Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen

The Riviera Maya's own celebrity Chef, John Gray has cooked up a truly unique and enticing  "degustacion" menu for the patrons of his first and signature restaurant, John Gray’s Kitchen in Puerto Morelos. This Saturday, September 11, diners will find Chef Gray and his team in the Kitchen cooking up an array of creative dishes, made with the freshest local ingredients.

“The Special Menu is really part of my overall creative process - it allows me to experiment with the new and dynamic flavors that I am continually discovering.” He continues, “On Saturday night, I am giving myself complete culinary freedom and allowing myself to be inspired by my daily surroundings…. It’s just exciting to be able to offers diners a surprise of my interpretations of dishes that are full of generous flavors and textures, and of course which showcase high quality, local ingredients.” 

The Kitchen, which opened in 2002, has become a true culinary destination and a gem of a find in Riviera Maya. In fact, the two-story building, which is nestled in a neighborhood of purposely, modest homes and typical Mexican restaurants just blocks away from the beach, actually offers diners the opportunity to feel as if they are dining in Gray’s own home.  

Gray designed the building’s interior and exterior to be reminiscent of a cozy, European bistro. As such, he offers guests an experience full of intimacy, perfected by optimal lighting; a well appointed neighborhood bar; warm color scheme; California-inspired bay windows and arched view into the open kitchen. A unique piece of art greets guests as they walk into the restaurant, a drawing of “A Melting Clock.” The design was spontaneously offered to Gray by a visiting German tattoo artist, who pronounced that the drawing should be painted on what was then a plain, gray wall – that in fact resembles a canvas.

A loyal following of celebrities, world-renowned chefs, foodies, politicians and locals alike have all become charmed by John Gray’s approach to ambience, service and classic interpretations that fuse international flavors and ingredient pairings within each selection.  As Puerto Morelos has become a destination for the discerning traveler, Gray has been able to offer his clientele the highest quality cuisine, all while offering a diverse selection of wines from around the world, with his newest offering being his own – John Gray’s Private Barrel Selection 2008, El Corazon.  In 2008, John Gray visited the Guadalupe Valley, Baja California, Mexico’s main wine producing region, to work in collaboration with a renowned sommelier to personally hand select outstanding vintages from the region’s most acclaimed and small production vineyards. The experience offered them the opportunity to ultimately create a lesser known, yet exceptional, Mexican wine, El Corazon. 

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