La Fonda del Recuerdo

La Fonda del Recuerdo is located on the fringe of Polanco, away from the more the bustling and touristy parts of Polanco. It’s about tried-and-true Mexican as a restaurant can get.

The restaurant is nicely decorated with a huge painting of a young Mexican male serenading a Mexican calendar girl, adorning one wall, and colorful papel picado strewn across the room on lines running from rafter to rafter. The colorful menu mimicks the focal-point painting in the main room.

And yes, of course, mariachis were singing Mexican classic folk-music.

I was recently at La Fonda del Recuerdo for lunch. Started the meal with classic tamales de elote. The corn masa tamal was slightly sweeter than typical. No filling. Just the taste of delicious sweet cornmeal accompanied by a few batons of a slightly pungent, creamy white cheese.

For the main course, I had the pork mole. Although pork is typically overcooked in Mexico City, this pork was perfect. A slightly crisp edge, with buttery soft pork beneath, all covered in a complex and rich smoked-poblano mole. The menu indicates it’s made with twenty-eight different ingredients. But I only detected twenty-seven.

Service was very good and the lead singer for the group of mariachis never missed a note either.

Despite being a bit off the beaten track, the prices were about the same as the more favorably located Villa Maria that we recently reviewed.

Still a good showing. Good enough to place La Fonda del Recuerdo in our list of the top-10 restaurants in Mexico City offering traditional Mexican cuisine.