Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Ensenada is the largest municipality in Mexico. Named a UNESCO Creative City in 2015 for its cuisine.

There's no better welcome to Ensenada than a clam cocktail in any seafood cart. The pismo clam, derived from its waters, is one of the main ingredients; a giant clam, with a fresh flavor, a consistent, firm texture and one of the tastiest. In these stalls, the seafood chefs open and clean the clams on the spot, prepare them in their shell or in a glass as a cocktail, with cucumber, tomato, red onion, sauces and lemon, a mixture that brings out the marine flavors and that without fear of being mistaken I would say is one of the best in life.

El Gordito is one of these carts, which offers tuna ceviche, a real gem of the place; it is made of bluefin tuna, it is served on toast and you can bathe it with a delicious jalapeño and habanero chili sauce that is made at home, it also offers octopus, shrimp and specialty cocktails. Since this cart there are several more in Ensenada, they started out as itinerant cars, until they were placed at strategic points in the city and little by little they became icons of local cuisine. Here you will find preparations based on fresh seafood; toast, ceviches and cocktails.

La Guerrerense is a colorful and always full cart, by Mrs. Sabina Bandera. A place that began operating in 1960 and that in recent years has gained international fame and has become one of the unmissable places to eat in Ensenada. Its preparations, its sauces and the charism of Doña Sabina have made this place an iconic place in Ensenada. Toasts are the protagonists in this corner, hedgehog and clam toast is one of the favorites, fish paté, axe tripe, snail ceviche and the 10 sauces that Sabina makes, some with chillies that she grows herself, are the secret ingredient that you should try when you come to Ensenada.

Not long ago Sabina opened a restaurant named after her in Plaza Blanca, right in front of the cart, across the street. There, diners can sit comfortably and order the specialties from the cart, but also some good fish or shrimp tacos, seafood pozole, octopus tacos and the incredible clam soup, all accompanied by house beer, light and dark, and wines, white, pink and red, prepared with the advice of winemaker Hugo D'Acosta, especially for the place.

Beyond these carts, street food or Black Market food, Ensenada is home to a good number of excellent restaurants, which are proof of what talent and good products are capable of. The first on this list is undoubtedly Manzanilla, not only because it was the first restaurant of its kind in the region, but also because of what it has contributed to contemporary Mexican cuisine over the years. In the kitchen of this place are the hands of chefs Benito Molina and Solange Muris, who arrived in Ensenada in the late nineties and began to make this area a high-level gastronomic destination. Here, local ingredients are elegantly mixed with a touch of the Mediterranean and traditional Mexican cuisine. Benito was one of the first chefs to convince local producers and farmers that the product should also remain in the region, because most of it was exported to the United States, the East and even Europe; today, there is at least one ingredient from Ensenada in the country's top restaurants.

In the middle of the port, in front of the sea, between yachts and ships, is Muelle 3, a restaurant that has been rocking with the waves of the sea for more than a decade. It has a menu where fresh seafood, pasta and salads stand out. The place is small, so it's common to wait, which doesn't seem to matter to anyone, with that spectacular view and the possibility of having a beer from their excellent selection or their incredible local wines. Everything is fresh, prepared from scratch, which requires time, his diners understand it and they don't worry about waiting to try a delicious octopus sashimi with dehydrated tomatoes and olive oil or a ceviche of shrimp, octopus, tuna and clams.

At kilometer 104 of the Tijuana-Ensenada highway, you'll find Terra Noble, an unforgettable restaurant that seeks to reinterpret national cuisine. Examples of this are Mexicanized Benedictines; eggs mounted on a fat grill, with potato, sauce, pico de gallo and the secret ingredient, a delicious bean cream; or divorced eggs mounted in small muffins. Here, breakfasts are a delight. We recommend ordering a table in the backyard, so you can enjoy the best view of the Pacific, while taking your taste buds on one of their best trips.

45 kilometers separate the Guadalupe Valley from Ensenada. Vineyards, outdoor restaurants, wood ovens, terraces, hills, a rustic, rural and delicious air make up the most important wine area in the country. Its colors, flavors, landscapes and aromas seduce our senses. This route has become one of the favorite destinations for domestic and foreign travelers. The restaurants eat delicious and the wines are of the best quality.

Here you enjoy a Mediterranean climate; the Jesuits who began evangelization more than 300 years ago did not hesitate to bring branches and plant them, it was just like being at home. And as expected, the climate and soil responded. Today, the fruits of those first vines brought by the missionaries continue to give lush bunches and place Baja California as the main producer of Mexican wine, with 70% of the total production.

Good wine is usually accompanied by good cheese and Ensenada has them. La Cava de Marcelo is an ideal sanctuary to live this experience. As you enter the small building that houses the Cava de Marcelo, you will feel that you are in a divine place, where the cheeses rest and age peacefully. When the mining companies arrived someday in 1910, because they discovered this mineral-rich soil, their workers brought the first cows to the region; when the resources of the subsoil ran out, the companies went into disarray, forgetting the cows, a Holstein, famous for its production of milk, a lot of good quality. Thus began a tradition of dairy products, which after several generations, brought the first cheese cellar to the American continent. Here, the care of crops and livestock is extremely important, because they make a difference in the flavor and quality of the cheeses.

Coming to Ensenada is an adventure of flavors and aromas. Another of the attractions that the port offers, and which in recent years has been growing along with gastronomy, is craft beer, which has ceased to be a fad to position itself as one of the best in the country, with a real and growing proposal. There are several breweries that, together with the chefs and the wines, have turned Ensenada into an irresistible destination full of good things. Beers such as Media Perra, Aguamala and others, what is certain is that you will find a lot of places where you can taste good beer and wine; Brewery #159, El Chivo Gruñón, Cieli, Maglén Resort and Ruta 90.8 Brewery, Double C Brewery, Cinco Raíces, Transpeninsular among many others, you won't know which one you'll like best.