Food

What to eat in Veracruz

This is the reason to come. Veracruz cooks Gulf seafood with Spanish, Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean roots, and it does it better than almost anywhere on the coast.

The dishes to plan around

• Pescado a la veracruzana - white fish in a tomato, olive, caper and chili sauce, the dish that carries the city’s name.
• Arroz a la tumbada - a soupy rice loaded with shrimp, fish and shellfish, the local comfort plate.
• Camarones - shrimp done every way, al mojo de ajo (garlic) or enchipotlados being the standouts.
• Picadas and gorditas - masa snacks topped with salsa and cheese, the go-to cheap breakfast.
• Lechero - the tableside milky coffee poured from a height, a ritual as much as a drink.

Where to eat it

The Mercado de Pescados (fish market) and its comedores are where locals eat, and the freshest, best-value seafood is here rather than on the tourist waterfront. The portales cafes on the Zocalo are the classic spot for a lechero and a slow morning. For a sit-down seafood lunch, the restaurants toward Boca del Rio are where families go on weekends.

Rough prices

Market stalls and picadas run a few dollars for a filling plate. A proper seafood lunch with a drink at a mid-range place lands somewhere around 12 to 25 US dollars a head, more if you order whole fish or plenty of shrimp. Coffee and pan is a couple of dollars.

Prices are approximate and shift with season and place.