Sunday, June 16, 2024

Mexico, mi amor

One way to fall in love with a new city is through its food, which is how it worked in our case with Mexico City when we visited it last Spring. We especially enjoyed the street food, specifically the tacos and chilaquiles, which excelled both in terms of flavor and price. 

Chicken in Mole sauce at Villa Maria
The most memorable fine-dining experience was at Villa Maria, which is where I tried mole chicken (chocolate-based sauce) for the first time while watching a Mariachi band. While somewhat touristy for my taste, it was worth it, for mostly the live music. The food wasn't terrible.   
Enchiladas in verde salsa

Flan
Some of the fancier neighborhoods like Polanco or La Condesa boast high-end, yuppie restaurants that you might want to treat yourself to at some point during your trip. We tried multiple such places for brunch and dinner, including Madre Cafe and a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant whose name escapes me, where I had a delicious baos with crunchy crab, along with dumplings with mole sauce, and a whole crispy red snapper in a sweet and sour sauce. All dishes were well executed, and we loved the flavors. 

Another of my favorite meals in the city were the enchiladas. Enchiladas, a traditional dish, are stuffed corn tortillas, mostly with a protein and served in copious amount of a savory sauce of your choice (red/roja or green/verde) with grated cheese on top. To my palate, this dish resembled an Indian curry due to the salsa. We had it several times during our short visit.   

Finally, owing to not having a much of a sweet tooth, I am usually not very curious about desserts. But I did try Mexican flan, mostly because it resembled caramel pudding, one of my favorite Indian dishes along with guava pastries. The flan didn't disappoint me with respect to taste (well sugar never does!) although I preferred it in street shops more than dine-in restaurants. 

All in all, this trip was worth it for the food alone. 

This blog was started by Uma Kelekar to express her love for food.

My photo
I like to visit local ethnic restaurants in Northern Virginia and experience different cuisines, and then try the dishes out in my own kitchen. I started this blog to express my love for food.