This fairly new restaurant in a very old building was a fantastic find. The food is stellar, and the high-style modern restaurant in an old space is beautiful.
Puebla is rumored to be the birthplace of mole. Supposedly a group of nuns was unable to exit their convent for a lengthy period, and took to steeping chicken in chocolate and spices, creating the slow-cooked chicken mole recipe. In reality, almost every Mexican grandmother makes their mole differently, with no standardized recipe.
In what turned out to be a silly decision, we rented a Hertz and drove to Puebla from Mexico City. There's a modern tollway for the majority of the way, but surface traffic slows to a nightmarish crawl in Mexico City and in Puebla itself. The Hertz rental desk person gave us an unintentionally funny instruction on what to do in a possible shakedown by police on the way (each rental car is clearly marked as a rental in Mexico).
Restauro (which means "restore" in Spanish) references both the restoration of the historic building for the restaurant, and the restorative qualities of great food. This place excels in both.
The setting is beautiful. It's essentially a very modern space located in a very old stone building. Mood lighting and dramatic design effects are everywhere. They also have some striking modern art in the space.
The real star of the show is the food. The aforementioned chicken mole was off-the-charts fantastic. Those nuns of days gone by would be very proud tasting it. There are some interesting twists on traditional Mexican cooking, including a variety of salads and "nouvelle" preparations.
Each dish was beautifully presented, and the service was polite and fast. The waitstaff was both very funny and very efficient. If this restaurant was in my city, I would definitely be a regular. read more