Second Time is the Charm. Finding the Most Stunning Dessert at Rosetta

I almost never order two desserts. But after an otherwise pretty much perfect lunch at Rosetta, the mamey tres leches just wasn't for me. A little too wet, a little too bland. I was actually sad to finish such a wonderful meal without a dessert I loved.

So I ordered another.

And wow. Sometimes two desserts really are better than one. I’m so glad I persevered in search of a good dessert, because I found a great one.

The hoja santa y cacao criollo blanco is stunning. One of the best desserts I have eaten. First of all, it is so beautiful you almost don't want to disturb it. A huge, delicate crystallized hoja santa leaf sits over a featherlight white cacao mousse, with chocolate underneath.

It wasn't just beautiful. It was everything I want in a dessert.

Rich and intensely chocolatey, almost like a truffle, but then the hoja santa brings this wonderful fresh, almost minty herbal note. There was crunch, creaminess, richness, and lightness all at once. Every bite changed a little depending on how much leaf, cacao and mousse you got together.

And the story behind it makes it even better. Chef Elena Reygadas was inspired by seeing hoja santa growing around cacao plants and the natural relationship between the two. Hoja santa, or acuyo, is a wonderfully aromatic Mexican leaf, with an anisey, minty quality, and has traditionally been used to flavour foods and drinks.

The cacao is cacao criollo blanco, a particularly special form of white criollo cacao. The chocolate is made in a very traditional way, stone-ground, tempered and moulded by hand, with delicate citrus notes, slight bitterness, caramel and subtle anise.

So this isn't just a dessert that looks like a leaf. It is a little piece of Mexico's landscape and ingredients turned into something completely contemporary.

I love how the leaf is brushed with a sugar glaze, which gives it such wonderful structure and that gorgeous crispness. I might riff on that idea and try making a dessert with glazed nasturtium leaves.

The best part?

The flavor lingered in my mouth for the next couple of hours and made me very happy.

Wow. Just wow.

A few facts about the dessert

Hoja santa means “sacred leaf” and is also known as acuyo. It is an aromatic Mexican herb with distinctive anise-like, minty notes.
Elena Reygadas was inspired by nature: while visiting a cacao farm, she noticed hoja santa growing around the cacao plants. That natural pairing inspired this dessert.
The dessert traditionally appears as crystallized hoja santa with chocolate mousse between the leaves. The leaf provides a cold, delicate crunch while the chocolate melts on the palate.
The white cacao criollo comes from Finca El Rocío in Tabasco. It is made from criollo cacao beans, particularly white-almond varieties, and is produced using traditional methods.
The cacao is stone-conched, tempered and moulded by hand, producing a chocolate with citrus notes and subtle bitter, caramelized and anise-like flavors.
There is an older Mexican connection between the two ingredients: hoja santa was traditionally used to flavor cacao drinks, making Reygadas' pairing a contemporary interpretation of an established Mexican relationship.
Reygadas has said hoja santa is one of her favorite Mexican ingredients, particularly for sweet dishes. She has used it not only in this dessert but in a martini, pasta and bread at Rosetta.

ROSETTA, MEXICO CITY

Colima 166, Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, 06700 Ciudad de México

Reservations: +52 55 5533 7804

Chef: Elena Reygadas

Michelin: 1 Star, awarded 2024

World’s 50 Best: #49 in 2023

Cuisine: Mexican, with global influences

Rosetta is Reygadas’ flagship restaurant, housed in a beautiful old Roma mansion. Its menu changes with the seasons and focuses heavily on Mexican ingredients from small producers. Make reservations a couple of weeks in advance as they do book up.