Chef Rosio Sanchez’s new restaurant has only been open to Copenhagen’s dining public for a few days, but it already seems like she has a hit on her hands — or, more precisely, another hit on her hands.
The ex-Noma pastry chef struck out on her own in 2015, opening a take-away taqueria in the food market Torvehallerne with her housemade tortillas, and a concise menu of tacos, quesadillas, and desserts. Hija de Sanchez quickly became one of Copenhagen’s favorite restaurants, a change of pace in a city better known for its higher-end offerings and not exactly known for Mexican cooking. In 2016, Sanchez expanded with a second location, this time in the hip Kødbyen neighborhood.
With her newest eponymous restaurant, simply named Sanchez, the chef has more menu space to flex her muscles and more actual space to seat guests. It’s her first full-service sit-down restaurant. “We have about 46 [seats],” Sanchez tells Eater after her busy first weekend in business. “For the past few nights we’ve done over a hundred covers. It felt like 200.”
This weekend, Sanchez served panuchos (stuffed refried tortillas), masa soup, and, yes, tacos. She hasn’t put the menu on the restaurant’s website; “and we already want to change it.”
But that’s the point. Sanchez sees her new restaurant as a neighborhood place, where she can adjust the menu when she feels like it. She’s vaguely inspired by the idea of a Mexican cantina, but she also cites Paris favorite Septime as an inspiration, which at this point has become shorthand for a neighborhood restaurant with serious food, a buzzing dining room, and a killer wine list; the ultimate example of a hotspot that’s grown into an essential.
Sounds like she’s on track. Sanchez saw a lot of regulars from Hija de Sanchez during opening this weekend, and she’s getting good feedback, including a lot of love for the desserts. “People say that they feel like it’s been open for years.”
Take a look around Sanchez below.
• Sanchez [Official site]