Pueblan$$$centro-historicoMon-Thu 08:00-23:00; Fri-Sat 08:00-23:30; Sun 08:00-19:00
Casa Barroca occupies an 18th-century house on 7 Oriente in Puebla, pairing artisanal Mexican cooking with a tapas bar and a gallery courtyard.
Signature: Cocina artesanal mexicana, Tapas
Order: Breakfast in the courtyard, which starts at eight and runs long.
Tip: The building dates from the 1700s and doubles as a gallery, so the courtyard tables fill first at weekends.
Pueblan$$$centro-historicoMon-Sat 08:00-23:00; Sun 08:00-18:00
La Casa del Mendrugo cooks mole poblano and pipian verde inside a former Jesuit college on 4 Sur in Puebla, with a museum and a jazz room attached.
Signature: Mole poblano, Pipián verde, Lasaña de huitlacoche
Order: Pipián verde, then the huitlacoche lasagne if the rains have been good.
Tip: The restaurant sits inside a former Jesuit college with its own museum, and there is live jazz in the bar on some evenings.
Pueblan$$$$la-noriaMon-Wed 08:00-23:30; Thu-Sat 13:30-23:30; Sun 13:30-18:00
Restaurante La Noria works the grounds of an old hacienda in Puebla, cooking mole, pipian and huazontles, plus chiles en nogada from July to September.
Signature: Mole poblano, Huazontles, Chiles en nogada
Order: Huazontles in season, or the house mole poblano any month of the year.
Tip: Chiles en nogada run from July to September here, and the kitchen also teaches a workshop on how the nogada is made.
PueblanChef Liz Galicia$$$analcoTue-Sat 08:00-23:00; Sun 08:00-18:00
Salon Mezcalli sits in Barrio de Analco in Puebla, matching manchamanteles con lechon and mixiote de cordero with a wall of artisanal agave distillates.
Signature: Manchamanteles con lechón, Mixiote de cordero, Chiles en nogada
Order: Manchamanteles con lechón, with a Puebla mezcal poured alongside it.
Tip: Analco is a fifteen-minute walk east of the Zocalo, so allow for the crossing if you are coming from the cathedral.
Pueblan$$centro-historicoDaily 08:00-24:00
Comal looks straight at Puebla cathedral from 16 de Septiembre, cooking blue-corn chilaquiles, chanclas, pelonas and mole poblano from breakfast to midnight.
Signature: Chilaquiles de maíz azul, Chanclas, Mole poblano
Order: Blue-corn chilaquiles at breakfast, chanclas in guajillo salsa after dark.
Tip: The upstairs tables look straight at the cathedral, and they are the first to go on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
InternationalChef Ángel Vázquez$$$angelopolisMon-Tue 08:30-23:00; Wed-Sat 08:30-24:00; Sun 09:30-18:00
Intro is chef Angel Vazquez's international room on Atlixcayotl in Puebla, moving between Moroccan, Thai and French plates and a long breakfast service.
Signature: Mole poblano, Chilaquiles, Chiles en nogada
Order: Breakfast, which starts at 08:30 and is the best value on the menu.
Tip: Intro sits out on Atlixcayotl rather than in the Centro, so budget twenty minutes each way by taxi from the Zocalo.