Unusual Restaurants in Mexico City / Don Pling Restaurant, a Chinese-Mexican Fusion
Explore this small restaurant in Polanco that offers a creative combination of Chinese and Mexican cuisines that you have to try.
By Alejandro Pohlenz
The relationship between China and Mexico, although it was "on pause," as they say now, for a few years in the 20th century, began in 1573 when two Chinese ships arrived in Acapulco loaded with merchandise made in China. In the third millennium, China is Mexico's second largest trading partner (after the United States) and accounts for 12% of foreign trade. The first Chinese restaurant, it seems, was the Shanghai Restaurant, which opened in the Chinatown of Mexico City in 1946. In Food Police we present the Hong King restaurant, which started in 1963 and surely participated in the plot of the novel El Complot Mongol.
An unusual place in Mexico City
Well, it occurred to someone to make a fusion of Chinese and Mexican food. But a serious fusion: or have you ever tried a huitlacoche dumpling anywhere else? I doubt it. So Don Pling (the ingenuity is also in the name) has formulated unimaginable mixtures between the two cultures in gastronomic terms. (There is a drink called Borra Chin, with hibiscus, cucumber, orange mezcal and agave honey... how will you feel with two of those?).
I suspect that Don Pling opened recently: I went a couple of years ago. The place is charming, the fusion is even in the music; It is open on Anatole France street and offers, primarily, Mexican-style dumplings. Dumplings are small balls of dough, with wheat and rice flour, and tapioca, which are filled, in this case, with huitlacoche (with spinach, squash, green beans and serrano pepper), Oaxacan black mole or suadero.
The flavors of Don Pling
Be enchanted by the wonton soup with mushrooms from La Marquesa; let yourself be amazed by the Cha yu fried red snapper with sweet and sour sauce and chiltepín (that very brave chili from Sonora), the Don Pling rib-eye Szechuan with crunchy grasshoppers (some amazing tacos), kung pao shrimp with chile de árbol and cambray onion or the apotheosis: Don Pling birria soup. (Birria is a regional variation of barbacoa; meat marinated in an adobo made from vinegar, dried chilies, garlic, herbs, and salt).
- What we love and you should try: Don Pling birria soup.
- What we don't like so much: we like everything.
- Food Police insider advise: it's small: it's a good idea to book on Friday and Saturday nights.
- Address: Anatole France 70, Polanco, CDMX.
- Hours and days of operation: Every day from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- Ideal for: dinner.
- Payment: cash and cards.
- Accessibility: yes.
- Parking: The mafia and very expensive valet parking in Polanquito.
- Reservations: yes.
- Phone: 55 5282 2787
- Nearby public transportation: Metro Polanco.
- Pet Friendly: yes.
- Suitable to go with children: yes.
- Vegan options: yes.
