Imagine this: three friends, countless inside jokes, and a shared dream finally escaping the endless loop of “We should totally do this” texts. We swapped our screen time for real-time in the lush vineyards of Mexico, determined to taste every wine (even the ones we couldn’t pronounce). How did we make this happen? By having an impulsive friend (me) who literally just books flights hoping the rest of the group chat follows! Shoutout to my girls Polly and Diella for putting up with me ❤
Pop the cork and pour the rosé, because this isn’t just any travel tale – it’s the epic saga of three girls who aren’t that good at planning, but are fantastic at eating good food. They also aren’t very good at speaking Spanish. Yes that’s right, this is a post for you foodies out there that love to drink. All we did was eat, sleep, and drink.
Address: Carretera Ensenada-Tecate KM 83 07670 Valle De Guadalupe, Baja California Mexico
We had absolutely no idea this restaurant made it on the top 50’s list of Latin America’s Best Restaurant’s list according to this website but honestly… not surprised. Given their amazing service, hospitality, and freshly made farm-to-table meals they absolutely deserve to be on like every list out there. We opted for their 3-course meal that consisted of:
- Appetizer: white bean hummus with apple, beets, cucumber, and fennel
- Main: pork and mashed potatoes with shishito peppers
- Dessert: chocolate mousse with pineapple, tamarind, and cacao nibs
- Drinks: fresh blueberry vodka cocktail and espresso martinis
I could honestly rave about the service they had provided us for days without end. It really was the most pleasant surprise considering we picked the restaurant because it was 0.3 miles from our AirBnB and even got lost trying to find it! The owners were dining at the same time as us, and even invited us to dine out in the farm with them under the fairy lights and night sky.
I can’t remember how much this cost, but considering we are all Bay Area based the prices were incredibly reasonable given the food, service, and ambiance. We were also in one of those “fuck it, we ball” moods and did not know what to expect from the bill until we got it but were still pleasantly surprised.
Address: Rancho San Marcos s/n, 22755 El Porvenir, B.C., Mexico
Paying homage to it’s namesake, Casa FRIDA’s decor is heavily inspired by Frida Kahlo filled with vibrant colors and that artistic touch with cultural depth. Every single corner of this ranch was purposely created to capture every little detail of every story they could possibly tell.
We booked their Cava Chavela speakeasy room which provides you with “an immersion of dark velvet and good wine, low light intimacy, soul-rending lyrics singing of nights of love and forgetfulness.” We were told they get incredibly busy on the weekends since a lot of people from SoCal drive down for quick wine-fueled weekend getaways. Given we had booked our experience on a Thursday, we ended up having the whole room to ourselves for a beautifully intimate experience.
Tasting choice: premium wine tasting + chocolate pairing
- The pairings were absolutely perfect. We couldn’t help ourselves and ended up purchasing a few extra wine bottles and chocolate boxes to take home with us!
Price: $750 MXN which comes out to about $45 USD
Service: Spectacular. From entry to exit, all staff at Casa Frida treated us with such kindness and hospitality. Our host during our wine tasting experience was incredibly knowledgable and communicative.
Be sure to also keep an eye out for Diego, their resident cat who quite possibly lives a life to be envied!
Address: México 3 km #73, 22760 Francisco Zarco, B.C., Mexico
From winning the One to Watch Award back in 2020, Fauna now also debuts as part of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list! I must say, our experience here was very different in every good way possible. The dining experience is unique in the way that instead of separate tables were your party is sitting together in an intimate setting, at this restaurant you will be seated at one long communal table sitting next to strangers. The concept here is to create a sense of community amongst diners, however this cracked my group up since we kept getting food envy from the people sitting next to us and ended up just asking to order whatever they just got because it smelled and looked AMAZING! But in our defense, they did the same thing to us with our food!
Here’s everything we ended up eating in order of images below:
- Chocolata clam with herbs
- Fish ceviche with cucumber
- Oysters with tomato water (ordered out of food envy, no regrets)
- Scallops with eggplant puree and squid ink, best eaten with tortillas and this was 10/10 AMAZING
- Octopus with grilled tomato (the group of old ladies next to us ordered this right after seeing it)
- Ice cream dessert with mango and white chocolate
Pro-tip: it would be best to order a la carte meals and share between your group, that way you get to try even more delicious food!
Address: Carretera Tecate-Ensenada km 89 San Antonio de las Minas, 22757 Ensenada, B.C., Mexico
It was literally date night after date night with these girls with the amount of fine dining we did not expect to do and I loved every second of it!!! How did we select this spot? We looked up restaurants nearby for dinner, saw this really cool tree + an outdoor setting in the review pictures, and decided to go. We opted for their 4-course meal that is technically good for 2 people, but we were 3 small girls so it filled us up pretty good. This 4-course meal consisted of:
- Appetizers:
- potato chips with rosemary garlic with crispy chitterlings
- half dozen fresh oysters with smoked ponzu sauce (add-on)
- half dozen grilled oysters with seafood butter and lemon (add-on)
- grilled bone marrow with habanero sauce and handmade tortillas
- Mains:
- 20 hr smoked short rib with glazed carrots and NY chicharron
- NY steak with potatoes cooked under ashes
Price: $2,100 MXN | about $125 USD for the 4-course meal plus additional $580 MXN | about $35 USD for extra 1 dozen oysters
My favorite part about this restaurant is it’s “open” concept, which even includes the kitchen.
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