Very pleasant cafe, bookshop, and CD store in the heart of Condesa. I spotted Carlos Monsivais sipping coffee on a table opposite and felt very much the intellectual about town. Good selection of fiction, history, art books (in Spanish).

Nuevo León 115, in Condesa.

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This restaurant is near the Zona Rosa and has very good Mexican food, including traditional quesadillas with squash blossoms (delicious), and a wonderfully unique cocktail called a torito. The torito with mamey (a tropical fruit) is unforgettable. Unless you have too many.

Bahía de las Palmas 37.

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Coyoacan is a lovely leafy suburb of Mexico City. The area inspired artist Frida Kahlo and you can visit her beautiful blue house here. It is famous for its markets, on a Saturday and Sunday, for its great second hand bookshops and also its ice-cream (you should try mil flores flavour - a thousand flowers).

A great place to escape the hectic city centre, it is easily reached on the metro or by bus.

Coyoacan, Mexico D.F.
lots of buses from the centre, Frida Kahlo's house is on Calle Londres

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Located on Insurgentes Sur in the Condesa neighborhood, this hotel is conveniently near the fun in the Zona Rosa.

I shared a double room. It was clean, quiet, and had a large bathroom with a giant shower, TV, breakfast and coffee. This hotel is comparable to any moderately priced business hotel in the US. At the equivalent of $40 US per night it's a bargain. The staff were professional and attentive.

Hotel Roosevelt
Insurgentes Sur 287, Col Hipodromo, Condesa, CP 06100
tel. 5208-3606
Access to Metrobus. Located south of the Glorieta Insurgentes.

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Open 24 hours a day, this is the perfect place for an early or late breakfast - so long as you like churros! This is a cafe that sticks resolutely to what it does well. El Morro serves up excellent hot chocolate and coffee, and mountains of churros - hot, sugary, deep fried extruded doughnuts. Go on, give your arteries a rush.

42 Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico City - on the edge of the historic centre.

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La Habana's reputation is intriguing: it is said to have a rich history of being a hotbed for illicit meetings between journalists and politicians. The clientele, however, is pretty diverse: you are as likely to find yourself seated next to an old woman in floral dress and outrageous hair as you are to be near a scheming anarchist hack.

Guaranteed is one of the best breakfasts you're ever likely to experience. The spicy sausage omelette, for one example, is quite unbelievable. And the coffee is sensational. (You can also choose from a huge range of beans from an adjacent booth to take home). The 50s decor - a wide open space and high ceiling - provides a perfect setting to read the newspaper or plan your day.

Morelos #62 (On the corner of Avenida Cuauhtemoc and Morelos, at the eastern edge of the Reforma district)

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This is my favourite place to take visitors for a taste of nouvelle Mexican cuisine. The dishes are sometimes rather odd, but usually interesting and fun.

Durango 186, Colonia Roma; Tel: 5525 4920; Mon-Sat lunch and dinner, Sun lunch only; Approx 250 pesos per person with no alcohol.

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This restaurant is in the heart of the historic centre of the city. It's no bargain but the food is interesting and good. Most memorable is the rooftop terrace overlooking the Zocalo. Try going there at night.

Casa de Las Sirenas, Guatemala 32, Zocalo.
Tel + 52 5 704 3225

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It is a rather tastefully decorated if a little pricey reataraunt on Caja Tacuba on the tube stop of the same name, here when you eat you will be serenaded by Mariachis. The food is really really good and if like us, you find a table next to a rich and touristy group like maybe a group of Japanese, they will pay all the money and you can just sit back and listen

Caja Tacuba, Alliende Metro station.

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If you want to eat some of the best tacos in Mexico, and to avoid stomach aches or even infections, this is the place to go.

Be warned, it’s a lot more expensive than the average taco stand, it may be as expensive as a meal in an average restaurant (£5-£8 p/p without drinks); but the quality and service are worth it.

Several locations across the city: Insurgentes Sur, near "El reloj" (Insurgentes Sur) and Lomas are some of the oldest ones

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Look for nice, clean taco stalls in salubrious areas of town patronised by people in suits on their way home from work - forget the restaurants.

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It is a department store in the heart of the city. Breakfasts are just fantastic (if you like your food hot!)

Madero 4, Mexico City
55 5518 6676

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To me the best restaurant in town, the food is very, very good, Mexican with a European accent, the wine list is varied with good Pomerol and Mexican choices, the martinis are excellent and the service, formal, attentive and detached. I recommend the shrimp and fried persil tacos, the snail soup "al Pernod", the Ortega duckling and the chateaubriand with Irish whiskey.

Alejandro Dumas, Polanco 50 meters from the W Hotel.

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It is a lovely restaurant, housed in the old hacienda of Goicochea, former property of the Marquis of Selva Nevada, It has a great patio, they serve the best margaritas in town and the food as a rule is good, service is correct and detached.

Altavista Avenue, San Angel across Diego Rivera Studio

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Anything and everything, in jaw droppping volume, themed in whole streets at a time...
having escaped the baby clothes avenue i got stuck in nail varnish boulevard for at least an hour, finally selecting some orange sparkly stuff (which i still have and love!) before exploring further wonders of market land. Also great food stalls, cafes and restaurants along many routes, this is where you will find ordinary people buying their (extra) ordinary stuff!

There are many markets in the city and obviously no contact number, but head to the area around the government buildings and square, and follow the sound in the streets...

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Nightlife/entertainment.Don't miss the extraordinary spectacle of Plaza Garibaldi, where there can often be upwards of fifty Mariachi bands touting for business at any one time. The atmosphere is friendly, safe and more than a little mad. You can listen in the open air, or take a table in one of the salones, of which Tenampa is amongst the best. Bands comprising a dozen or more musicians move between diners and drinkers, offering songs for a few pounds each. There's an irony-free cigarette girl, and even a man with an electric-shock machine to test your machismo.

Metro Garibaldi

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A 900g sandwich composed of: chicken, avocado, tomato, swiss cheese, goat cheese, pineapple, ham, beef, two large slices of bread and your choice of chilli or chipotle. You can buy a torta at any of the millions of puestos on the street corners of Mexico City. One thing to know though, only buy your torta at a popular puesto, it will avoid you many a stomachache.

Any puesto (street vendor) selling tortas

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For a taste of some genuine Pre-Hispanic cuisine, head for Don Chon. For the last 40 years, Don Fortino Rosas, known as “Moctezuma’s chef” has run a restaurant whose menu features such delicacies as ground rattlesnake, ostrich in plum and tequila sauce, armadillo in mango sauce and fried grasshoppers with guacamole, a delicious snack to accompany a drink. Good appetisers are the tostadas de pejelagarto, corn wafers topped with the flesh of a prehistoric reptile endemic to the estuaries along the southern banks of the Gulf of Mexico; jalapeño chillies stuffed with cheese or tuna and the spicy panuchos with pork or venison, a spicy snack from the Yucatán peninsula. For those who find nothing on the menu that takes their fancy, Don Chon will prepare a dish of xoloescuintle, the Mexican hairless dog, as long as the customer brings the dog. A selection of delicious desserts are on hand to cool the mouth down, like coconut cake or various flavours of fruity ice-creams.

Regina No. 160, Colonia Centro. Tel. 5542 0873. Nearest metro station: Pino Suárez

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Just along the street from La Tecla, one of the best seafood restaurants in town is Contramar. The atmosphere of this airy and spacious restaurant is reminiscent of those in the tropical coastal cities, such as Veracruz. Cooled by spinning ceiling fans, the decor is maritime and minimalist, while itinerant musicians stroll around offering the kind of melancholic ballads only Mexicans seem to be able to sing so convincingly. Offers delicious dishes prepared with both traditional and innovative recipes, available from the permanent menu or the list of the day’s specials, which never cease to surprise. Very popular among the local executives, given its position between the Roma and Condesa neighbourhoods, both fashionable residential and office districts, characterised by wide, leafy avenues, providing a respite from the noise and traffic. Reservation required.

Durango 200, Colonia Roma. Tel. 5514 3169. Nearest metro station: Insurgentes

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Cafe Popular and Cafe Tacuba are both intsitutions and deliver the authentic DF experience. Cafe Popular is great for good value breakfasts with tons of food and coffee. Can get very busy as it's (as the name suggests) very popular with the locals. Cafe de Tacuba is a bit more expensive but a real experience with waiting staff in pinnies and 50's style head-dresses. Very colourful decor and delicious food. I recommend the hot chocolate and sweet breads. Great to people watch, especially on a Sunday when clans of "chilangos" head out for food.

Cafe Popular - 5 de Mayo Street; Cafe de Tacuba - Tacuba Street nr Allende Metro.

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