Where to Dine in Mexico City!

Quickly becoming a foodie destination, Mexico City’s culinary scene offers up a world of flavours and is bursting with trendy eateries from a new generation of chefs that take locally sourced ingredients and modern applications to create new versions on Mexican classics. The food is so good it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status — a global first. From traditional to trendy, DF’s emerging food scene is reason enough to visit. Here’s a mouth-watering list of where to eat!

Above images by Filomena Rosati Photography

Be sure to try the delicious STREET FOOD - especially fresh tacos with lots of tasty salsa verde! Take a taco tour or head out to explore the crowded food stands that line the city’s atmospheric streets. Here are a few worth noting.

Cantina Buenos Aires. Motolinia 21, Centro.
Cantina Gallo de Oro. Calle Venustiano Carranza 35, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, Col. Centro.
Cantina Tio Pepe. Dolores, Centro.
Casa Churra Restaurant. Calle 16 de Septiembre 26, Cuauhtémoc, Centro.
Taqueria El Huequito. Bolívar 58, Col. Centro.
Taqueria Los Cocuyos. 7ᵃ̵ Calle de Bolívar 54-56, Centro.
Taqueria Tacos de Canasta. Dolores, Centro.

Located in the trendy Roma district, FONDA FINA is a place where locals gather in a warm and inviting setting to enjoy an affordable home-style meal off a daily set menu. However, don’t let the word ‘affordable’ fool you! Chef Juan Cabrera really flexes his culinary muscles by using an array of fresh ingredients to reinvent and enhance the flavours of traditionally-inspired Mexican dishes; each plate beautifully presented and utterly delicious. Wash down specialities such as bonemarrow panucho, pork belly sope and noodles with chilaquiles with a cold Teporocho (a tequila, rum and beer drink served in a paper bag covered glass). 

Executive Chef, Atzin Santos Candia, will blow your mind - or should I say taste buds - with his avant-garde culinary skills at RESTAURANTE ATALAYA in Mexico City’s Santa Fe district. Each dish he prepares is a visual work of art that combines a unique array of textures and flavours that create a symphony in your mouth. From foie gras torchon with popcorn and wild berries, aguachile negro with shrimp and watermelon, scallops with potato foam, cochinita pibil and deer with ‘mole amarillito’ and banana purée, to an impressive array of desserts, this is a dining experience for the ages.

Housed in an underground cave behind the Pirámide de la Luna in Teotihuacan, LA GRUTA restaurant (“The Cave” in Spanish) is a journey through Mexico’s culinary heritage. This ‘farm to table’ traditional Mexican restaurant has been family run for 3 generations.  Executive Chef, Carlos Cedillo, serves up local specialities such as homemade mole, enchiladas, chapulines (deep fried grasshoppers), escamoles (ant eggs) and deep fried white worms that are surprisingly good, especially when accompanied by a delicious Xoconostle margarita. At the end of each meal, guests of La Gruta are invited to light a candle and leave it at the altar of the God Xolotl located inside the cave to send positive energy to staff and local residents. The ambiance and experience here is one you won’t forget! 

Steps from the canals of Xochimilco, CHANTICO restaurant provides a picturesque Mexican setting to dine on traditional dishes. Served on colourful ceramic tiles next to an old-world kitchen, it feels like you are travelling back in time to dine among Mexican ancestors. Try handmade salsas, guacamole, quesadillas, sopecitos, habas, pata toasts, huahzontles, tlapique and nieve de pepino (cucumber ice-cream).

When it comes to great culinary experiences, Mexico City provides many! Among them is RESTAURANTE NICOS in Colonia Claveria that serves traditional Mexican cuisine in a relaxed, local setting that feels like you are dining with family. Perhaps that is because this neighbourhood restaurant has been serving family recipes since 1957. What began as a cafeteria has since evolved into the beloved institution it is today, where architect-turned-chef, Gerardo Vázquez Lugo, reproduces the award-winning recipes past down from his mother, Elena, using traditional cooking methods and locally sourced ingredients. Some of his signature dishes are quelites and nopales soup, duck salmagundi toast, smoked merlin carpaccio, dry soup and cajeta cheese flan. Named as one of the 50 best restaurants in Mexico on the 50 Best Restaurants in Latin America List, this will prove to be one of your best dining experiences!

One of the best views over Mexico City’s Centro Historico can be had on the rooftop of Central Hoteles’ BALCON DEL ZOCALO restaurant. Go for the delicious food. Go for the incredible views. Whatever the reason, just make sure you go! Executive Chef, Jose Salinas, ensures that every meal is nothing short of culinary perfection. Guests of Central Hoteles can learn the cooking techniques of traditional Mexican cuisine by embarking on a culinary adventure with Chef Salinas who will guide you through local markets to purchase fresh ingredients to experience the passion, love and dedication put towards each meal in a private cooking class.

Move over Tequila, Mexico’s new national beverage is Mezcal! This Mexican distilled spirit is made with agave leaves employing old-world traditions. One of the best is SIETE MISTERIOS MEZCAL. The brand was created by two brothers with a vision and mission to rescue the Mezcal tradition and bring it to the international market. Once you try this superior drink, you will never go back to Tequila!

STAY At Zócalo Central, you book the flight and the hotel’s ‘Experience Planners’ will help you plan the rest. Located in the city’s historical epicentre, the 105 room Zócalo Central is housed in a 400 year old historical building that once belonged to Hernán Cortés, the man who conquered Mexico City from the Aztec.  The hotel’s impressive rooftop restaurant – El Balcon del Zócalo – serves some of the city’s best food and offers breathtaking views over the Zócalo Plaza. www.centralhoteles.com  

FLY Aeromexico offers direct and affordable flights into Mexico City.