As Ella Canta celebrates its first summer on Park Lane, London W1, Chef Patron Martha Ortiz is offering diners a taste of Mexico in bloom.
The limited-edition Las Flores de México tasting menu delivers six courses of the modern Mexican cooking for which Ortiz is known, interlaced with floral flourishes. At the bar, flower-starring serves have been created for a new cocktail list and both menus are available from 18 May to 28 July.
Diners who choose this exquisite tasting menu will begin with La Casa Azul, a striking aperitif named after Frida Kahlo’s Mexico City home, which blends Casa Dragones Blanco Tequila, Acqua di Cedro, lavender, lime and Créme de Violette.
Red snapper aguachile with cucumber sorbet, crispy maize pancake and edible flowers is followed by dishes including Turbot with stuffed zucchini flower and Pink mole with stuffed chicken and a crown of flowers.
To finish, guests will enjoy Hibiscus sorbet with fiery pasilla chile and María with her violet perfume, an indulgent, floral and fragrant incarnation of Martha’s much-loved María dessert.
The bar at Ella Canta champions carefully-sourced rare mezcals and tequilas, with the cocktails for Las Flores de México making use of Casa Dragones Blanco Tequila and Nuestra Soledad Ejutla Mezcal.
The bright-red Flor de Jamaica is a tart, refreshing option that that sees mezcal mixed with Suze, hibiscus cordial and a pineapple and sage soda.
Meanwhile, the innovative Xóchitl, named after the Aztec word for ‘flowers’, is a bubbly blend of Perrier-Jouët Champagne, mezcal, rhubarb and pink peppercorn syrup, Peychaud’s bitters and lemon.
Martha Ortiz is seizing a unique moment with Las Flores de México, as London prepares for the return of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, followed by the opening of a major Frida Kahlo exhibition in June.
The V&A’s Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up will display the late Mexican artist’s personal possessions, celebrating a creative force who has long inspired Ortiz. Her limited-edition menu will offer a taste of summer and will encapsulate the inspiration that she finds in flowers, colour, art, and femininity.