Mexican cuisine is a fusion of flavors. According to Lonely Planet Guide, restaurants serve nueva cocina Mexicana and go from serving the world’s best tacos to the following top dishes:
Top dishes
Seafood: huachinango a la veraruzana and ceviche in barra de Navidad.
Seven Moles: chili-based sauces. It is recommended to try this dish at one of Mexico’s best contemporary restaurants in Oaxaca.
Mole Poblano: thick sauce of chilies fruits, nuts, spices, and chocolate.
Chiles en Nogada: green chili stuffed with picadillo, which is a mix of ground meat and fruit and topped with a luscious walnut cream sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.
Tacos al pastor: one of the country’s favorite. It is corn tortilla filled with thinly sliced pork that has been cooked on a spit and served with onion and cilantro.
Quesadillas: a tortilla folded in half with a filling of cheese and /or other ingredients.
Enchiladas: lightly fried tortilla with fillings and covered in a chili sauce.
Tamales: a wodge of masa mixed with lard with stewed meat, fish, or veggies in the middle, and steamed in corn husks or banana leaf.
Exotic dishes
Grasshoppers (chapulines): fried with chili powder and garlic, they make a surprisingly munchable snack, especially accompanying a glass of mezcal.
Corn fungus (huitlacoche): the black mold that grows on some cobs of corn (maize) has a truffle-like texture and has been considered a delicacy since pre-Hispanic times.
Grubs and worms: ant larvae (escamoles) and maguey worms (gusanos de maguey) are seasonal fare from about March to June in the Puebla-Tlaxcala area.
When to eat or drink
In Mexico, you will find the following timetable for eating:
- Desayuno (breakfast): usually served between 8:30 am and 11:00 am. Egg dishes are popular and some Mexicans down serious meaty platefuls.
- Comida (lunch): main meal of the day. It is often served between 2pm and 4:30 pm and it consists of a soup or other starter, main course (typically meat, fish, or seafood) and small dessert. Comida corrida, also known as menu del día is an inexpensive fixed-price lunch menu.
- Cena (dinner): It is a lighter meal than lunch and often not eaten until 9 pm. Restaurants serving dinner open from as early 7 pm thought, offering full menus for those who want them.
- Snacks: at almost any time of the day you can grab an antojito, dessert, or torta at a café or street market stall.
