather than one each.
• Know what the big plates cost. The snapper at 1,300 and the rib eye at 1,600 change the bill completely, and the rest of the menu does not.
• It is not Michelin-starred. The starred kitchens are on the chef’s résumé, not on this door.
• Go at sunset if the view is the reason. The Ángel is directly in front, and the light on Reforma is what the terrace is for.
• Pair it with the neighbourhood. For the rest of the area, see my Cityzen Rooftop Bar review a few blocks along Reforma.
• 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: the view, the fire and the plates. For the rest of the city, open my map or browse the Mexico City recommendations.