6 Best Restaurants in Polanco: Where to Eat in Mexico City’s Most Elite Nabe

Polanco, Mexico City’s most sophisticated neighborhood, is notable for its cultural diversity and numerous restaurants, boutiques and museums.

If you’re planning to visit Mexico City, these are the restaurants in Polanco that you won’t want to miss.

QUINTONIL

Though these recommendations are in no particular order, if we had to assign a number one, it would be Quintonil. It’s not just one of Polanco’s best restaurants, it’s one of the world’s best restaurants. Opened in 2012 by Chef Jorge Vallejo and his wife Alejandra Flores, Quintonil won acclaim early on. It currently occupies the number six spot on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list and the number 12 spot on the World’s Best Restaurants list. The reason is in Quintonil’s contradictions: modern but approachable food served in a relaxed but upscale atmosphere. It’s simultaneously new and familiar, fancy and chill, and it delights in a way that you’ll want to experience for yourself. 

* courtesy of Quintonil

PUJOL

What can be added to the many accolades assigned to Pujol? Frankly, not much, apart from the fact that after 17 years in the same location, it will soon reopen in bigger, more modern digs (though it will remain in Polanco). Enrique Olvera, Pujol’s chef and owner, will continue to serve the elevated street food with which he put Mexico on the map as a first-class global dining destination, and as with Pujol I and Cosme, the NY restaurant he opened in 2014, guests will continue to line up for a taste of Olvera’s genius.

PRENDES

Located on the ground floor of the Palacio de los Palacios, Mexico City’s premiere luxury shopping center, Prendes’ indoor and outdoor dining spaces are so airy and romantic that it’s easy to forget you are in the heart of the ninth largest city in the world. Founded in 1892 by two brothers from Spain, Prendes is renowned for its combination of refined and classic dishes – adventurous eaters shouldn’t miss the maguey worms favored by longtime former Prendes patron, Diego Rivera – and the main dining room mural highlighting the many famous guests the restaurant has served in its 125 year history.

* courtesy of Prendes

ANATOL

This restaurant inside the Las Alcobas Hotel isn’t on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list – yet. But with Chef Justin Ermini at its helm, it may soon be. Anatol’s broad menu features dishes from both Mexico and Italy whose ingredients are consciously sourced according to season. Served in a modern, minimalist dining room with a convivial, laid back vibe, dinner at Anatol is a deliciously unpretentious experience.

Related: Around the World in 80 Bites: Mexico City

DULCE PATRIA

Though neighbors – Dulce Patria and Anatol are both part of Las Alcobas Hotel – their intentions are worlds apart. Dimly lit and red all over, Dulce Patria is sensual, seductive, sultry, sexy… Purr as you say  every “s” word you can think of out loud and you’ll get a sense of the Dulce Patria experience, wherein Chef Martha Ortiz reinterprets traditional fare as modern, urban cuisine, and serves it in a whimsical space that will make women swoon and men hot under the collar.

* courtesy of Dulce Patria

BIKO

The menu at this World’s 50 Best award recipient – it’s currently at number 43 – centers on “techno-emotional” cooking, or what used to be called molecular gastronomy. Many of the chefs in Biko’s kitchen worked under Ferran Adria at El Bulli in Spain, and that influence is clearly present in each dish. What’s new and different is the addition of local ingredients, resulting in a Basque meets Mexican mash up that surprises the palate with every bite.