Food

Food is the reason Real del Monte is worth the trip, and it comes down to one thing above all.

The paste

The paste (say “PAHS-teh”) is the town’s whole identity — a folded, crimped hand pie brought by Cornish miners in the 1800s and thoroughly adopted since. The original is potato, meat and a bit of leek, but the modern range is huge: mole, tinga, chicken, beans, and a whole line of sweet ones with pineapple, blackberry, rice pudding or cream. Do the obvious thing and eat several across different shops — savoury first, sweet for dessert. Each runs roughly 25 to 45 pesos (approximate), so a proper tasting is cheap.

Where to buy: the classic paste bakeries cluster on and around the main streets near the plaza. Chains like Paste Real and Los Pastes are reliable, but the smaller independent ovens a street back are where locals go for a hotter, cheaper one straight from the tray.

Beyond pastes

• Comida corrida at the fondas around the market — a set soup-and-main lunch for a modest fixed price, the honest local meal.
• Barbacoa, a Hidalgo speciality, shows up on weekends — pit-cooked lamb, often in tacos or consomé.
• Coffee and hot chocolate matter more than you’d think in this cold, damp town; the cafes around the plaza are built for warming up.

Come hungry, pace yourself, and let the pastes carry the day.