Roma and Condesa, Mexico City
Mexico City was a brief 48 hour stop over for us, just enough to get a taste for it and immediately crave more. Obviously, with a population of 21 million people, I actually know nothing about the city- but here's what I did learn.
Where to stay?
Currently two neighborhoods are very trendy and safe, with an almost European feel to them- Roma and Condesa. We stayed in a hotel called AR218 in Condesa, the rooms were amazing; modern, roomy, clean and well designed. The staff were extremely helpful and as an added bonus- it was above a Starbucks. I would call these neighborhoods the Parkhurst's of Mexico City.
Great restaurants we tried
1.Las Chalupitas
In Condesa we had dinner at a small traditional restaurant called Las Chalupitas. Ironically, the Chalupitas on the menu were the best things we ordered. Everything was tasty though and the staff went out of their way to try and explain the completely Spanish menu to us.
2.Chiquitito
Breakfast in Condesa- go to a small coffee shop called Chiquitito, they serve a yummy avo on health bread with red onion and chilli flakes, and good coffee.
3.Puerto Madero
For an Argentinian steak (on the pricier side compared to most Mexican food) Puerto Madero will exceed your expectations (but stick to beef here). Their potato soufflé side dish and spinach & artichoke side are also worth trying.
4.El Mayor
El Mayor is a roof top bar that has a good view of the old town and they make a pretty good margarita cocktail.
The San Juan food market
It's definitely worth going to a food market- apparently there are hundreds in Mexico City. We went to one of the bigger ones called San Juan. This market has two parts to it, on different street corners- one with more fish, meat and fresh produce and one with mini sit down rotisseries, juice bars, taco stands and anything else you can possibly imagine. You can buy anything, from the likes of dried scorpions and dried prawns to fresh South American fruit and veg that doesn't even exist in our vocab. Let's not forget the lion meat and pig brains? Apparently.
Eat Mexico walking tour
We had signed up for a street food taco tour on our second day in the city, despite the fact that all of us were feeling queasy which can only be attributed to the amount of Famous Grouse consumed the previous evening. Our hangovers quickly abated when we tried our first corn treat of the day, a taco campenchano- a mix of beef and pork and pork crackling. It was honestly out of this world. The five stops in between were all delicious but the last one, again, appealed to all of our taste buds; shaved pork, pineapple, a variety of salsas, chili, sliced onion and cilantro. We booked our tour through a company called Eat Mexico, it has a great reputation for a reason. Eat Mexico tries to keep all groups under 6 people and regularly does quality control checks on all vendors to ensure top quality food. We did the Roma and Condesa taco tour, but there are a few different options if you google Eat Mexico.
Uber
Lastly, use Uber in Mexico City. It's even cheaper than it is in South Africa (which is cheap). It's also safe. If you stay in the right areas in the city you can avoid worrying too much about safety.