Chef Marcus Medina and his brother Martin Medina have been treating you to top-class Mexican fare since 2012.

Forty years ago, Mexican chef Marcus Medina and his brother Martin Medina opened a burrito shop in New York and everyone asked the same question - what is a burrito?

They had to invite an artist to draw a burrito on the wall - beans, rice and other fillings with sour cream, avocado and guacamole, all wrapped in a tortilla.

After more than two decades of cooking in New York when burrito shops became common in the city, Medina brought his burritos and tacos to Beijing in 2012 - and this time he just put a picture of it on the menu.

In February, Medina took his culinary team to a food safari trip back to New York, seeking new inspiration for Mexican food. He brought back many ideas. Now, Medina is ready to surprise foodies in the Chinese capital.

Adventure in New York

Born and raised in east Los Angeles, California, which is a Mexican neighborhood, Medina and his brother grew up with their mom's homemade Mexican cuisine.

They then opened a taqueria, which is a casual restaurant specializing in tacos, in their hometown serving Cal-Mex style burritos back in the 1980s.

During that time, Medina went to a tiny chef school in Mexico City which was the only one then, and he was sent out to learn from all the regional Mexican restaurants.

After that, the duo decided to take Cal-Mex food to New York and opened up a series of restaurants there over around 20 years - from a food cart to a burrito shop to a fancy Mexican food restaurant.

Each year, the two brothers would take several months of "vacation".

While Medina's brother likes to be "Jack Sparrow" by serving on cruise ships, Medina takes a more dangerous path - to be a deep sea crab fisherman in the Bering Sea.

The Discovery channel's documentary Deadliest Catch gives viewers a glimpse of the real life aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab fishing season.

However, Medina's own experiences have been much harsher and more dangerous.

Sometimes, he could sleep only three to four hours a day for four days or even a week until the vessel is full with crabs.

"It was winter, and it was always 24 hours black with no sun at all. It was insane," Medina recalls.

When he brought some king crab that can sell for hundreds of dollars back home, his parents just used them to make tacos.

He thought it was a waste while at the same time, it made him realize that even to serve the most common family or street food, he must use the best ingredients.

Moving to Beijing

Medina moved to Beijing in 2012, as he aimed to bring people good quality Mexican food at an affordable price whether in New York or in Beijing.

"I think Mexican food is extremely adaptable to the Chinese palate. Think about the use of chilies which originally come from Mexico, and nuts and seeds such as sesame and peanuts," he says, adding that he has encountered many dishes around China that reminded him of Mexican food.

In 2012, there was no burrito shops in Beijing, and only one or two Mexican restaurants.

"I was seeing my life start all over again," he says, adding that it was then that he started their first Q Mex restaurant.

"The Q in Q Mex means quality, and I took a long time to define our restaurants because like Chinese food, Mexican food is so full of variety," he says.

Now, Medina has two Q Mex Bar& Grill outlets which serve Tex-Mex and California-style Mexican dishes and one Q Mex Taqueria which offers authentic southern Mexican cuisine in Beijing.

"Unlike New York, where there is tons of foreign food, China has a very strong tradition of its own food. So the market won't spiral the way it did in New York, but we're seeing Mexican restaurants open all around China," says Medina.

Now, he also offers his mom's recipe in Beijing. He named it "dirty taco" as it's impossible to stay clean while eating it.

Besides traditional burritos and crispy shrimp tacos, Medina's restaurants also serve tequila, which shows up in margaritas, bulldogs, and more.

The taco burger at Q Mex Bar & Grill won the 2017 Beijing Burger Cup event organized by the Beijinger magazine.

It combines burgers and tacos, with a homemade beef patty infused with the flavors of spicy Mexican chorizo topped with guacamole and crispy tortilla chips.

Food safari

The menu at Q Mex is co-created by Medina and his kitchen partner Peter Zhang, who has rich experience in Mexican, Italian and French cuisine.

To create the menu, the duo travel around Mexico on a food safari each year, exploring local cuisine and seeking inspiration to update the offerings at Q Mex.

Since moved to Beijing, Medina had never returned to New York. But, in February, he decided to take his team to New York for a food safari as he thought the variety of Mexican food there could offer them inspiration to develop new dishes.

From the street corner where Medina and his brother ran their first food cart, to fancy Mexican restaurants, Medina led his team to explore dozens of restaurants in New York during the seven-day trip.

"There is everything you can imagine in Mexican food in New York. From the cheapest little cart to the most expensive high-end restaurants, or the most highly trained chefs," he says.

While he was there, he noticed that roast duck in New York is a delicacy and considered expensive, but it can be harmoniously combined with Mexican cuisine.

Beijing has a long tradition of roasting ducks and it is not that expensive and offers top quality.

Medina and Zhang created the roast duck burrito inspired by the trip.

The burrito includes Mexican jewel rice, guacamole, kale, duck sauce, fried duck skin and slow roasted puddle duck - the flavor of the roasted duck and the crispy duck skin add a different touch to the burrito.

"I love roast Peking duck. It's one of my favorite foods," he say.

Medina pairs the burrito with a specially blended lemon margarita which makes for a special Mexican summer treat.