Fiona

A Mexican dining room and cocktail bar on Warmoesstraat, menu built by chef Zahie Tellez, kitchen run night to night by Jef van Hout.

Fiona sits under a hostel on Warmoesstraat, which tells you nothing about what's happening in the kitchen. The menu was designed by Zahie Tellez, the Mexican television chef and cookbook author, but she is not back there cooking dinner: day-to-day service belongs to chef Jef van Hout, who came up through Bord'Eau and Le Restaurant before running his own place, The French Connection. That distinction matters and Fiona is upfront about it rather than trading on Tellez's name alone. The food leans classic: tuna ceviche in leche de tigre, slow-cooked octopus with wasabi mayo, spare ribs, a proper chile en nogada when it's in season, tacos and quesadillas for the less committed. The Tulum-meets-Mexico-City room gets loud after dark and the cocktail bar keeps going past dinner. It's a big, market-tested operation, over a thousand reviews and counting, more crowd-pleaser than personal statement, but the kitchen delivers on what it promises.

Kitchen runs Monday-Thursday 17:00-00:00, weekends from 12:30. Taco Tuesday is two tacos and a cocktail for €24; the Sunday Club, second Sunday of the month, is a three-course €35 menu with a frozen margarita.

Photo: Fiona