Neighborhood: Roma Norte
Type of Food: International eclectic
What to Order: Smoked trout on brioche
Food Score: 5.75 / 10
What To Skip: Most everything
Vibe / Design: Hip, old-timey wood tones
Crowd: Hipster Roma Norte Crowd
Service: B+
El Tigre Silencioso is the latest hotspot in the cultural space of Casa Basalta, situated in a beautifully remodeled 1914 mansion on Colima. There are a ton of restaurants to choose from in this space, but the target this time around was El Tigre Silencioso. This trendy restaurant has had a ton of buzz and has been making waves in the culinary scene of CDMX. Right in the heart of the Roma neighborhood, it’s earned a reputation for sparking an intriguing debate about the concept and quality of its food and drinks, and which of those is better. Renowned chef David Castro Hussong, known for his work at Fauna and La Mari, created the menu. With its central location, and easy-on-the-eyes decor, the restaurant has quickly become a popular spot for locals and visitors to Mexico City alike.
The vibe and decor were unpretentious and hipster at the same time. Those two words have probably never been uttered in the same sentence, but here we are. I enjoy that it was understated and retained some of the... como se dice, Porfirian touch that one might come to expect in some of these older buildings in CDMX. If I were to come back here, I’d elect to sit at the bar, maybe with a date.
All that said is it worth a visit?
Justin and I popped in to check it out a month or two back. We naturally started off with some adult beverages. The extensive drinks menu features a quality selection of Mexican and international wines, sake, fernet, artisanal cider, mezcal, and alcoholic and a few non-alcoholic cocktails. Vermouth is the specialty though at El Tigre Silencioso, offering three house-made varieties. The rosé vermouth, for example, is a solid choice for those who prefer a sweeter, less intense flavor.
But that's (almost) the only thing worth doing there. Most of the food was relatively unimpressive - with one exception.
I'll start with the exception. There's only one item (in my not-so-humble opinion) worth ordering at El Tigre Silencio:
El sandwich de trucha ahumada y ikura. In plain English: It's a piece of smoked trout on brioche. Damn delicious, rich, and something I could eat a few times a week.
I would go to El Tigre Silencioso just for this dish, and maybe a vermouth. Just to pass the time in the afternoon after some hours shopping or maybe en route to another restaurant in Roma.
Besides that, it was all a slow roll downhill. My main gripe was that the flavors were out of balance. I do appreciate the attempt to put together bold flavors and tastes that don’t apologize for being punchy. But I think this attempt missed the mark. At least with what we ordered. Maybe we were steered wrong by our waiter’s suggestions by getting things that were too similar in profile. Mostly acidity and tartness. I tip my hat at the creative flare but my tastebuds never had time to rest.
Atún Aleta Azul, Mantequilla Avellanada y Wakame
Translation: Tuna with hazelnut butter and algae
Looks beautiful, but it was overly sweet. It tasted like a Werther's Original candy in tuna form. The sauce was excessively heavy, and although it was an "appetizer," it tasted like a tuna candy dessert and it immediately did the opposite of readying my tongue for subsequent dishes. The tuna was good quality though, but I have to say: Skip it.
Shiitake Mushrooms
I love mushrooms. In fact, they are one of my favorite foods. I eat mushrooms almost any chance I get. Ok, maybe not the ones I find on my hikes in the bosques around Mexico City. These were some of the worst I have eaten. They just weren't good. Cold, a bit limp, even for shiitakes, uninspiring, and overly acidic tasting. The opposite in almost every way of every mushroom I have ever enjoyed. They blew out my already-blown tastebuds.
The Fish
I forgot to write down exactly what the fish we ordered was, but here is a picture:
All you need to know: It had too much sauce. It was heavy and creamy, and not very tasty. Most fish in Mexico City tends to be light, flavorful, and delicious…and, I can say, while the fish was high quality and well-cooked, it was one of the worst flavored pieces of fish I have had in Mexico, thanks to the sauce itself. It was reminiscent of a bechamel sauce that you’d find on an eggs benedict. Fairly unappetizing, unless you’re just the biggest eggs benny fan. Pass.
Dessert
Dessert was basically a crunchy funnel cake with ice cream on top.
Not particularly appealing but solid enough, I guess. Based on the above dishes, we expected the dessert to be a bomb of sorts, but no go this time. Maybe we just selected wrong, again. Probably for the best.
Bottom line, if you like trendy decor and buzzy, hipster spots and don’t really care for how the food is going to taste or be strung together, then El Tigre Silencioso is for you. Or if you really just want to see a kitchen push boundaries and take innovation all the way to the edge just for the sake of doing so without (in our opinion) much appreciation for the ingredients themselves, El Tigre Silencioso is for you. If you only have time to visit a few spots in Mexico City, you can do yourself a favor and skip El Tigre Silencioso.