Cataran – Oaxaca City Sep 4, 2025

This 1-table, 1-staff member (chef) restaurant tucked behind a discrete, verdant doorway in the center of Oaxaca is a welcome change of pace from the typical fine dining machine, backed by investors, and polished to the nines.

Chef Daniel opened Cataran 3 years ago, with no formal training but just a dream to work for himself. The space is not much larger than a bedroom, and includes his makeshift kitchen, 1 dining table, and some nice decor to make it feel warm and homey. It feels like you are in his home, despite it actually being solely used as his restaurant.

The meal consists of 7 courses, which surely change night to night, week to week. The elevated Oaxacan food he is putting out rides the line well between honoring the local cuisine and presenting as classic “fine dining.”

The intimate nature of this single-table environment blends the benefits of restaurant dining with the experience of having a private chef, and led to some incredible conversations with our group throughout the meal because of the overwhelming comfort you feel in the space.

Every course was delicious and amounted to our best meal in Oaxaca, despite eating at many of the other “top” restaurants in town. Was it 2-star level food? No. Was it still fine dining, absolutely delicious throughout, and likely the most pure expression of restaurant hospitality I’ve experienced? Yes. Give this place a shot if you are ever in Oaxaca.

After our last course, through conversation with the chef (in Spanish), we discovered that evening was both of our birthdays. We shared a toast and I gifted him a bottle of mezcal I had acquired in the mountains earlier in the day. He returned the favor, by gifting me a bottle of mezcal from his friend’s palenque. It was the perfect cap to such a perfect meal with friends.

You can make reservations through WhatsApp, found on his google maps page.