Cantina Tio Pepe in Mexico City on Avenida Independencia in Centro Historico is the 1869 cantina with an original French-imported wooden back bar, ornate ceilings and a politicians-and-locals crowd that has barely changed in a century and a half.
Address: Avenida Independencia 26, Centro, Cuauhtemoc, 06050 Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City
Salon Malafama in Mexico City on Avenida Michoacan in Hipodromo Condesa is the see-and-be-seen pool hall with art exhibits on the walls, sports on the screens, a kitchen of Mexican pub plates and a long list of mezcal and craft beer, cash-only at the bar.
Patrick Miller in Mexico City is the Roma Norte Italo-disco dance club on Merida Street, the two-decade-plus Friday-night institution where dance-off circles, 80s synthpop, robotic lights and a glitter ball draw a mixed crowd from across the city.
M.N. Roy in Mexico City sits in a renovated terraced house on Calle Merida in Roma Norte, a temple to electronic music with timber and basalt walls by Picault and Godefroy, programming nu-disco, deep house and techno on a strict-door weekends-only schedule.
Departamento in Mexico City is the first-floor walk-up on Avenida Alvaro Obregon in Roma Norte, a converted apartment that runs as the city's most music-first electronic room, peaking after midnight with minimal techno and deep house on a high-end rig.
Bar Oriente in Mexico City on Calle Durango in Roma Norte runs a vanguardist electronic-music club with a full VOID Acoustics rig, hosting national and international DJs and live acts alongside private karaoke rooms for groups.
Salon Pata Negra in Mexico City on Tamaulipas in Condesa is the upstairs floor of the Spanish-style bar at the corner of Juan Escutia, where salsa, cumbia and reggaeton run live and recorded across a small dance floor most nights of the week.