World City Guide

Restaurants

We have selected 15 restaurants, which we have divided into five categories: Gastronomic, Business, Trendy, Budget and Personal Recommendations. The restaurants are listed alphabetically within these different categories, which serve as guidelines rather than absolute definitions of the establishments.

Restaurant prices are subject to 15% VAT (Value Added Tax). In Mexico, it is not common practice to include any service charges in a restaurant bill, so a tip of 10-15%, depending on the quality of the service, is expected. Payment of restaurant bills will usually be expected in Mexican Pesos.

The restaurants below have been classed into four different pricing categories:

$ (up to MS$200)
$$ (MS$200 to MS$300)
$$$ (MS$ 300 to MS$400)
$$$$ (over M$4000)

The prices given are for a three-course meal and a bottle of house wine.

Gastronomic

Adonis
This Lebanese restaurant offers a delicious selection of Middle Eastern and North African. The décor is suitably exotic with music from Thursday to Saturday to add to the atmosphere. The mezze, including stuffed vine leaves, houmus and tabouleh is particularly good as is the Adonis fish in spicy nut sauce.

Calle Homero 424, Polanco
Tel: (55) 5531 6940.
Price: $$$$.

Au Pied de Cochon
This fashionable 24-hour bistro in the Hotel Presidente Inter-Continental (see Hotels) has been a hit with Mexico’s beautiful people since it opened. Modelled closely on the Parisian original, the restaurant offers sumptuous seafood platters, including oysters and lobster, as well as steaks, pigs’ trotters and snails prepared by French chefs. The chocolate profiteroles are delicious. Decor is Art Nouveau and the service is pleasant. An extensive wine list is available.

Hotel Presidente Inter-Continental, Avenida Campos Eliseos 216, Polanco
Tel: (55) 5327 7756.
Website: www.ichotelsgroup.com
Price: $$$$.

Les Moustaches
Situated in Cuauhtemoc this restaurant has excellent French cuisine attentively served in understated, elegant surroundings and has been a favourite for more than 25 years. Housed in a European style mansion, the ground floor is an attractive plant-filled patio, while the second floor provides three elegant private rooms for banquets. The food is fresh and sumptuous. They are famous for their mussel soup, duck a l'orange and spectacular pistachio soufflé.

Río Sena 88, Cuauhtemoc
Tel: (55) 5533 3390.
Website: www.lesmoustaches.com.mx
Price: $$$$.

Business

Cafe del Bosque
With its location overlooking a lake with one of the best views of Chapultepec Forest, its proximity to the business district and excellent menu of international and Mexican dishes it’s not surprising that this is always a popular restaurant with business people. Particularly busy for the morning breakfast and weekend buffet be sure to book for an outside table with a view of the lake.

Chapultepec Park
Tel: (52) 5516 4214.
Price: $$.

Los Naranjos
Los Naranjos offers upmarket, nouvelle Mexican cuisine in comfortable and beautifully decorated surroundings. Its location in the Polanco district coupled with the creative take on traditional Mexican cuisine has ensured its popularity. Signature dishes include tequila-marinated shrimps with ancho chilli and prickly pear, chicken rolls with curd cheese, and fried plantain with a red mole sauce, and, for dessert, guava stuffed with guanabana mousse.

Lopez de Vega 334, Polanco
Tel: (55) 5545 0755.
Price: $$.

San Angel Inn
This ex-hacienda with its pretty courtyard is one of the city’s most attractive restaurants. Situated in the southern colonial district of San Angel, it serves good Mexican and international food. Signature dishes include the trout, the prawns on a skewer and the huitlacoche (corn fungus – a Mexican delicacy) crêpes. The wine list is extensive and the margaritas are delicious.

Diego Rivera 50, corner of Altavista, San Angel.
Tel: (55) 5616 1402/2222.
Website: www.sanangelinn.com
Price: $$$$.

Trendy

El Blu
Located in the upmarket San Angel district in the south of the city, Blu is frequented by the ‘beautiful people’, who come to enjoy its exceedingly stylish décor, its fresh Mediterranean cuisine and on some nights live jazz. The pasta and seafood are especially recommended. Signature dishes include red snapper in saffron sauce, salmon ravioli and the onion and mushroom focaccia. For dessert, the Big Mistake chocolate cake will leave you with no regrets.

Avenida de la Paz 57, San Angel
Tel: (55) 5616 4791.
Price: $$.

Ixchel
This hip restaurant is a favourite haunt among Mexican media types and artists and is particularly lively on Thursday nights. Situated in a beautiful early 20th century mansion in the heart of bohemian Roma, it houses a terrace bar downstairs, a cool blue velvet lounge and an elegant restaurant upstairs. The food is tasty, fusing Asian and Mediterranean styles. Recommended dishes are the Thai chicken salad, Oriental salmon fillet on bok choy and the crème brûlée.

Medellin 65, Roma
Tel: (55) 5208 4055.
Price: $$$.

Los Danzantes
Enjoying a prime location on Coyoacán square, this pleasant, airy restaurant serves inventive nouvelle Mexican and international cuisine. The service is somewhat languid but it is a good place to talk and people-watch. The coconut-wrapped prawns in sweet and sour sauce make a good starter. An interesting main dish is the medallions of beef in mescal and chilli sauce. The bar offers a range of tequila and mescal labels.

Plaza Jardin Centenario 12, Coyoacán
Tel: (55) 5658 6451.
Website: www.losdanzantes.com.mx
Price: $$.

Budget

Café Tacuba
This Mexican institution in the Centro Histórico, Café Tacuba has been serving traditional Mexican food since 1913. The restaurant is a feast for the eye, with painted archways, colourful tiles, stained-glass windows and brass lamps. The menu includes tostadas, enchiladas, chiles rellenos, tamales and mole. The popular Mexican rock band of the same name are sponsored by the café.

Tacuba 28, Centro Histórico
Tel: (55) 5521 2048.
Price: $.

Casa de Azulejos
The House of Tiles – with its exterior covered in Mexican blue and white tiles, is one of the most eye-catching buildings in the Centro Histórico and is Sanborn’s flagship in Mexico City. This 16th-century former mansion has an impressive spacious interior with a Moorish fountain in an airy courtyard enlivened by frescoes. Food is basic Mexican, with a good range of soups, salads and enchiladas.

Avenida Madero 4, Centro Histórico
Tel: (55) 5518 0152 or 5521 6058.
Price: $.

Saks
This rustic vegetarian restaurant on the busy Avenida Insurgentes heading south of the city has vaulted ceilings and medieval paintings on the walls. Exotic fruit juices and enormous portions of healthy food, combining Mexican and international cuisine, are served up in a relaxed atmosphere. The Saks salad of artichokes, palm hearts, asparagus, portobello mushrooms and feta cheese is excellent, as is the chilli filled with squash flower, nopal cactus and mushrooms.

Avenida Insurgentes Sur 1641, Florida
Tel: (55) 5598 6433 or 5563 3402.
Price: $.

Personal Recommendations

Villa Maria
A delicious selection of cocktails - the sweet and sour Margarita made from tamarind juice is a house speciality, great Mexican ambiance and excellent Mexican food make this a deservedly popular restaurant. A favourite amongst business people, tourists and locals arrive early to ensure a table. There is Mariachi music in the evenings. The nopal salad and the dish reputed to be served up for Moctezuma are recommended.

Homero 704, Polanco
Tel: (55) 5203 0306 or 5545 8590.
Price: $$.

El Bodeguita del Medio
Named after Ernest Hemmingway’s haunt in Cuba and decorated with clients’ signatures covering the walls, a good night out is guaranteed at this characterful bar-restaurant in artistic Roma. The atmosphere is lively, with a Cuban band playing most nights, and the mojitos (a Cuban cocktail of rum, lime juice, sugar and mint) are the best in town. Specialities of the house include black beans and rice (moros y cristianos), shredded beef and tomato stew (vieja ropa) and fried chicken with banana.

Cozumel 37, Roma
Tel: (55) 5553 0246.
Price: $.

Kohinoor
Indian restaurants are rare in Mexico City but this gem, in the new business district of Sante Fe in the north, will satisfy any curry craving with its delicious, rich dishes. The decor is bright and clean, with the focal point being the glass window allowing diners to watch chefs at work. The chicken tikka masala is very good, the tandoor-baked nan breads are delicious and there is a good variety of vegetarian options.

Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena 999, Sante Fe
Tel: (55) 5292 1291.
Price: $.