The Best Food and Drinks I Had in Mexico City

Conchas (seashells in English, given the resemblance) are a classic Mexican sweet bread with a cracked sugar topping. El Cardenal is famous for its conchas, traditionally served with clotted cream and hot chocolate. They are so perfect that I would even say their conchas are one of the best breads or pastries I’ve ever had. Aside from the conchas, El Cardenal is also one of the city’s most-loved traditional restaurants for 50+ years. Having breakfast at their beautiful Centro Histórico location, surrounded by families enjoying a special or celebratory meal together, is a classic, must-have Mexico City experience.

Street food in Mexico City is legendary and one of the city’s greatest and cheapest pleasures. But with thousands of street food stalls, it can be hard to stumble across the city’s best, and well-known places don’t always live up to the hype. El Huequito’s tacos al pastor, however, don’t disappoint. There’s nothing like eating delicious tacos on the street in Mexico City for cents on the dollar, alongside everyone from construction workers to students and executives. Besides being freaking delicious, tacos al pastor reflect Mexico’s diversity and history. In the 1930s, Lebanese immigrants brought shawarma to Mexico, roasting lamb on a spit and putting it in pita bread. Locals adopted the technique using regional ingredients, for example, replacing lamb with pork and pita bread with tortillas, to make today’s tacos al pastor.

Many locals will tell you El Pozole de Moctezuma has the city’s best pozole. In business for 77 years, it’s located near Plaza Garibaldi, where mariachi bands congregate. You’ll find it inside a residential building with no sign, just the words “El Pozole” on an apartment buzzer out front. The restaurant serves Guerrero-style pozole, a pork and hominy-based stew. It offers more toppings than other pozolerías, including onion, chili, oregano, lime, avocado, sour cream, and fried pork rinds. You can, and should, also add a splash of mezcal to compliment the flavors. What I enjoyed most about this place was the experience – finding the restaurant inside an apartment building; being surrounded by locals all eating the same thing; adding toppings to perfect the dish; and, finally, enjoying a humble Mexican stew.

As someone who could happily live off of Mexican food, I didn’t go to Mexico to eat anything else. But when a local archeologist told me his favorite restaurant in the city was a pizza place in Condesa, I was intrigued. Pizzas Nosferatu serves Neapolitan-style pizza using the highest quality ingredients. Their Queen Margarita pizza (not their Margarita pizza) was one of the best and most flavorful pizzas I’ve had, second only to the classic Margherita pizza of Naples. Seating is outdoors and casual. Aside from great pizza and craft beer, it’s the perfect spot for experiencing modern Mexico City’s low-key, hipster side.

Churrería El Moro has been the go-to place for churros and hot chocolate since 1935. Founder and Spanish immigrant Francisco Iriarte brought the classic duo from his hometown to Mexico City. I loved El Moro’s original Centro Histórico location with tiled interiors and stained glass windows. While I’m not big on churros or hot chocolate, I loved partaking in this after-dinner ritual with local families and friends.

Pulque is a pre-Hispanic drink made by lightly fermenting the sap of the agave plant. It was once the drink of the Aztec Gods but was outlawed by the Spanish during colonial times and later stigmatized by the Mexican government as being an unsanitary drink of the lower class. Today, pulque is making yet another comeback for its connection to Mexico’s pre-colonial past and identity. It has become most popular in recent years with older Mexicans who grew up drinking it, younger hipsters, and the punk crowd. I loved mingling with such a diverse group of locals at Pulquería Las Duelistas near Chinatown. Popular day and night, Las Duelistas offers a unique and atmospheric dive into Mexico’s pulque culture.

Mexico City is renowned for its world-class bars that pair local ingredients and spirits with innovative techniques to create out-of-this-world cocktails. Licorería Limantour, #7 on the 2024 World’s 50 Best Bars List, started Mexico City’s craft cocktail movement in 2011. Located in Roma, Limantour is upscale and attracts the city’s trendy crowd. Its cocktail menu is full of all-stars, but my heart goes out to the mezcal milk punch “Oregano” cocktail. The drink combines Montelobos espadín mezcal, Ancho Reyes green liquor, pineapple, black tea, and oregano. It’s clear like water and tastes simply of perfectly balanced, smokey, fresh oregano on ice. It was one of the best and most unique cocktails I’ve ever had.