Quick Look: Pirules Garden Kitchen at Rosewood San Miguel de Allende

When I first wrote about Rosewood San Miguel de Allende in 2011, the hotel had only been open for a couple of weeks. It was this town’s first true luxury hotel to be built from the ground up. That terrified a lot of San Miguel regulars like myself. Everything about that concept conflicted with all that had made this place such a cherished destination for decades. The favored stays were the walled-courtyard mansions of the 18th and 19th centuries. Many were beautifully restored but most had questionable electricity or plumbing, and very few came with air conditioning. In winter, mesquite-fueled fireplaces kept most houses warm. That was all part the charm, that nostalgic and visceral allure.

The owners were acutely aware that San Miguel’s most loyal advocates would never stay in a hotel that cheated them of that experience. So, in building the property (on a derelict plot of land that had long been overgrown with wild jacarandas, adjacent to the local park), they hired master craftsmen from Guanajuato who pressed tens of thousands of bricks in the centuries-old local style. In the guest rooms, workers installed tiny springs beneath the wooden floors to make them creak underfoot just like the squeaky old floorboards of the most romantic homes. Rustic-looking gas fireplaces lighted up with the simple flip of a switch. Most of the jacarandas were saved, moved and replanted alongside cypress and olive trees and all manor of flora. Rosewood’s debut was significant enough to warrant an official visit by then president Felipe Calderon, who dropped in via helicopter for the grand opening.

Returning to the 67-room hotel this summer, I was struck by how beautifully Rosewood fits into the neighborhood — which has, in turn, grown up around the hotel. With its cobblestone street out front, it looks and feels as if it’s been here since long before the Mexican revolution. I revisited this summer, in part, because for the first time in nearly 15 years, Rosewood has launched a new restaurant — a casual, free-standing, indoor/outdoor space called Pirules Garden Kitchen — perched atop the now-manicured grassy knoll just behind the hotel. Chef Odín Rocha has returned to San Miguel and Rosewood to run the kitchen. That name might sound familiar from his star turn at Mezcal restaurant at Montage Los Cabos — but it was this very hotel that first catapulted him into the limelight. Read more about Pirules Garden Kitchen in the article “Where to Eat Next,” a survey of the hottest new restaurants worldwide, in the fall issue of OLTRE.

Meanwhile, here’s a quick look around.

The Hotel

Outdoor seating area at Rosewood San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (Photo by Brad A. Johnson)

Pirules Garden Kitchen

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Rooms from about $450; deluxe colonial suite (pictured) from about $850. Nemesio Diez 11, Colonia Centro, San Miguel de Allende; rosewoodhotels.com/en/san-miguel-de-allende