Think the flair of Frieda Kahlo meets the chaos of Pablo Escobar, Mexico city is a messy, sweaty, sexy playground for food, art and cultural lovers alike.
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Mexico City
A city that straddles time – Mexico’s nearly 500-year-old capital is made of ancient stone and gleaming glass. You’re just as likely to be sipping a pre-Colombian beverage in a 77-year-old pulqueria as hanging with the beautiful chilangos (city dwellers) in a bustling rooftop bar. Cosmopolitan neighbourhoods of the world’s largest city swell with over 21 million people and offer plazas and palm trees, Beaux Arts buildings and street art, and enough museums to keep you occupied forever.
From humble to highbrow, Mexico’s gastronomic revolution is well and truly in full swing. A market visit is obligatory and where better than Mercado de San Juan, where the chefs shop. Pick up freshly ground spices, sheets of chicharrón or perhaps a whole pig’s head? Perhaps not, but it’s surely a foodie’s dream to get lost in this headily scented hub of culinary commerce. For little more than a dollar you can sample flaky shrimp empanadas, plates of grilled meats, or esquites – corn kernels boiled with jalapenos and epazote, garnished with lime juice, chilli salt, mayonnaise and cheese.
If you like fine wine with your meal, grab a table at Enrique Olvera’s restaurant Pujol, world-renowned for using rare native ingredients and delicately reinventing traditional dishes. Either way you slice it, Mexico City tastes damn fine.
