Quiltro – Antigua, Guatemala’s First Tasting Menu

When it opened in 2017, Quiltro claimed to be Antigua’s first tasting menu restaurant. I wrote about the wonders of Antigua in yesterday’s post. The chef at Quiltro, Rodrigo Salvo, worked at some of the best restaurants in the world including Borago in Chile, which I wrote about last year. He has also worked at top places in Europe, before falling in love with Antigua. The restaurant is small with only about 6 tables with an open kitchen concept. The interior is beautiful with a nice mix of modern and original architecture (for example, exposed ceiling beams). This is something I love about Antigua. The building interiors are renovated, but still preserves the original feel. Here was the menu that evening:

I added the mead drink pairing also. The first course was a vegan cheese with a type of crisp. I didn’t get the point of using vegan cheese because the menu was not vegan, but the dish was delicious and set a good start to the meal. I could definitely see the influence of the chef’s work at other restaurants in the plating and concepts.

The next dish was also impressive, a kind of shrimp tempura.

Next was a beef taco.

Followed by a type of fish tostada:

At this point, the meal shifted in a strange way. First, a sort of palate cleanser of fresh fruit.

This was followed by 4 vegetable/salad dishes that ranged from just ok, to good, to too big of a portion.

The meal ended with two meat dishes of mackerel, prosciutto and peas; and then another beef taco:

Plating and service were really good, but I did not really like the structure of the meal. First, serving 4 salad/vegetable courses mid meal was not optimal. These should of come earlier in the meal, maybe after the first two bites (amuse). Next, serving two tacos, both beef did not really demonstrate the chef’s range of using different proteins and dishes. Lastly, the dessert:

Overall this was still a good meal, and I was happy to see this level of cooking and meal format in Antigua. The ingredients were fresh. A few things were really delicious, but the overall meal was not outstanding. It was ok. I would not return. If you are looking for a Michelin type tasting menu experience in Antigua, I don’t think you will be disappointed at Quiltro, especially since I am not aware of any other options, but you won’t be blown away either.