Chinatown (Barrio Chino)

Compared with those in other cities, this is a Chinatown of short dimensions. It was built by the migrants who arrived in Mexico during the second decade of the twentieth century, fleeing the Chinese prosecutions unleashed in Sonora and Sinaloa after being accused of spreading disease and living in unsanitary conditions. Almost all the Chinese population owned either laundries, restaurants or coffee shops. Around 1930, the streets of Dolores and Luis Moya were full of laundries owned and attended by Chinese families who – due to the Mexican’s racism against them - were not allowed to mix with the locals.

The "Chinese cafes" served coffee and cream all day long and became renowned for their biscuits, choux buns and freshly steamed bread. Their growth and abundance soon made visiting them a fully Mexican rite. No words were spoken, a fast look will be enough to get someone to bring you coffee which was poured from an aluminum boiling pot it into an octagonal glass, but raising the pot 10 inches above the glass. There was a bit of suspense, because as long as the customer didn’t say “stop!” the waiter will keep pouring the dark thick coffee; finally when the customer said “stop!” the waiter will pour a cascade of frothy whole milk into the glass. The coffee’s aftereffects continued for hours, but most lightly they didn’t last as long as did those of the opium sold back then by the Chinese, in clandestine dens.

Information provided by the Historic Center Trust.

Where it is and what to expect. Mexico City's Chinatown is small —essentially the stretch of Calle Dolores between the Alameda Central and Plaza de San Juan, inside the old barrio of San Juan Moyotlan— so set expectations accordingly: this is a couple of blocks of restaurants, lanterns and shops, not a district. It works best as a stop on a walk between the Alameda, the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia and the Mercado de San Juan, all within a few hundred metres.

How the community got here. The Chinese presence in Mexico goes back to the Manila galleon trade, which linked Acapulco with the Philippines for some 250 years. Later waves came from the United States and mainland China, and some families arrived after violence against Chinese residents in Sonora and Sinaloa in the early 20th century. By the 1930s, Dolores and Luis Moya were lined with laundries run by Chinese families, who faced open racism and legal barriers; many later prospered by opening cafés.

What to eat. The city's "cafés de chinos" are the real legacy: café con leche, pan dulce, fortune cookies and cream puffs, a Mexican-Chinese hybrid you will now find in cafés all over the city, most no longer run by families of Chinese descent. In the barrio itself the restaurants lean towards Cantonese cooking adapted to local tastes.

When to go. Chinese New Year —late January or February, depending on the lunar calendar— is when the street is at its best: dragon dances, stalls and crowds. The rest of the year, lunchtime is the moment. The closest metro stations are San Juan de Letrán and Bellas Artes, both a short walk, and Salto del Agua is not much further.