Beer Factory Cuicuilco

Where you are eating. Beer Factory Cuicuilco occupies part of the old Loreto y Peña Pobre paper mill, which operated from 1750 until the 1980s — two and a quarter centuries of papermaking on this site. The conversion kept the industrial fabric: iron pipework, machinery and fittings left in place so that you are visibly inside a factory rather than a themed room.

What they serve. Californian-style food — burgers, ribs, snacks — and craft beer brewed on the premises, which is where the name comes from. It is a brewpub rather than a restaurant with a beer list.

What is across the road. The Cuicuilco archaeological zone: a circular stepped pyramid built before Teotihuacán and buried by the Xitle eruption around 400 CE. Free entry, rarely crowded, and the juxtaposition — a pre-Classic pyramid, a colonial paper mill and a shopping centre within 300 metres — is as Mexico City as it gets.

Practical notes. San Fernando #649, Peña Pobre, Tlalpan, inside Plaza Cuicuilco. No Metro nearby: Universidad, line 3, with a short taxi, or the Insurgentes Metrobús. Mall parking. Cards accepted; the archaeological site closes on Mondays.