On excellent advice from the owner of our hotel in Merida we changed our plans and ended up renting a car for a day trip to Uxmal and Kabah with a detour to a couple of beautiful cenotes.
Monthly Archives: June 2014
Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante
The modern Mexican restaurant connected to our first hotel in Oaxaca (see more details here) – Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante – is widely known as the best place to eat in Oaxaca (it’s currently number 34 on the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurant’s list).
Wonderful Oaxaca
Another lovely colonial town, Oaxaca boasts beautiful buildings and a thriving art scene.
I blame the London restaurant’s incorrect spelling for the fact I pronounced Oaxaca wrong for an embarrassingly long time. Luckily I discovered it is actually pronounced ‘Wahaca’ (as per the restaurant name, not as the correct spelling looks) before I crossed the Mexican border – Oaxacans are (rightly) proud of their beautiful city so it would have caused some serious rouge-cheeks had I not been corrected!
El Mural de los Poblanos
Everywhere we read said that El Mural de Los Poblanos was THE place to go and sample the traditional delights of Poblano cuisine, so we headed into the old town on our first evening in Puebla to try it out.
Picturesque Puebla
The next stop on our mini tour of Mexico was the lovely colonial city of Puebla. Set in a valley and surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the bus journey from Mexico was almost as stunning as the UNESCO world heritage city centre. And, as the city centre is quite small you can easily get a real sense of it in just a day or two.
Pigging out in Polanco – Pujol and Licoreria Limatour
The other restaurant on our list for Mexico City was the renown Pujol. Given the restaurant has been a feature on the last few editions of the world’s 50 best restaurants list, we were keen to see what the fuss was about…
Mexico City – the ultimate underrated cultural city?
The capital city of Mexico was definitely the hidden gem of our trip. I’m not sure why, but in my head our time in Mexico City was a bit of a stop-gap on the way to more interesting places. Instead, I ended up loving the vibrant atmosphere, delicious food and drink and the wealth of culture on offer and wasn’t ready to leave!
A restorative dinner at Biko
We had an unexpectedly horrendous journey from Las Vegas to Mexico City and as a result nearly missed out on our reservation at Biko. Boy am I glad we made it just in time – set in the modern upmarket area of Polanco, Biko served up possibly the best food we ate during our time in Mexico.
L’Assiette Champenoise
If you are making the journey to Champagne and are happy to take a break from the bubbles themselves Arnaud Lallement’s L’Assiette Champenoise, France’s latest three Michelin star restaurant, is a perfect way to soak up the alcohol.
Popping corks in Champagne
As it’s a no-travel week, I’m going to take advantage of the idea of Throwback Thursdays and allow myself to day-dream of where I was this time last year…Champagne. Given it’s by far and away my favourite tipple, I can’t quite believe that it took me almost ten years of legally being able to drink the bubbly stuff to make the hop, skip and jump over the Channel to the Champagne region. Just a two hour drive or so from Calais, it’s the perfect distance for a long weekend.