Mexico City at the table: masa, mole and the MICHELIN stars

About Mexico City at the table: masa, mole and the MICHELIN stars

By the ULTIMATE Mexico City Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

In the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Mexico, two Mexico City restaurants hold Two Stars, both in Polanco: Pujol, Enrique Olvera’s restaurant on Tennyson, and Quintonil, Jorge Vallejo’s on Isaac Newton. Nine more hold One Star, most of them in Roma and Condesa. Beside them, MICHELIN gives a Bib Gourmand, its mark for good quality, good value cooking, to twenty-six places in the city, many of them taquerías and tortillerías. Corn is the thread that runs through all of it: nixtamalised, ground to masa and pressed into tortillas by hand.

The starred tables

Pujol, at Tennyson 133, and Quintonil, at Isaac Newton 55, hold Two MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 guide. The one-stars are spread across Roma and Condesa: Rosetta on Colima, Máximo on Álvaro Obregón, Expendio de Maíz on Avenida Yucatán, Em on Ámsterdam, Gaba on Avenida Mazatlán and Esquina Común on Fernando Montes de Oca, with Masala y Maíz in the Centro, La Once Mil in Lomas de Chapultepec and Sud 777 in Jardines del Pedregal.

Taquerías with a Bib

The Bib Gourmand list reads like a map of the city’s tacos: Taqueria Los Cocuyos in the Centro, Taquería El Jarocho on Tapachula, El Vilsito in Narvarte, Taquería Los Milanesos near San Ángel and Tacos Charly in Tlalpan, with Contramar, the seafood dining room on Durango, among them.

Book the starred tables weeks ahead; for the taquerías, go at lunch and expect to stand.

Masa and the molino

Molino El Pujol, on Benjamín Hill in Condesa, and Siembra Tortillería, in Polanco, both hold a Bib Gourmand: places to see corn turned into masa and tortillas.

The old dining rooms

Café de Tacuba, on Tacuba in the Centro, opened in 1912 after a short time as a dairy, in a 17th-century house (CDMX official tourism site), and Sanborns has served breakfast in the tiled Casa de los Azulejos on Madero since 1919.

Our advice: eat your main meal at lunch, as the city does, between about two and five; dinner can be lighter.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Mexico City at the table: masa, mole and the MICHELIN stars before you go.