48 hours in Mexico City
Everything we ate and shopped for two days in CDMX! Plus, where I found amazing silver jewelry, my new bracelet, and more spots for next time.
The shortest but sweetest trip to Mexico City has left me feeling full and excited to return soon. I have to thank a handful of friends for their amazing recommendations: Lizzy, Helen at
, , my friends Mckenzi + Meg and all of YOU! Next time, we hope to do a little more outside of eating and shopping, but not complaining about our first visit! Here is all that we did during 2 days in CDMX:![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff978c56d-7f7b-450e-a1a2-4f2e538102c9_3024x4032.heic)
Eating
El Tigre Silencioso - As soon as we landed, we were starving for lunch. We last minute booked El Tigre Silencioso and it was amazing! We dined al fresco and the lower patio was magical for an afternoon lunch. Inside is great too! Our favorite dishes were pictured below. I can’t remember the first’s name but it was top 3 things we ate in town (first photo below). The second were the best birria tacos I’ve ever had in my life. Their salsa verde was my favorite. Elizabeth said the mussels are a must! Next time.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feb093015-4db6-4671-9b4a-5524b0fefb11_3024x4032.heic)
Maximo Bistrot - Maximo is such a special place and it was probably the #1 recommended spot of the trip. If we were going strictly on vibes, this would be my favorite of the trip. I absolutely loved everything about this place. The freshly picked sunflowers, candlelight, and absolutely incredible food. I think we could have ordered more/ some different things, but we were a little hangry so picked the first 3 things that sounded good. We did the soft shell crab taco which was the highlight, the tagliatelle (also insane and so fresh), and the lamb + risotto. I had to have a sweet treat, so I asked for a scoop of their homemade burnt vanilla ice cream to satisfy- it was everything and more.
Panaderia Rosetta - Highly recommended by a lot of you! I loved this little spot. A sweet cafe on a beautiful street. I was in love with the rosemary pastry I got- it was a little sweet and savory. Coffee was delish too!
We didn’t have set reservations and kind of wanted to see how we felt each day. It was definitely more flexible to operate like this since we were in CDMX during the week, in my opinion. But even so, reservations at the best spots were not the easiest to secure! On our second and last day we were hoping to get into Contramar for lunch but ended up going with Taverna, which a few of my trusted sources recommended. Looking back, we wish we flip flopped the timing in terms of lunch and dinner, but both were outstanding. I feel like Contramar is a classic and a must visit. My favorite was the soft shell crab with flour tortillas and the al pastor tacos, doused in their perfectly creamy house salsa verde.
Taverna was one of the most beautiful establishments in terms of design. Super impressive decor and the place is massive, but feels very intimate. Some of our favorite dishes of the trip! The dates, fried sardines, and the octopus were incredible and a must if you go.
We visited two wine bars while in town for night caps. Hiya is a newer speakeasy style wine bar and such a vibe. Loved the staff and music, this place is a must. We also went to Hugo and it was amazing! It felt like NYC. We also stopped by Vigneron and loved it for a mid day break.
Jimmy loved street tacos from El Turix.
We stayed at Ignacia Guest House and it was wonderful. The property is small and boutique, and the service and details were fabulous. The location was also just perfect. I truly don’t have one bad thing to say about it! The insanely delicious homemade breakfast to order each morning was a very lovely touch to our stay, and prepared by the sweetest team of women!
Shopping
I heard so much about the vintage shopping in Mexico City and the shops are endless! It was so cool to pop into so many, especially in such close proximity of one another. I think Roma Norte had most of the shops I had saved. Although I didn’t score anything, I think if I had more time in CDMX and was in more of a sifting mood, I would have found some goodies. Here’s everywhere I saved and went to (google maps!). Among this list, my favorites were:
Vintage Folk - This was massive and so well curated! I think there are like 4 floors!
Casa Ananda - I thought this place was epic. It was situated in an old townhome with many floors and an amazing curation.
Taller de Letras - an adorable stationary shop. I picked up a notebook by Apuntes that is made in Mexico City.
My personal highlight of the trip was hunting down somewhere to buy Mexican silver, which is my favorite.
I have a lot of vintage Mexican silver- some I’ve hunted down and some from my Mom on her own travels to Mexico. I have been wanting another bracelet to add to my stack. Jimmy suggested asking some locals in the stores where they’d go for silver pieces. Great move. Two fabulous women took my phone and entered 3 stores into my notes app. The first store was very close by so we hit there first and I ended up getting something! The store is Talleres De Los Ballesteros and it looks to be a popular jeweler with locations all over Mexico, which is a good sign for quality. I was obsessed with the earrings, bracelets and necklaces. They had an amazing selection of designs. I wanted to have my own, brand new piece of silver jewelry to form its own patina and be able to pass it down one day. The salesperson was so helpful and was able to take out a few links on my bracelet to wear it out of the store just 10 minutes later. Price wise, I don’t think this place was too steep, especially for brand new silver. The bracelet I chose was around $250 USD (you can find vintage stuff for around the same price or more). I highly recommend stopping in one of their locations if you’ll be in Mexico and you’re wanting to add to your silver collection.
Other recs we got and saved for next time:
Darosa
Taqueria Orinoco
Lardo
Expendio De Maiz
Pujol
Cafe Tormenta
Mendl
Quentin
Quintonil
Martinez
Botanico
Entremar
Casa Gilardi by Luis Barragan
SENSATIONAL‼️
This is an epic list thank you! Curious did you get a small in the ozma dress?