Mercado San Juan

You may not know it, but as you peruse the stalls of vendors at Mercado San Juan, you just might be rubbing shoulders or vying for the plumpest, prettiest chayote with one of Mexico City‘s top chefs. San Juan is the market for serious home cooks and pro chefs alike. Here, you can find everything from just-off-the-boat fish and seafood to wild game. There have even been rumors over the years (urban legend or fact?) that if you know who to ask, you can procure true exotics here, including tiger and bear meats. If you’re not in the market for any goods to go, you can let your nose lead the way to a stall where prepared hot foods are sold. And don’t miss trying chapulines, toasted grasshoppers, which are a Mexican snack specialty.

Mercado San Juan is a market where you go to discuss the best salsas made with the ant hormiga chicatana, the best way to make soup with dried shrimp, and the merits of coffee grown in Veracruz. It’s Mexico City’s gourmet market, where chefs become inspired, where you can find wild boar hanging from the ceiling, bok choy and pea shoots neatly packed in plastic, where there’s Spanish cheese and wine, where they say you can buy tiger and crocodile. Tiger, really? Come around 10 a.m. to avoid the early morning rush.

Mercado San Juan is the ultimate shopping destination for Mexico City’s professional chefs, local foodies and travelers with cookbooks in tow. Here you’ll find some of the city’s finest fish, produce and meat. The dead eyes of recently-killed quails, eels and chickens line the stalls, along with cheeses, fresh salsas and precarious pyramids of avocados. If your recipe calls for crocodile, wild boar or sting rays, this is the market for you.

All foodies ...recommend a visit to Mercado San Juan. I am told this is the gourmet market where the chefs shop. Everything looks great and if you love markets as we do, you will not be disappointed. We went with Eat Mexico culinary tour which I would highly recommend. Ate in and around the market as well.