The Best Restaurants with International Cuisine in Mexico City

While the Thai diaspora in Mexico City is tiny, the menu at Galanga Thai House is a broad reflection of the country’s cuisine that varies well past noodles and curries. Chef "Ana" Somsri Raksamran, from Phuket, first came to Mexico as a masseuse at a resort on the Pacific. Her well-worn family recipes – and later marriage to a Mexico City restaurateur – led to her first restaurant, Galanga, in 2015. A tasting menu includes a number of elaborate dumplings and a dramatic banana leaf-wrapped grilled fish soufflé. Highlights include a luscious green curry with tender beef brisket and a nice herbaceous quality.

The chef-owners of Masala y Maiz and Mari Gold, married couple Norma Listman y Saqib Keval, blend their backgrounds for menus that are unlike anywhere else in the world: part southeast Asian, part African, part Mexican. The flavors of each culture come together masterfully in dishes like Masala y Maiz’s spicy ceviche, which arrives topped with a papadam meant to be smashed and mixed in. 

Mari Gold continues the same ethos of mestizaje, or an organic blending of cultures, as the chefs call it, in a more casual, lunch and brunch space. Order the thick corn picadas topped with flaky fish that are livened up with flecks of soft tomato, slices of green olive and a tart chutney.

Marco Carboni had trained in the kitchens of some of the world’s best chefs – Massimo Bottura, Gordon Ramsay, and Dan Barber, to name a few – before he moved to Mexico City for love and opened Sartoria, a stylish gem-sized osteria on one of the city’s most popular streets. The pastas, handmade and sophisticated, pull inspiration from regions across Italy, and great care is taken with the presentation. A tortellacci tastes as good as it looks, and the tiramisu is classic.

The well-heeled crowds at La Barra de Fran linger long past the dinner hour, channeling a Spanish style of supping that’s more para picar than app-entrée-dessert. The menu is traditional: manchegos and ham just sliced off the bone, potatoes layered in a tortilla or drizzled in brava sauce, olives, anchovies, prime cuts, and rices. Order a caña and work your way through the list – it’s a perfect place to go for a fun night out. 

Er Rre un Bistró is intimate, like the best Paris bistros, from its size to its lighting to its warm wood-paneled walls. Chef Lorea Olavarri, from Mexico City, spent part of her childhood in France, an influence that’s recalled in dishes like a delicate white asparagus in mint oil and a simply seared hanger steak and potatoes. It's a classic bistro that’s ideal for a night out with friends.