Where Mexico City shops, snacks and lunches: the markets worth your morning.
Food markets, farmers markets and covered halls: where Mexico City shops, snacks and lunches.
Mercado de San Juan in Mexico City is the gourmet specialty market on Ernesto Pugibet in Centro Historico, the city's only such market with exotic meats, escamoles, chapulines, ostrich eggs, mozzarella and imported cheese.
Go for: Exotic meats, Imported cheeses, Specialty produce
Mercado Roma in Mexico City is the Roma Norte gourmet food hall on Queretaro, a three-floor market with 50-plus vendors covering Mexican, Italian, Venezuelan, Japanese and Spanish kitchens plus a rooftop biergarten.
Go for: Gourmet food hall, Wine bar, Rooftop
Mercado de la Merced in Mexico City is the 1957 mega-market east of the Zocalo, the largest retail market in the city with 88,000 sq m and 5,525 vendors spread across seven buildings.
Go for: Bulk produce, Spices, Mexican groceries
Mercado de Coyoacan in Mexico City is the southern neighbourhood market on Ignacio Allende near the Frida Kahlo Museum, a 350-vendor traditional market with the yellow-and-orange Tostadas Coyoacan stalls at its core.
Go for: Tostadas, Antojitos, Souvenirs
Mercado Jamaica in Mexico City is the 24-hour flower-and-food market east of the Centro, the 1957 institution with 1,100 vendors selling flowers, esquites, tamales and the city's deepest fresh-flower hall.
Go for: Flowers, Tamales, Fresh produce
Mercado Medellin in Mexico City is the Roma Sur Latin American import market on Campeche, the pan-Latin grocery hall with Cuban, Colombian and Argentine vendors plus a strong fonda lunch counter trade.
Go for: Latin American imports, Cuban groceries, Argentine cuts
Central de Abasto in Mexico City is the colossal Iztapalapa wholesale market that feeds nearly all 22 million capital residents, a 327-hectare hall that handles roughly 30 percent of Mexico's wholesale produce.
Go for: Wholesale produce, Bulk groceries
Peak food season in Mexico City is year-round.
Local dining hours: lunch around 12:30, dinner from 19:30.
service is typically included; small extra is welcome but not expected.
Ask the next local you meet what they would order. Mexico City rewards trust.