A couple of months ago I traveled to Mexico City with my friend Nicole Beck for a long weekend. Nicole and I met earlier this year at this photography workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico and became fast friends! We kept in touch after the workshop and immediately began plotting a photo trip together. After only a few days of texting back and forth we settled on Mexico City. I hadn’t been to Mexico City since 2002, when it was referred to as D.F. (Distrito Federal), and Nicole had never been so we were excited to eat and shoot our way through the city.
Planning a trip with another food photographer was really fun. Between the two of us we had a very long list of where to eat and what to do from our friends in the food and travel industries. We narrowed it down to the places that repeatedly came up across all of the recommendations that we received and threw in a few spontaneous ones during the trip. Mexico City is a massively huge city so this list is in no way complete or exhaustive but I wanted to share where we stayed, where we ate and what we did during our time in CDMX.
Photo by Nicole Beck. I love this pink wall at Casa Luis Barragan
No trip to Mexico City is complete without a dinner reservation at Pujol. I’ve wanted to eat here since watching the 2nd season of The Chef’s Table (episode 4) with Enrique Olvera. He’s arguably Mexico’s biggest celebrity chef so we didn’t want to miss an opportunity to eat here. We opted for the tasting menu which lasted a little over 3 hours long and it was quite the experience. The highlight of the meal was of course the mole madre which had been going for 1578 days. Delicioso! Thank you to the amazing team at Pujol for the incredible meal and hospitality!
Pujol!
We also got to check out Enrique Olvera’s newest spot in CDMX, Molino “El Pujol”. This neighborhood molino located in the Condesa is casual, more affordable and a wonderful way to sample the flavors of Pujol on a budget. You can purchase tortillas, heirloom maiz from Oaxaca and even grab tamales to go. We came back the next morning for a cafe de olla and some tortillas for the plane ride home. The staff was super friendly and I’m dying for an aqua de maiz right now! Order anything and everything.
In between meals we ventured to a few museums and of course we had to visit some mercados. We spent a morning at the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan then rushed over to the Casa Luis Barragan for a tour. If you plan to visit the Frida Kahlo museum, be sure to buy tickets well in advance and arrive with plenty of time before your designated tour time. Also, if you’d like to take photos in the museum you’ll need to pay extra at the entrance for a photo pass. The museum was very crowded but well worth it! The same goes for Casa Luis Barragan, reserve your tickets in well in advance because it sells out.
A friend we made while waiting in line to enter Museo Frida Kahlo.
We ate breakfast twice at Lalo because it was very close to our airbnb and because it was really tasty. I may have filled my carry on with ceramics from their retail wall too! If you’re into dogs like me, there’s some really good dog watching at Lalo as well as at our other favorite morning spot, Panaderia Rosetta. Two words, roll de guayaba. Okay that was three words but you get the point. The pastries at Panaderia Rosetta rival the ones I’ve had in Paris so pack your stretchy pants and spanx and enjoy the fabulous carbs!
Casa Luis Barragan
Are you hungry yet? Lastly, I have to mention the meal that we had at Contramar. I wasn’t sure if Contramar would live up to the hype but it did. We had so many people recommend lunch here and everyone couldn’t stop talking about the tuna tostadas. I’m happy to report that the hype is real and that we could have eaten several orders of the tuna tostadas! Order with abandon and enjoy! I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Mexico City has tons of wonderful museums, incredible pyramids and archeological sites and a food culture too vast to experience in a long weekend but I hope to be back again soon to explore more. We didn’t make it to many of the more popular attractions this time because I was recovering from bronchitis on this trip and just didn't have the energy and stamina to do all the things but I know I’ll be back soon.
Stay:
Historico Central near the Zocalo. This is a modern and clean hotel in an excellent location for exploring the heart of the city.
This Airbnb near the Condesa (Save $40 on your first Airbnb with this code) This was a very comfortable airbnb with a door man in a good location.
Eat:
Pasillo de Humo
Molino “El Pujol”
Fonda Mayora
Breakfast at El Cardinal
Do:
Climb to the top of Torre Latinoamerica for panoramic views of the city
Tortillas on the comal at Mercado el 100
Is Mexico City a destination you’d like to travel to? Do you have a favorite restaurant or market to share? Comment below! I’d love to hear from you. Thank you so much for visiting and I hope you enjoyed!