Hello food and travel loving friends! I wanted to get this post up for you because 1. a lot of you guys have asked for it! 2. I’m already forgetting the places we went to and ate at– and the names are only going to get more challenging to remember as time goes by, haha.

I want to send out a reminder that most of these trips we aren’t traveling looking for 3 and 4 star restaurants. And restaurants with even one star, haha. We’re looking for affordable vegan food that we can feel good eating. Since the whole c. diff/celiac thing, food is obviously a lot harder. Any bit of gluten destroys me, so I have to be extra careful where I eat. This means I basically avoid all bakeries now, unless they are gluten free bakeries, because risk of cross contamination is just too high. Fortunately we’ve been to some pretty awesome gluten free vegan bakeries in the world. Again, not something we do on the reg, but very grateful to have it as an option in life, especially in travel times.

If you weren’t aware, I do have a corn allergy too. Since getting sick I’ve tried to reduce it drastically, but would eat nixtamalized corn from time to time (tortillas chips). But ever since having a major celiac attack from corn in Colombia, I’ve avoided it completely. Well, this is a challenged for me. Gluten, I can live without. Corn loss makes me sad haha. Especially in Mexico. Corn is god there. It truly is. It’s not a country to go to with a corn allergy. But slowly, over time (I mean, we’re there all the time), I’ve been able to work my way around it.

But don’t worry– this guide doesn’t avoid corn— I let Marlowe taco binge in Mexico everyday– so this list will have both– options for you taco /corn loving fiends and options for those of you in high allergy alert like me 🙂 Cool? Cool!

Our Favorite Vegan + Gluten-Free Friendly Restaurants In Mexico City

El Tako Vegano

Calle Atlixco 71 A, Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico
This was our first food stop in Mexico City and then we stopped in El Tako a few times throughout the trip. It was near by our apartment. Super affordable and the staff was really nice. Oh and obviously the food was decent too! Marlowe and Raha had corn filled meals and I was very happy eating the açaí option. Raha had a variety of tacos and Marlowe had the chilaquiles (no one is surprised by that I’m sure). We sat outside in the sunshine during the day and inside (though its still all open air and super tiny) during the evening.

La Pitahaya Vegana

Queretaro #90, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City, Mexico

Our favorite restaurant on this trip was hands down, no competition was La Pitahaya Vegana. I’m not going to lie to you, we went there because the tacos were pink. We didnt expect much from the food and liked the kitschiness of the pink food, haha. BUT you know what? We actually found the food to be best! It was all different traditional Mexican dishes veganized. And done really well. It’s all gluten free too. But I wouldn’t suggest this spot if you have nut allergies, as many of the items do have nuts and it’s likely to have cross contamination. I dont eat nuts, as they dont do well in my gut, but it’s no way as bad as gluten. So I just specify no nuts (like three times haha) and then take the chance.

Oh! and it was great because instead of the corn option they have a lettuce or cabbage leaf option. One night I was like, let me see if I can really create one of their meals with my allergies. So I asked for the enfrijoladas but with no nuts (they add them in the beans) and asked for a lettuce leaf instead of the tortillas and they said it was no problem at all! I was so happy to try this dish! But honestly, I totally would have eaten the tacos again if this wasn’t an option, as they were really good too.


La Otilia

Valladolid 76 A, Roma Nte., 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

La Otilia was not our favorite spot. We had read the reviews beforehand and many said that the food was flavorless, we found this to be true. But we still went anyway, because it was just really nice to have a place where I didn’t have to worry about being glutened. This is one of the few places that we visited that wasn’t completely vegan, but they still had a few vegan options in the menu for sure. Actually, the menu itself was rather large. I got a bagel sandwich (the bagel was one of the few GF breads that didn’t have corn), Raha got a veg chopped salad, and Marlowe got toast (not pictured) and a chocolate cupcake. Yolo.

Amor Casero

Calle Querétaro 90, Roma Nte., 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

Who doesn’t love ice cream? (weirdos). There are tons of popsicles places in Mexico, but they don’t typically supply vegan ice cream. We were happy to find a fair amount of vegan ice cream options though. This spot was right next door to a vegan taco place and we were full but very happy about that. They have both traditional ice creams and vegan ones too. And it’s cute.

Foro Tianguis Alternativo Ecologico

Av. Àlvaro Obregón 185 Mexico City, Mexico 67000

Foro Tianguis Alternativo Ecologico is actually a market in the back of a cafe, not a restaurant. Take note that it’s only open on Sundays. But if you’re looking for handmade artisan (food) goods and picking up some organic food items, this is definitely a good spot! It’s small, but mighty. We picked up vegan tamales, vegan and gluten free conchas, pickled things, spreads and things, tropical fruits, gf bread, and more. Then we headed over to the park for a picnic. Highly recommend.

Aura Vegana

Malintzin 199, Del Carmen, 04100 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

We popped into Aura Vegana before heading over to the Frida Khalo museum– it was about three blocks away. So it was perfect to uber to and then walk to the museum straight from there. The breakfast options were a bit lacking for gluten free peeps. Well, actually, they may have had smoothie bowls, but it was really chilly that morning so I wasn’t about that. Marlowe got pancakes (she and Raha agreed they were delicious). Raha got some weird savory pancake with cactus on top. And I got a rice bowl and bowl of tomato soup. I ended up not being able to eat the soup because of the nut cream. The rice dish was decent if you like mushrooms. I think all in all we agreed we would have liked it more if we could have sat outside in the sunshine since we were pretty cold, haha.

Plan V Cafe

Calle Cuernavaca 85, Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico, 06140

I don’t have pictures of Plan V Cafe. But it was definitely a cute little sidewalk café we tried. We found the portions to be small, but the food to be decent. We had a vegan crêpe and omelette type thing here. Both were gluten free which was wonderful. Marlowe had an acai bowl, but didn’t care for it, since it was blended with a few untraditional ingredients. But if we were walking by and hungry, we’d probably stop in again.

Mercado Roma

Calle Querétaro 225, Roma Nte., 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

One of the days we headed over to the Mercado Roma food hall. There are two I believe, one in Roma and one in Coyoacan. There were a lot of vegan friendly stalls and options in here. There was an entire vegan taco stall, but we skipped it because it was mostly fake meats. We opted for a sushi rice bowl place (Kome) instead. Raha and I got veg rice bowls and Marlowe got the fried rice. They were super helpful and knowledgeable when it came down to my allergies too.

Other Mexico City food things:

  • One of the days we ordered delivery from Mora Mora (theres a ton of locations), I wouldn’t recommend it. The order took over an hour for three smoothie bowls and they totally botched the order so I couldn’t even eat it.
  • One of the days I was walking around Coyoacan and hungry. I popped into El Falafelito that’s supposed to be all vegetarian. Never before have I asked to see if falafel is gluten free (its supposed to be), but I did just in case. And I was VERY happy I did. Turns out they put “a little bit” of gluten in their falafel. I left hungry, waugh waugh.
  • A LOT of people recommended Los Loosers! More than any other place actually. We did not visit it. The first day we arrived we walked past it and it was oddly closed. There was a sign on the door– but we did not stop to read it. We had planned to go another day that week, but were warned by a friend that it is not gluten free friendly AT ALL. And that it’s mostly sandwiches and bread things. So we never went. But still, it came highly recommended as a vegan option, if you guys are looking for that 🙂

Voila! There are a million and a half amazing restaurants in Mexico City. It’s a huge foodie city. Could we have eaten better and fine dined? Sure. Could we have cooked more in our apartment? Totally. But we ate well and it was too too difficult with all my restrictions. I definitely ate something I shouldn’t have (nuts I think), but as long as I don’t get fully gluten-ed, I’m okay. Just took a few days to feel totally normal again afterward.

ps. you can see our Playa Del Carmen food guide HERE if you’re traveling more east 🙂

Alright friends! Hope you’re doing well! I’ll be back soon with more posts + big news 🙂

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