The Best Restaurants in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

This swish hotel restaurant, formerly run by Mexico’s star chef Enrique Olvera, is now helmed by Australian Paul Bentley – who honed his skills at Daniel’s in New York. Bentley blends contemporary Mexican comfort cooking with an international twist. Dishes like duck tamales, with chili and black bean purée, are served in a romantically elegant, mirror-lined dining room hung with drapes and lit with soft lambent light.

San Miguel’s most-coveted fine dining tables are in this intimate, low-lit dining room in the Dos Casas – a chic boutique set in a Spanish colonial townhouse in the heart of the old center. Run by French-Mexican chef Olivier Deboise, the menu focuses on quality local ingredients like farm-reared Mexican pork and lamb, Baja California scallops and Ensenada tuna, best savored through the six-course tasting menu with matching wines – and served at the chef’s table in the kitchen.

This homey cantina restaurant tucked behind the towering, gothic San Miguel Arcángel church is a genuine local favorite. Food is served in a dining room decorated with kitschy angels and a myriad of black-and-whites of Mexican singers and film stars, or there’s a sunny outdoor terrace. It’s simple fare – tacos, quesadillas, all manner of eggs (including hearty rancheros – served on a corn tortilla in a thick tomato sauce) and the house speciality of pozoles (meat stew with hominy corn kernels and chili).

Set in a handsome downtown house, this boutique restaurant offers a selection of intimate dining areas, including a plush lounge, a rustic-chic kitchen, a formal dining room and a rooftop terrace with views out over terracotta eaves and church spires. The latter is a coveted spot at the end of the day when diners sip pineapple mezcalitos as the sun sinks over the city, followed by a dinner of fillet steak or pistachio-encrusted tuna under the stars.

La Posadita serves traditional, no-nonsense Mexican comfort cooking and cocktails in the shadow of San Miguel Arcángel church, with the city skyline at your feet. For the best views, book a table facing west, at the far end of the rooftop patio. Arrive just before sunset and order the signature cocktail, the minty Mojito Posadita – and as the city lights twinkle on, follow it with the Sopa Azteca (tortilla soup with tomato, avocado and chipotle chili) and tangy shrimp tacos.

The best table with a view in this city of beautiful views? It has to be at the Antonia Bistro – where the sun drops as red as a cherry over higgledy-piggledy houses and cobbled streets dotted with churches, to the Laja River and the distant blue ridges of the Sierra de Lobos mountains. Even a poached egg would be good with a view like this – let alone chef Alex Cuatepotzo’s superior rib-eye steaks, suckling pigs and ceviches.

You don’t have to have a banker’s salary to eat well in San Miguel. El Pato serves top tacos, mixiotes (pit-roasted meats) and barbacoa (lamb or pork slow-roasted with maguey leaves) under an awning in a simple, open-plan dining area off Calzada de la Estación near the bus station. The ingredients are fresh, the food beautifully prepared and even with the cost of the 10-minute cab ride from the center, prices are backpacker-cheap.

The Rosewood hotel’s 1826 restaurant serves contemporary Mexican dishes cooked to perfection in a country-club-style dining room – with lounge chairs, low-lighting and colorful folk art hanging on the walls. Signature favorites include suckling pig in sweet Veracuz mole xico sauce and lemon-flower honey, and rack of lamb with Mexican Pepperleaf pesto. The wine list is one of San Miguel’s best.

Tucked up a stairway off Avenida Insurgentes in the colonial center and with little signage, this pocket-sized cafe can be a struggle to find. But it’s worth the bother – for the big breakfasts including eggs and French toast, the bursting brunch sandwiches and the excellent New Zealand-style coffee – served with a rooftop view. And unlike many San Miguel eateries, the cafe has plenty of options for vegetarians.

With a Mexican-Thai fusion menu, Zibu’s food zings with spice and brims-over with flavor. Plates include Phuket salad (Thai and Mexican leaves with seared tuna and mango coulis) and fusion fish, baked in a banana leaf with chili, tomato and coriander and served with mushroom sauce. The restaurant sits in the Live Aqua boutique hotel with a choice of dining areas – under the colonnades, on the terrace, in the leafy atrium garden or in a luxe, carpeted bar lounge.