Dubai’s Boca to host award-winning Mexican chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo

Lugo’s Nicos restaurant in Mexico City is number 31 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants

Continuing his strategy for collaborations with winners of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards and its associated regional lists, Boca general manager Omar Shihab is bringing more award-winning F&B talent to his Dubai restaurant next month.

Celebrating Mexico’s popular festival Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), chef Gerardo Vázquez Lugo of Nicos restaurant in Mexico City (ranked at number 31 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020) will fly to Dubai for two nights with the UAE’s Tratok travel network to cook alongside resident chef Matthijs Stinnissen on 2 and 3 November.

Boca chef Matthijs Stinnissen

Together, Lugo and Stinnissen will create a six-course, 12-dish menu reflecting their commitment to sustainability. Dishes include ‘Chile de Bola‘, a corn tortilla with pumpkin seed butter and smoked chilli; caramelised tomato marinated with soy and citrus vinaigrette, served with a ginger granité; ‘Tamal de Pato Ahumado en Adobo’, a steamed corn dough tamal stuffed with smoked duck confit with adobo spices, wrapped in a banana leaf; grilled octopus with sunchoke purée, black radish, confit la ratte potato, caper sauce and brown miso; and ‘Wagyu Tonnato’ prepared with a bonito (tuna) mayo, pickled watermelon skin, crispy black quinoa, pomegranate and oil infused with a UAE native desert plant called shih –  شيح.

Winner of a Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, Lugo is joined by Odd Strandbakken of Himkok in Oslo, Norway, ranking at number 30 on the World’s 50 Best Bars of 2020. Event sponsor Altos Tequila is marking its launch in the region by having Strandbakken create six Altos Tequila cocktails to accompany the menu.

Odd Strandbakken of Himkok

“BOCA is a home-grown brand built by talents who call Dubai home. Hosting successful and recognised international chefs gives us, and our city, credibility, and global visibility in gastronomy,” said Omar. “It helps us promote our message: we have enough creative and talented individuals in the UAE working with produce from the desert, from local and regional farms, and from the sea to execute a world-class restaurant that can rival others globally.”

Boca, Gate Building 6, DIFC, Dubai, UAE. Dinner from 7.30pm, Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 November 2021; AED 445 per person; Day of the Dead attire encouraged; limited seating – advanced booking and payment are essential; 009714 323 1833, hola@boca.ae. For more information, visit www.boca.ae