After my introductory article on my travel tips for Mexico, here is my promised food tour focusing on the country’s gastronomy. Mexican cuisine is a blend of several influences (much like the rest of Mexican culture, really), primarily Spanish and Mesoamerican. Each region develops its own specialties and unique characteristics. However, there remains a foundation for all of Mexican cuisine, the 3 essential ingredients of its gastronomy that you will find everywhere: black beans, corn, and chili.
A small but important detail for your trip regarding Mexican restaurants: as waitstaff salaries are extremely low, it is strongly recommended (and expected of you) to leave a tip when you leave. Normally, it’s about 10% of the bill, though you can adjust this based on your satisfaction with the service. Like in all countries that operate this way, the big advantage is that the service is always impeccable, attentive, and charming (a nice change from France…).
Furthermore, it is not really a burden on a travel budget, because restaurant prices in Mexico are incomparable to French prices, so it won’t cost you very much in the end. I will try to provide a description of the specialties and the great places I discovered in the different cities (Puebla and Oaxaca) I visited during this short trip.
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Table of Contents
Mexican Specialties
- In every Mexican restaurant, once you are seated, you will inevitably be brought a small tray with a selection of sauces of varying heat (don’t trust the color, sometimes the red sauce is hotter than the green, sometimes it’s the other way around!) accompanied by a kind of brioche bread or tacos. I’ve included various examples below.
- Chili is omnipresent in Mexican cuisine. It seems more prevalent in the south of the country than in the north, but since I didn’t go to the north, I can’t confirm. In any case, if you don’t like eating spicy food, you’ll need to be very careful when ordering your dishes!
- No need to introduce Guacamole, a preparation based on avocados that is also very popular in France.
- Pozole is a type of Mexican stew. It’s worth noting that Mexicans love soups and broths; you will find them in just about every place, regardless of which region you are in.
- Tamales are small dumplings wrapped in corn husks (or banana leaves in Oaxaca) filled with spicy meat, cheese, or chili sauce, and then steamed.
- Mexicans love cooking Cactus in different ways, and we tested it several times as a salad. The product itself is rather bland, and it deserves to be enhanced by other ingredients that are strong in flavor.
- Ceviche, this Latin American dish is very popular in Mexico. It is prepared with raw fish or seafood “cooked” in a marinade that is often based on chili and herbs.
- Mezcal is an alcoholic beverage produced from a plant, the agave. To make this alcohol, Mexicans use different varieties of agave that have matured for about 7 years, and sometimes up to 30 years! It is produced in several states of the country but mainly in the state of Oaxaca. As for the little larva you might find in the bottom of Mezcal bottles, it is absolutely not typical; it is just a marketing gimmick dating back to the 1940s to differentiate it from Tequila for export.
For a little info, and to avoid any confusion, one could say that Tequila is a type of Mezcal produced with a specific type of agave in a specific region of Mexico.
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Specialties of Puebla
- Mole Poblano (in the foreground in the photo below), the specialty of this dish lies in its sauce, composed of numerous ingredients such as cocoa, almonds, bacon, chilis, spices, raisins…
- Chile en Nogada is a typical dish that can only be enjoyed between the months of July and September because it is made with chilis that only grow seasonally on the slopes of the Popocatepetl volcano. Unfortunately for us, since the season had just ended, we couldn’t taste it.
- Chalupas, small tortillas fried in bacon fat and topped with onions and meat.
- The liqueurs of Puebla are quite sweet and come in many flavors. You can find them in many places and souvenir shops in the city.
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My Top Recommendations in Puebla
As in all the places I visited in Mexico, you eat very well in Puebla, and at very reasonable prices too. Below you will find a selection of the places I tested during my time in Puebla.
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Restaurant Salomé
At the helm of this restaurant is chef Angel Vasquez, and this isn’t his first establishment. The place is located in a shopping mall, but don’t let that fool you; the quality of the place is far beyond what you usually find in these kinds of spots in France. Below, I couldn’t resist the urge to include a photo of one of those strange metal cacti found in every restaurant in the country. These are actually bag hooks, and I found it super practical! Maybe a little idea to import into our French restaurants?…
To try:
- The chef’s ceviches, we tried the octopus one, ceviche de pulpo y camaron con salsa tatemada ($97).
- Also try the tostadas (tortillas cooked without fat); we opted for the one with atun fresco, chipotle mayonnaise, poro frito ($65)
- The taquitos with the Salomé taco (crusted pork shrimp, deli meat, avocado, and pico de gallo – $57) and the surf & turf taco (shrimp, rib eye, cheese, chipotle mayonnaise, and flour tortilla – $65).
- For dessert, the cremita Poblana and the banana with sweet milk (absolutely delicious if you are a banana lover like me!).
Restaurant Salomé Centro Commercial Angelopolis Terraza gourmet II, Puebla
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La Fonda de Santa Clara
A very good family establishment to test the famous Mole Poblano I mentioned just above.
La Fonda de Santa Clara 6 Oriente 12, Puebla
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La Casita Poblana
A great popular spot to discover traditional Puebla cuisine. The establishment has also received an award for its Mole Poblano for connoisseurs (you can’t visit this region without trying it; that would be a shame!).
La Casita Poblana 16 de septiembre 3912, Colonia Huexotitla. Puebla, Puebla, México
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La Textileria
This rather young and trendy place is one of the new spots to go out in the city, although I find the music a little too loud (am I getting old?!).
To try:
- As a main course, my favorite photographer tried the tuna steak (190 gr) accompanied by vegetables ($190).
- For my part, I was a bit adventurous, testing the Naked Crab tacos ($195), since I am a huge crab lover.
- Our guide had set his sights on a classic salmon steak ($205), but he seemed to be enjoying it.
- For dessert, I highly recommend you try the house’s delicious churros accompanied by several sauces… Yes, I know, it’s more of a Spanish pastry, but it’s so good!
La Textileria Av. Juarez 2716, La Paz, 72160 Puebla
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Cinco cocina urbana
This restaurant is located in our first hotel in Puebla, La Descanseria. If you make a stop at this hotel, I highly recommend you test their kitchen; it’s very good, refined, and the prices are more than affordable.
To try:
- The Sopa de frijol, a kind of black bean soup that is very thick but very good ($50).
- Cemita de carnitas, a kind of small burger with meat ($70).
- Tacos de asada, grilled meat with raw onions ($95).
Cinco cocina urbana La Descanseria Calle 3 Oriente No.627, Centro, 72000 Puebla
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Mesón Sacristía de la Compañía
This magnificent boutique hotel (which I will tell you about in my article on Puebla) is also one of the best tables in the city. It was in this beautiful place that I celebrated my birthday, by the way, and on the evening of our meal, we were treated to a musical dinner with a singer who brightened up our evening. A gastronomic stop not to be missed, also for its magnificent colorful decor.
For the choice of dishes, we let ourselves be guided by the tasting menu with 6 courses + 1 glass of wine ($325), which allows you to sample several specialties (chalupas, the house soup, a fried parsley ball,…).
Mesón Sacristía de la Compañía
Calle 6 Sur 304 Callejón de los Sapos, Centro, 72000 Puebla
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Specialties of Oaxaca
- Chapulines are small roasted grasshoppers that are characteristic of the Oaxaca region. You can eat them on their own, but in Mexico, they are mostly used as a condiment, in a tortilla, or to enhance the taste of a cactus salad.
- Mole oaxaqueño or negro: a dish in sauce served with chicken or turkey. The recipe for the sauce (secret) changes according to the region (it’s different between Puebla and Oaxaca, for example) and contains numerous ingredients, including chocolate and chili.
- I don’t remember the name of this dish, but it’s a kind of croquette with shredded meat inside, and this preparation is obviously served at weddings. A real treat!
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My Top Recommendations in Oaxaca
More or less, Oaxaca seems to be one of the culinary capitals of Mexico. The city is known for its many culinary specialties and, on top of that, it’s packed with great places.
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Los Danzantes
One of the most beautiful places we tested in Oaxaca. The setting is magnificent, with its small interior courtyard well hidden behind mud brick walls, impeccable service (and very good advice from our server), and delicious cuisine. This restaurant is a bit above the other dining places in the city in terms of price, but it is well worth it. It offers a kind of Mexican-style fusion cuisine that is extremely flavorful.
Los Danzantes
Macedonio Alcalá 403, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca
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El Destilado
Another very beautiful place in Oaxaca, but be careful, it’s very small at El Destilado. The place is both a Mezcal bar and also a restaurant that offers delicious and fresh small dishes in the form of tapas.
El Destilado 5 de Mayo 409, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca
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La Casa Oaxaca
A very good place with a rooftop terrace that offers a magnificent view of the San Domingo convent. The establishment is one of the best places in the city to taste Mole negro (black Mole), one of the great specialties of the region that I keep talking about. The one I tasted was served with turkey and flambéed bananas, a treat!
Casa Oaxaca St Constitution 104-A
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The Que Gusto Festival
This nice Mexican gastronomy festival in Paris is a good way to rediscover the vast gastronomy of this beautiful country even if you have never been there. The 2017 edition of the Festival Que Gusto will take place in the capital from June 15 to 25, 2017.
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I hope that with all this, I have made you want to discover Mexican culinary specialties, and if you too have your favorite places in Mexico, do not hesitate to share them in the comments!
Find below all my articles on my trip to Mexico in September/October 2016:
⇒ All my articles on Mexico
⇒ All my Mexican restaurant reviews in Paris
MY STOPS IN MEXICO
⇒ Practical information for traveling to Mexico
⇒ Mexico City
⇒ Puebla
⇒ Mexican food tour
Photo credits: Nicolas Diolez and Melle Bon Plan Photos are not royalty-free, photographer's authorization required before any use
