Thinking about heading to Mexico City for the first time for a few days in December after my son’s wedding in Cozumel.
Placemarked dinner reservations at Pujol and Contramar. Other than that looking for casual, street food, taco stand recommendations.
And a place to stay. Anyone have a point of view on which neighborhood/district? Or a specific hotel?
Or is AirBnB the way to go there?
Thx.
We stayed in this Airbnb. Great apartment. Excellent location. Great rate. I am logged into Airbnb now so I hope you can follow this link. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/20695607?source_impression_id=p3_1569964328_3VuUn8vEFGcANME9
I preferred Quintonil to Pujol by a large margin. Rosetta was wonderful. We stayed at the St Regis. Had a huge suite for less than $300USD per night. It is hard to beat. F&B is expensive for Mexico though.
Teotihuacan is really worth the trip if you have the time. Hire a guide.
Traffic can be absolutely terrible. A couple of Km can be 30 min so plan accordingly. Uber is basically free.
Enjoy a truly wonderful city especially for food. You do have to be careful with some of the street vendors from a food safety standpoint.
George
Agree with George that Quintonil is waaay better than Pujol (so much better that I would suggest you swap reservations, if possible, and if not, go to Maximo or somewhere else rather than Pujol.)
Rosetta is good, too, but not really Mexican food; and what you are calling dinner at Contramar is really late lunch!
A multi course lunch at Nicos with multiple draws from the mezcal cart, finished with a serving of cafe de olla, is amazing. But requires a nap afterwards.
Condessa or Roma are the main tourist hotel areas. I like the 4 Seasons on the border of both.
Plaza Mayor and the Zocalo are good areas to wander.
Uber is almost free but the subway is safe, often faster than driving, and is 6 pesos.
A few older threads have more info.
Thanks all.
My original res at Contramar was at 6 PM, which I would consider not a lunch but an early dinner, allowing for an exploration of taco stands for late dinner, but anyway I moved that up to 4 PM so at least we would see the late afternoon daylight scene.
I hear you on Pujol; it’s interesting to me how polarizing that restaurant seems to be. I have spoken to other food industry friends and some love it, while others…meh. Speaking of Pujol and tacos - has anyone tried Mulino El Pujol? Maybe a different way to go to add to the taco crawl.
Added in Quintonil. As for Rosetta, as good as it looks, for the 2 or 3 days I am there for the first time I would rather stick to Mexican cuisine in lieu of Italian.
Thanks for the hotel thoughts - and that AirBnB looks very cool.
Any other recommendations would be helpful.
PS - I am a big big mezcal fan…
Also just made a ressie at Entremar, the new restaurant from Gabriela Camara, the owner of Contramar. Has anyone been? Will we be just duplicating the same meal?
El Molino is not a place I would put on a taco crawl. I would highly recommend Le Tachinomi Desu.
Bumping for any thoughts/feedback on my ressies. I’m in CDMX 12/20-1/5, stayng in La Condessa. Lots of restaurants are closed or booked. I also found this recent thread most helpful, Mexico Trip report - Mexico City, Mérida, Tulum - #8 by Zachary_Ross .
I have the following (all dinners):
Aleli Rooftop
Plonk
Maizajo
Contramar
Rosetta
I have more than enough tacquerias depending on our location. Besides the Anthro museum, MUAC, Soumaya, Bellas Artes, Khalo house and Barragan house, any other musts? Considering a Jan 1 visit to Teotihuacan as most museums are closed.
Thanks all.
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One thing we did not do and wished we had was checking out Xochimilco.
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Lots of mixed reports. We will probably save it for another time.
Understood.
From the other thread, I will re-up my recommendation for Masala y Maiz, even if it’s just lunch. We had lunch there and it was awesome.
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Sadly, they are closed when we are there.
We did a market tour with an outfit called Eat Mexico. I could not recommend it enough. The tours are run by local chefs. They can give the best insight on the current restaurant scene. Unfortunately, we did it our last day. Next time I go, it will be the first thing I do! https://eatmexico.com/
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I assume Maximo is fully booked?
Would recommend getting Barragan tickets in advance, if you haven’t already.
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I agree. I loved this place.
Edit: I just saw your closed comment.
We were there this summer, loved our visit there! Maximo was really great, worth the effort of trying to get in. I thought it might be too similar to restaurants and food we have here but was really pretty perfect all around. Easy recommendation.
Also Lorea great and fun, same place as Aleli which we went to as well. Carnela y Sal was really good too, better with more traditional dishes we thought. Also liked El Hidalguense for lamb.
Activity wise not on your list we loved Teohuitican, morning balloon ride for that, and also separately a tour of the sites at the Zocalo. Also the murals at Collegio de San Ildefonso. Get a guide for Anthropology if you can, send me a note if interested and I can let u know who we used. A great trip and easy. Enjoy!
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I found Rosetta uninspiring to say the least despite its accolades and would swap it out for Maximo which has been spectacular during my repeated visits going on a decade now. Otherwise great list. Contramar is perhaps the most craveable restaurant I can think of.
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Unfortunately, Maximo is booked out (same with Masala y Maiz). Any other suggestions to sub for Rosetta?
EM. I reached out to several Chefs for my recent trip and EM was on every list. We had one incredible meal and it was so good we went back. The second was not as good as the first but I will chalk it up to being a late resy on a Saturday night and we did the tasting menu. We enjoyed our a la carte meal much more.
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Many of the restaurants I would recommend (Maximo, Em) have been listed already. I have a sister who lives in CDMX and per her, some other places you should check out:
Restaurants:
Lardo - would be a good shout for dinner
Fugaz - very inventive cooking, more casual setting
Choza - the place I keep going back to when I am in town; fussier place to eat given no reservations
Breakfast / Bakeries:
Mendl - Jewish Deli in Condesa
Odette - Excellent bakery in Condesa
Tacos - know you said you didn’t need recommendations but in case hunger strikes:
Pastor - Tacos Del Valle (Roma Nte), Selene (Anzures), Vilsito (Navarte)
Suadero - Tacos Ruben (Hipodromo), Tacos Don Juan (Condesa)
Fish - Pez Azul (Hipodromo)
Bistec - Califa (have not been since they got their star, so cannot say if quality is downhill)
Birria - Los Güeros De Juanacatlan (Hipodromo)
Wine (All Condesa / Roma Nte) - most lists / bars lean natural
Terruno
Hugo
Local 1
To Do:
As others mentioned, Casa Gilardi is very much worth a visit.
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