What to eat in Mexico City: the Best 7 Mexican foods you need to try

Mexican cuisine was named in 2010 by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Mexico has incredible variety in dishes, ingredients and cultural nuances. Mexican food incorporates the indigenous staples including corn, seafood, turkey, tomato and chili with the Spanish introductions of beef, dairy, pork and rice. There are so many foods that you must be asking yourself what to eat in Mexico City.

I will list my favorite Mexican street foods in Cdmx so you know what to eat and where to eat the best on your next trip to Mexico City.

Don’t fear if in any mercado or taco stand you get a plate covered in a plastic bag. Mexicans have found a way to maintain hygiene without sometimes proper plumbing. If you do not feel comfortable eating Mexican street food this way, try the restaurants I suggest but don’t leave without trying the best food in Mexico City.

For help on Mexican slang to be able to blend in as a local on your trip to CdMx, check out this guide!

Tacos

Of course tacos made it on the list of Mexican foods you have to eat while visiting Mexico City. You cannot leave Mexico without trying the many different iterations of tacos, the most popular food in Mexico.

Try tacos al pastor, tacos de suadero, or even better tacos de canasta, one of the many street foods chosen by Mexicans. You can find amazing tacos on many street corners.

Some of the best puestos de tacos, or taco stands, in Mexico City are:
Ricos Tacos on Av Insurgentes Sur 76 in Colonia Juarez
Tacos del Metro Ermita on Calzada Tlalpan outside the metro stop Ermita in Portales Norte
la Susy on Avenida Fortuna, Tepeyac Insurgentes.

If you’d rather try from a restaurant you can try Tizoncito in Polanco area—one of the best neighborhoods to stay in Mexico City.

Try the classic al pastor or suadero , or maybe order a gringa (with melted cheese) or de bistec (beef). For those who don’t eat meat, try the nopales or the chicharron con queso. Don’t forget to add lime like a true Mexican!

Near the Zocalo in Mexico City on Francisco I Madero Street you can find one of the most famous tacos de canasta, Los Especiales. The small local restaurant is easy to miss, so be on the lookout. First pay for how many tacos you want, there are three different ones so at least get three tacos. Then order uno de cada uno, or one of each, of beans, chicharron (pork grinds with sauce), and potatoes. The tacos de canasta are soft and greasy, a messy and cheap delicious staple of Mexican cuisine. 

Be adventurous and try the sauces. My favorite is the green sauce called falso guacamole, but you will find many different ones including a mango habanero sauce.

Quesadillas

Quesadillas are a staple of Mexican street food, from the dobladillas which are tortilla with a filling just folded over, to the quesadilla frita. This might look like an empanada, but do not offend a Mexican by calling it such. It is made of corn flour, then filled and fried. They are absolutely delicious!

There is a constant battle between Mexico City and the rest of the country on if a quesadilla has to have queso to be a quesadilla? According to chilangos, those from Mexico City, it does not.

So while in CdMx, if you want queso be sure to ask for con queso. Try the quesadillas with flor de calabaza (zucchini blossom), mushrooms, huitlacoche, and, of course, the original with just queso.

You can eat traditional Mexican quesadillas at Maria Isabel (Av. Emilio Castelar 14, Polanco) where my parents used to go when they were little. Or at the Mercado la Industrial (Constancia 45, Industrial, G.A.M.) where in any of the stands you can try their quesadillas or any other garnacha (or Mexican street food). 

You can always stop in Tres Marias off the highway if going on a day trip from Mexico City to Las Estacas or Tepoztlan. My grandma’s favorite restaurant here is El Tio Abel.

Barbacoa

Another must try Mexican food is barbacoa, not to be confused with barbecue. 

Barbacoa is a way of preparing meat to make it savory and rich. In the center of Mexico, barbacoa is normally made from sheep meat. This meat is seasoned with different chilies and sauces. Then it is slow-cooked in a brick oven covered in maguey or banana plants. In traditional settings, this oven is made in a hole in the ground, then covered again with dirt overnight. This makes the meat juicy and soft. 

You can try barbacoa in any of the mercados. Or head down to Restaurante Arroyo (Insurgentes Sur 4003, Tlalpan) during lunch (3-5:30pm) to enjoy some mariachi music while you eat their most famous dish. 

If, like me, you are not a fan of gamey meats, try the cochinita pibil. This southern dish from Yucatan Peninsula is made in the same style, so it is a barbacoa, but from pork seasoned with annatto and citrus. Delicious!

Pozole

Pozole is a rich stew made with corn, pork and chilies. It reminds me of Mexico, of Christmas posadas and of home. It is one of the traditional foods in Mexico.

You should definitely try it in Mercado Coyoacan (one of the best markets in Mexico City) or a small restaurant specializing in it, like Pozoleria Jalisco (Av. La Fortuna 100, Tepeyac Insurgentes). It is absolutely delicious and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I love and miss pozole as it is one of the best foods to try in Mexico City.

Get it with the radishes on top as it adds that thing missing. Don’t overdo the powdered chili that is brought along with it.

Fun fact: Researching the words for maíz pozolero, I came about the term hominy. I did not know there was an English word for corn that is nixtamalizado. This is corn that has been treated in an alkali process that gives the real tortillas that special flavor!

Nata

I remember in a very small town in Guanajuato one summer, the milk man would ring the doorbell and Doña Maria would run outside with a pan. This pan was filled with milk and then boiled. Boiling it first allowed us to drink it, and. second, it produced nata. Nata is the cream that thickens and congeals when you boil raw milk. You will not get nata from processed and bottled milk. 

Nata is delicious! It is the creamy more fabulous cousin of butter. Definitely one of the best foods you will try in Mexico City. You can eat it on normal bread, add a little bit of sugar, or with conchas. Conchas are an amazing Mexican sweet bread. I might be biased, but I think Mexican sweet bread is the best in the world. Yes even better than croissants in France and bombe in Italy (sorry, Dad). They truly deserve their own post.

My grandma can tell you that the nata at El Cardenal is absolutely lick-your fingers worthy. Go to their one of their two locations on Av. Paseo de las Palmas 215 in Lomas Chapultepec or their original location on Calle Palma 3 in Centro Historico. I think she let me have just a tiny teaspoon. Then, she proceeded to make sure not even a speck was left on her plate. Their Mexican hot chocolate is prepared with nata and it was absolutely delicious.

Or go to Maque (Av. emilio Castelar 209 G, Polanco) and have their conchas rellenas de nata, you won’t regret it. In both of these restaurants you can get the best breakfast in Mexico City.

Esquites

Oh esquites! It is probably one of my favorite Mexican antojitos. Whenever I see a man or woman with a cart with esquites, I have to get some. They are cooked in boiling water and salt with epazote, then served in a little cup. If you order them con todo, they have butter, sour cream, cheese, lime and chili powder.

Esquites are such a staple that they are served in weddings for the tornaboda. This is the meal served a couple of hours after the main meal at a wedding reception to keep the party going. 

I would never pay for esquites in a restaurant where they overcharge. Instead, get them authentically from a market or a street cart.

Tamales and Champurrado

I am sitting here in Rome, dreaming of Mexican food. Maybe planning my next trip to Mexico and asking my grandma to make me some tamales and champurrado!

For every Candelaria, or the day of the Virgin of Candelaria on February 2nd, we celebrate in Mexico with tamales and champurrado. 

Tamales are masa (corn flour) filled, and steamed in a corn leaf. The filling is made of different things like pork, meat, beans, and, some, are sweet. They are one of the best foods you can try in Mexico City!

The tamale is normally drank with champurrado and/or atole. Atole is a corn based drink, if you add chocolate it becomes champurrado. This is different than Mexican hot chocolate. Mexican hot chocolate does not have masa.

I normally have a more fish and plant-based diet, but when my grandma makes champurrado, I can’t have enough! It is just a creamy, sweat, warm and comforting drink that tastes like chocolatey home. Try them on the street or in a mercado, as mercados are one of the best places to eat in Mexico City.

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Fine dining options in Mexico City

And if you want to try a more upscale Mexican cuisine head to one of my favorite restaurants with what we call comida de autor, or an inventive take on Mexican food. Some of these have consistently been in the 50 best restaurants in the world lists or have been mentioned in the Michelin guide.

Carmela y Sal (Torre Virreyes, Calle Pedregal 24, Virreyes) their tostadas de mentiras are amazing! $$$
Contramar (Durango 200, Roma Norte) seafood restaurant, try the pie de higos $$$
Maximo (Alvaro Obregon 65 Bis, Roma Norte) they have both omakase and a-la-carte options $$$$
Em (Tonalá 133, Roma Norte) tasting menu is $3,800 mxn per person $$$$
Pujol (Tennyson 133, Polanco) tasting menu $3,595 (or $3,995 barra de tacos) $$$$
Dulce Patria (Anatole France 100, Polanco) uses traditional ingredients in different and unexpected presentations. $$$
Quintonil (Av. Isaac Newton 55, Polanco) tasting menus is $5,100 mxn per person $$$$$

These are only 7 of the best foods to try in Mexico City. There are so many other foods in Mexico that are worth trying, like tortas de tamal, carnitas, and birria. The food in each region and state of Mexico is unique and absolutely worthy of their own post. And breakfast… oh how I miss a good Mexican breakfast with the chilaquiles, huevitos rancheros, huevos con migas, molletes, etc.

For some non-touristy activities to do in Mexico City check out this post or if you want some traditional crafts and high-end souvenirs in Mexico city check out this one.

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