Mexican flavours and Danish ingredients, all prepared and presented with the Sanchez touch.
Chef Rosio Sánchez captivates Copenhageners with her new-fangled Mexican cuisine
T
o travel from Copenhagen to Mexico City, you’ll need to cross about 9,510 kilometres of land and sea. Fortunately, the Hija de Sanchez taquería, a summery, open-sided stall perched on a sidewalk in the Danish capital’s old slaughterhouse district, could easily pass for an authentic, street-grown taco stand straight out of the Mexican megalopolis. Tortillas (thin corn pancakes) are made daily from traditional masa (dough). The salsas (sauces) are made with fresh, local ingredients, and the piquant punch of peppers imported from the Americas. As soon as the weather is warm enough, a perfectly turned-out crowd lines up at its counters to feast eagerly on “made in Copenhagen” tacos. In less forgiving seasons, guests take refuge in the cosy dining room of the Sanchez restaurant, just a tortilla’s toss from Hija de Sanchez. Foodies hope to meet the establishment’s chef, who forged her reputation while working as the pastry chef at Noma. Rosio Sánchez comes from a generation of culinary artists who honed their trade there with the benevolent guidance of René Redzepi, and have since chosen to stay in the Danish capital. “I grew up in Chicago and still have family in Mexico. But I now consider myself a true Copenhagener. And that conviction
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