Food

Why you came

Puebla is arguably the best eating city in central Mexico, and the food is the whole point of a visit. Plan meals the way you’d plan sights elsewhere.

The dishes to prioritize

• Mole poblano. The city’s signature — a deep, layered sauce of chiles, chocolate and spices over turkey or chicken. Order it at a proper sit-down restaurant, not a stall.
• Cemitas. A sesame-crusted sandwich stacked with milanesa or ham, avocado, stringy quesillo, chipotle and the herb pápalo. This is the essential street lunch.
• Chiles en nogada. A stuffed poblano under walnut cream sauce and pomegranate — seasonal, roughly August to September. If you’re here then, don’t miss it.
• Tacos árabes and chalupas. The Lebanese-immigrant taco on pan árabe, and small fried tortillas with salsa and shredded meat. Both cheap, both local.

Where to eat

• Mercado del Carmen and El Carmen area for cemitas and everyday market food — a full plate for the price of a coffee back home. This is where the value and the locals are.
• Restaurants around the zócalo and Calle de los Sapos for mole and chiles en nogada in a courtyard setting. Approximate: a proper sit-down mole dinner runs mid-range, more at the grand old dining rooms.
• Sweets on Calle de Santa Clara, the historic candy street, for camotes and traditional dulces.

A friend’s tip

Have your cemita and tacos at a market stool at least once — the fancy version in a tablecloth restaurant is never as good as the busy stand with a line out front.