The
San Angel Inn, set in a 17th century hacienda, is a welcome respite from the chaos of Mexico City. The inn is renowned for its margaritas and martinis brought to table in a beautiful silver vessel with a mini ice bucket to keep the contents cold while you enjoy the garden view.
The menu is old school: steak tartare, lobster thermidor and caesar salad made table-side.
Cups of cafe de olla.
Check out those floating islands.
Another old-school restaurant is Fonda El Refugio, a charming cozy place in the Zona Rosa, serving the traditional foods of Mexico.
They make some of the best margaritas here, too. Tongue tacos and a corn and roasted poblano soup were our first course, followed by pork
pibil-style and
manchamanteles, a coastal mole using pineapple and plantain along with chilies and spices.
After a leisurely lunch,
cafe de olla - pot-brewed coffee with
piloncillo (raw sugar) and cinnamon hits the spot.
Colourful candies are brought with the bill.
Of all the cantinas in D.F. ,
Salon Espana is the most civilized - or at least it was when we were there. The specialty here is the tequila list - over 120 on offer. The smartly-dressed wait staff are well versed in tequilas, asking - "
Do you want something fuerte or suave?"
And like all cantinas the food is free. Homecooking. Sturdy plates that go great with alcohol. A chillied
pozole was first. A good match with a glass of Centinella blanca and a side
sangrita casera. The next courses were a
sopa seca (a simple plate of pasta), stewed pig's foot, followed by
morcilla (blood sausage). Free. You just have to keep ordering drinks.
The Alameda park in the
centro historico is a lovely place for a stroll. Christmas vendors were still set up, with the usual drinks and snacks along with games of chance and old carney stuff like this very cool handpainted sign announcing the smallest girl in the world.
There was also a chance to have your fortune told - by a bird. I haven't seen this type of vendor in years and it was so reassuring that they are still around. First, the bird rings a bell to receive some bird seed. Birdie num-num.
And then it pulls your fortune from a box. It looks to be a very prosperous year.
The menu is old school: steak tartare, lobster thermidor and caesar salad made table-side.
Cups of cafe de olla.
Check out those floating islands.
Another old-school restaurant is Fonda El Refugio, a charming cozy place in the Zona Rosa, serving the traditional foods of Mexico.
They make some of the best margaritas here, too. Tongue tacos and a corn and roasted poblano soup were our first course, followed by pork pibil-style and manchamanteles, a coastal mole using pineapple and plantain along with chilies and spices.
After a leisurely lunch, cafe de olla - pot-brewed coffee with piloncillo (raw sugar) and cinnamon hits the spot.
Colourful candies are brought with the bill. 
Of all the cantinas in D.F. , Salon Espana is the most civilized - or at least it was when we were there. The specialty here is the tequila list - over 120 on offer. The smartly-dressed wait staff are well versed in tequilas, asking - "Do you want something fuerte or suave?"
And like all cantinas the food is free. Homecooking. Sturdy plates that go great with alcohol. A chillied pozole was first. A good match with a glass of Centinella blanca and a side sangrita casera. The next courses were a sopa seca (a simple plate of pasta), stewed pig's foot, followed by morcilla (blood sausage). Free. You just have to keep ordering drinks.
There was also a chance to have your fortune told - by a bird. I haven't seen this type of vendor in years and it was so reassuring that they are still around. First, the bird rings a bell to receive some bird seed. Birdie num-num.
And then it pulls your fortune from a box. It looks to be a very prosperous year.
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