Mexico’s Yucatan capital of Mérida has been sounding its creative voice of late, with new restaurants, galleries and concept stores popping up around the colonial Mayan city.
Lagalá encompasses this cultural movement ardently by housing a multitude of multi-disciplinary spaces within a converted two-storey building. The result is a slick contemporary meeting point for diners, art-and design-lovers, fashionistas and friends.
Here, ground-floor galleries pay tribute to local artists, with a rotating exhibition schedule, while over 50 Mexican fashion and jewellery brands are on display in IMOX, the seductive top-storey boutique.
This highly curated store of towering archways, pared-back rails and a statement-making dressing room also sells speciality books, which can be enjoyed during a pause in the reading nook.
Downstairs, leading out to a terrace where pop-up markets, music events and movie nights are held, is Te Extraño, Extraño, a 30-seater café, whose menu has been designed by young-gun chefs Joaquín Cardoso and Sofía Cortina. The duo, who previously worked under Pujol’s Enrique Olvera, presents regional Yucatecan ingredients in fresh ways, the grilled Yucatecan squash salad served with chaya (tree spinach) pesto and pumpkin seeds being a popular request.
Mérida, known to be the White City, now has a full dose of colour. §
