Where to Eat in Oaxaca: Our 3 Favourite Restaurants

In recent years, Oaxaca has come to be known as Mexico’s food capital and it’s easy to see why. The city has a plethora of well reviewed restaurants as well as famous street food markets with some legendary taco sellers.

During our visit, we wasted no time in making reservations at as many of the top-rated restaurants as we could to sample some of the amazing cuisine on offer in the city. You’ll find everything here from traditional Oaxacan tlayudas (Mexican pizzas) and chapulines (grasshoppers) through to more westernised menus.

Something we learned soon after arriving is that Oaxacan food is a little different from traditional Mexican food and isn’t focused around tacos or burritos like you might have come to expect from Mexico. Oaxaca is home to 7 different kinds of mole including red, black and green as well as being renowned for tamales and Oaxaca cheese.

Origen

Our first port of call after arriving in the city was Rodolfo Castellanos’ (winner of Top Chef Mexico) Origen. The menu at Origen draws from local Oaxacan produce and is celebration of the markets, farms and ranches of the region.

We opted for one of the tasting menus at 1,250 pesos (£60 approx.) which represents amazing value given the quality on offer, especially when compared to tasting menus back home in London. The seasonal menu rotates constantly but on our visit in December 2022 we were treated to a variety of Oaxacan classics as well as few innovative twists on ceviches, aguachiles and moles. The dessert was particularly delicious, consisting of a guava flan and sorbet alongside a citrus flavoured crumble.

If you’re looking for an intro to classic Oaxacan food with an elevated twist, grab a table at Origen. There is an a la carte menu on offer as well but if, like us, you don’t know where to start when it comes to food in Oaxaca, go for one of the tasting menus and let Rodolfo guide you.

Origen – Miguel Hidalgo 820, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez.

Casa Oaxaca

Widely regarded as the best restaurant in Oaxaca, Alejandro Ruiz’s Casa Oaxaca is the quintessential Oaxacan restaurant experience. Like Origen, Casa Oaxaca champions local dishes and ingredients and are famous for their manchamanteles and mole negro.

There are 2 Casa Oaxaca locations, Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante located at the north end of the Centro neighbourhood as well as Casa Oaxaca Reforma, located just outside of the city centre in the Reforma neighbourhood. We were indecisive and luckily managed to snag a lunch and dinner reservation at each respectively to make sure we didn’t miss out. If you’ve only got time for one we’d recommend going for the more popular El Restaurante in the city centre. That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy our time at the Reforma location, we just felt that the setting, atmosphere and service was a little more special at their flagship location.

We went for a la carte selections this time around, including the famous salsa made table side with optional grasshoppers. To compliment this we opted for a Oaxacan classic, a tlayuda alongside some ox cheek tacos, squash blossom and an aquachile.

Once again we were blown away by the quality of cuisine on offer here and thought it represented excellent value for money. If there’s space on the terrace and it’s not unbearably hot, we’d recommend snagging an outdoor table to watch the world go by as you enjoy some of the city’s finest dishes.

Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante – C/ de la Constitución #104-A, Ruta Indepencia, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez.

Boulenc

Last but no by means least on our list is Boulenc, a more casual affair with a french twist and more of a café vibe. After a few days sampling Oaxacan cuisine it’s fair to say we were ready to switch things up and Boulenc provided a very welcome change. Our first visit was for brunch and there was a fairly long wait for a table, so plan ahead and be prepared to sit tight, we promise it’s worth it.

The unassuming facade opens into an airy courtyard with rustic tables and an industrial vibe. The menu borrows heavily from the attached bakery, featuring a selection of pastries and bread alongside breakfast classics like yoghurt parfait and baked eggs. We opted for peanut butter and banana on toast along with an absolutely spectacular french toast. The star of the show though was a dulce de leche latte that I still think about to this day so, if you’re a coffee lover, don’t miss one of the best you’ll ever have.

We were so impressed with our first visit to Boulenc that we ended up returning two more times which is almost unheard of for us. We usually like to sample the full range of eateries available to us wherever we are so this was high praise. Admittedly one of the visits was just to grab some pastries to go from the bakery but we also came back for dinner on our final night in the city. Boulenc are renowned for their pizzas so we made sure to order one before we left. Once again showing their expertise for all things bread and dough, the pizza was absolutely delicious and on par with the sweet treats we’d sampled in previous visits.

Boulenc – C. Porfirio Díaz 207, Ruta Independecia, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez.

Wrapping Up

Whilst it was good to broaden our horizons and sample some traditional Oaxacan cuisine, we came to the conclusion that the city’s distinct flavours weren’t quite for us. We had a mixed experience whilst in Oaxaca, with some of the dishes we tried during our time here being absolutely delicious and others being a little too out there for us.

If you’re an adventurous eater then you’ll most likely love what Oaxaca has to offer but rest assured if you’re after something more familiar, there are plenty of options for the more picky eaters among you.