FOODIES DELIGHT TOUR OF TRADITIONAL SAN JUAN MARKET
A three hour culinary journey at a superb traditional Mexican market.
We deliver you straight to the heart of Mexican culinary techniques, unusual ingredients, & traditional recipes via the place where ALL food preparation begins - the market.
This tour gives you the chance to learn about essential & lesser-known Mexican ingredients and to try them within an authentic traditional food market environment. It's the same market where Pujol, Quintonil and other Conde Nast recommended restaurants source their ingredients!
Your guide will safely navigate you direct to the best of Mexican cooking via tried-&-tested food stalls, and special attention from local vendors.
Monica's Foodie's Delight Tour eliminates the confusion & alienation that we foreigners can often feel when eat at a very traditional market.
All the dishes have been thoroughly tried 'n tested and every stall holder knows and loves her!
San Juan is a very traditional Mexican market. During this private tour you will explore traditional ingredients, cooking techniques, and culinary philosophy in an authentic Mexican cultural setting.
You will try four specially-prepared sampling courses that represent the very best of authentic Mexican cuisine.
Insects were the pre-hispanic equivalent of a protein bar. They are definitely worth a trying...even if it's just to raise the bar on your Instagram following!
We tasted so many interesting and unusual flavours today. Monica was really charming, and knowledgeable and took great care of us.
Johanna Ribalt, USA
MEET YOUR MEXICAN GASTRONOMY EXPERT
Your guide is a Mexican food aficionado, who's culinary obsession stems from a passionate grandmother!
Monica, is NOT a chef. She is just food obsessed and deeply aware of what makes Mexican cuisine distinctive.
Monica learned most of her culinary know-how from her grandmother. She is, to- this-day, the guardian of several secret family recipes which have been passed down from generation to generation from the mining town of El Oro, where her family created the Brockmann Dam.
Monica's husband is a chef and hotel restauranteur, so naturally enough their favourite pastime is investigating and critiquing the full range of gastronomic offerings in Mexico City - be it a new taco stand or a chef's signature style flagship project .
Monica also belongs to a social club of hospitality professionals, which critique a new dining option each month.
Discover why traditional Mexican food has been named a cultural heritage treasure by UNESCO.
Just when you think you know all about chilies, think again. Let your Monica refresh your perspective!
I don't speak Spanish and I have food allergies so I REALLY enjoyed not having to worry about communicating these to the vendors. Monica took care of everything.
Carrie Hobosh - San Fran USA
TOUR PRICES
We only offer private tours. This means you when you come on the Foodies Tour Of San Juan Market, you will NOT be dragged along in a group. You can take your time and ask questions..
Total for 2 person group - US$231
Additional guests on your private tour: US$29 per person
*Prices are in US dollars & don't include tax.
**We recommend contacting your bank BEFORE trying to book, because overseas banks frequently have a block or high alert for any payments linked to Mexico.
***If you are travelling alone, or if your group is bigger than than the maximum of 5 per guide, please do contact us with your request.
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Having this tour with just me and my girlfriend and Monica meant we didn't didn't stand out like awkward foreigners at the market. We could just quietly go about our food explorations without being hassled by people to buy things or eat at their stalls.
Gary K - Toronto
TOUR TIMES
The tour is THREE HOURS long.
Guests meet Monica at a nearby hotel lobby at the tour start time. From there, you go to the market together.
Tues - Fri : 11:30am, 12:30pm
Sat & Sun: 11:30am
Native maize is not just a crop. It is central to the Mexican identity.
A key theme in eco-Mexican cuisine is protecting its landrace textures & flavors from GMO takeover.
THE SCOOP ON MEXICAN STREET FOOD!
We love Mexican celebrity Chef Monica Patiño's down-to-earth approach to food! Here she explains some differences between tacos and quesadillas.
We tried different kinds of insects and learned about their origins
MEXICAN FOODIES - TOUR OVERVIEW:
Your tour program - the essential facts!
- Duration: 3 hours.
- You meet Monica at a nearby hotel lobby so she can accompany you into the market together
- Traditional MX culinary ingredients, food history, cooking techniques by exploring the market and its food providers.
- This is a private tour. Although we recommend a minimum of 2people, if you are travelling solo you are welcome to book.
- Try 3 traditional savoury sampling dishes (AND dessert , should you wish)
- Sip a traditional alcoholic pulque or mezcal
- Sip a traditional agave cactus pulque drink or mezcal
- If you are vegetarian, please let us know! We can accomodate you but we do need advance notice so we can ask our vendors to make you extra special dishes
- Your tour price includes the planned menu of food and drin
- At the end of the tour Monica helps you get an Uber or Yaxi or Didi t your onward destination.
Mexico City's best ceviche!
It's a famous dish of raw fish 'cooked' in the acidity of lime juice.
READ OUR TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS
We are established professional guides. We take our job seriously.
There are over 200 glowing TripAdvisor reviews to prove it!
HOW DO I BOOK MY FOODIES DELIGHT TOUR?
(and then what happens?)
Your booking is reserved via our secure online booking platform. Here's what to expect...
- Click on the orange booking button.
- Identify which tour slots are available in our live bookings calendar.
- Reserve your preferred time/day with our secure online payment gateway.
- Receive an instant booking confirmation! The tour is 100% yours. It is not a group tour!
- You'll receive detailed info about tour meeting point, and your guide's mobile number via email.
- The day of your tour, your guide is waiting for you at the meeting point, ready to make introductions and get the ball rolling.
If you need to change the day or time of your tour after booking, just drop us an email!
GUEST REVIEWS
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Monica, our tour guide, led us through the San Juan Market in a way we could never have done alone. Sure, we looked up the place on the map and read about it in the guide books, but without her, we would have been lost and never have experienced a tenth of what there is to see, taste, smell, learn, or talk about.
We aren't normally guided tour people, but with only a few days in the city, we decided to go ahead and book the tour. Monica's knowledge of the stalls, her relationship with the vendors, and most importantly, her enthusiasm and pride in showing off her home's culture and traditions made this tour a highlight of our trip.
She made the market accessible. We got to chat and ask questions of the vendors, taste fruits, vegetables, samples of almost everything on offer, and explore things we wouldn't have even known to look for. The ceviche was a great example - sure we've had it in restaurants and parties, but we wouldn't have thought to order some in the market! Let alone known to rely on the vendor's recommendations for what was freshest and best without Monica's knowledge and relationship with the stall owner. And who knew you could have spicy grasshoppers, garlic grasshoppers or just "plain" grasshoppers. Aren't all grasshoppers equal? Evidently not. (The mescal helped).
Bottom line. Take the tour, enjoy the experience, make a new friend. It's time well spent.
