Instead of flying back home via Leon, Jen, Kevin and I thought it would be more fun (and faster) to fly home through Mexico City. Of course this meant another few straight days of serious eating, which none of us were upset by. As I had mentioned in my post from last year, Mexico City is seriously one of the greatest and most underrated culinary destinations in the world. The food is second to none and compared to the other great food cities of the world, super cheap. I normally hate to visit the same city twice for vacation because there are so many other great cities in the world to visit, but I really didn't mind coming back to Mexico City.
The cool, hip neighborhood is the Roma Norte/Sur area, which is where our Airbnb was. We had just gotten off a 3.5 hr bus ride from San Miguel and starving. We quickly googled best tacos nearby and Taqueria los Parados came up on our search a few times and it was only a 10 min walk from our place. While it's not a restaurant, it's not really a street stall either. Instead it's got a few counters you can stand at while you shove your face full of tacos and quesadillas. The menu is large and expansive and to be honest, we didn't really understand everything that was on there but we just ordered a bunch of tacos al pastor, beef tacos, and beef quesadillas. You can never go wrong with that combination of food.
What's great about this place is that they have a nice selection of condiments which some of the street carts just don't have space for. They have a huge vat of pico de gallo, diced onions and guacamole. Yum! We poured everything on each thing we got and it was all fantastic. Super flavorful, the meat was moist, the cheese nice and gooey, what more could you ask for? The tortillas were fresh and held up well with all the toppings we put in there. While it felt a bit more sterile and had less character than sitting on a plastic stool on the street, if you're in the area and have a hankering for delicious tacos, it's definitely worth checking out. Total bill: $22 for 3 people
Maximo Bistro Tonalá 133, Col. Roma, 06700 México, D.F. 4.5 Forks
After three straight days of Mexican food, we finally switched it up and got something that wasn't Mexican. Instead, we got French food and it was nice to get a bit of a reprieve from it all. Mamixo Bistrot got rave reviews from a friend of ours (and yes, Anthony Bourdain is also a huge fan) and the place was packed when we were there, so we felt like we made the right decision.
The menu changes seasonally and is beautifully pressed on a thin paper with gold trim. We originally got the Spanish version of the menu so it was a little bit hard to figure out what everything was and we could have really made do with it, but we finally got the English version which helped. The food here is elegant but not stuffy. Unfortunately, we were all still a bit stuffed from our earlier lunch and I was honestly still reeling in pain from all the multi-course tasting menus we did earlier in the week (note: that they also have a tasting menu here but there was no way we could do another one), so I was glad to switch over to a more seafood focused meal. We got the octopus ceviche to start and I got the seared scallops for my main. It felt really good to eat clean, non-cheese based food and the portions were just right. The scallops were a pretty decent size, seared nicely and served with sautéed Swiss chard.
If I had ended my review here, I would have probably given it 4 forks. It was absolutely a delicious meal but what put it over the edge was this freaking amazing cheese plate we got at the end. I know said we were sick of cheese but really that was a lie. They had this incredible camembert cheese that was insane. It was served with a giant fresh honey comb and fruit compote and we were all in heaven. Obviously if you do not like intense, strong cheese don't get it but if you do, this will definitely make your night. Unfortunately since the menu changes seasonally, it may not always be on the menu but if you see it, get it! This was definitely one of the pricier non-tasting meals we had on the trip but if you're looking for a low key yet sophisticated meal, this is right up your alley. Total bill: $238 USD for 3 people including tax, tip and cocktails
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