Food

Monterrey is a meat town, and its food culture is one of the best reasons to come. This is norteño cooking: grilled, generous and built around beef and goat.

The dishes to plan around

Cabrito. Young goat roasted upright over coals, the signature regio dish. It’s rich, a little gamey, and best at an old-school asador where they’ve been doing it for decades. A full plate at a proper cabrito house runs roughly 350 to 600 pesos, so it’s a splurge, but it’s the meal to have here.

Carne asada. More a social ritual than a menu item, grilled beef eaten with tortillas, grilled onions and salsa. Every neighborhood taquería does a version.

Machaca. Dried, shredded beef scrambled with eggs, onion and chile, the classic norteño breakfast. Cheap and everywhere.

Flour tortillas. In the north, wheat beats corn. The handmade flour tortillas here are a thing in their own right.

Where to eat

For cabrito, head to the long-running asador houses rather than anything downtown chasing tourists; the ones full of local families are the ones to trust. Taquerías and asadero stands serving tacos by weight are the everyday move, with a filling meal often around 80 to 150 pesos.

Markets and sweets

Look for local markets for machaca, cheeses and the pan dulce. Save room for glorias, the regional caramel-and-pecan candy from nearby Linares, sold all over the city. A bag of them makes the cheapest, most regio souvenir you can bring home.