Taqueria La Lupita — Restaurant in Mérida

✅TAQUERIA LA LUPITA ( Mercado de Santiago, Merida, Mexico)

Merida was the last stop of our first-ever Mexico tour and, after watching Taco Chronicles on Netflix where La Lupita was featured, I was obsessed. I WANT TO EAT THERE.

Hence, I decided that the final exclamation point of our trip was to find out for myself why - out of all taco restaurants- La Lupita was chosen by Netflix.

IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

Look at my photo ... tender, juicy, tasty pieces of slow roasted pork, add to that chopped onions, fresh red tomatoes, cilantro on a bed of soft shell tacos and , for its crowning glory, a generous piece of perfectly cooked crunchy pork skin.

Plus squeeze some green lime and add some spicy green tomato salsa. The flavors and textures explode in my palate. I close my eyes, inhale ... ahhhh....hmmm... it's soooo good.

HEAVEN.

Perfect combination: delicious food at very reasonable prices.

We Filipinos have a love affair with pork skin - the most coveted part of a lechon ( roasted pork on a spit) , what you cannot help pinch off, what you hoard on your plate😂. The other thing is chicharron , crispy pork rind; and in Mexico, the size of the chicharron is jaw dropping.

It is not surprising to find lechon and chicharron in Mexico and the Philippines ( both former colonies of Spain ) considering 250 years of the Galleon Trade between Manila and Acapulco between 1565 - 1815.

I am thankful for this connection, which has led me all the way to the Yucatan Peninsula to enjoy tacos at...

By now, I'm sure you've seen this restaurant on the Netflix show and read all the reviews. So I'm going to tell you the secret things to get that are unbelievable.

First, get the orange juice. This might be the best orange juice I have ever had in my life. I know. I know, I came here for the tacos but I can't stop thinking about how amazing the orange juice was. It was freshly squeezed and ice cold and oh so sweet.

Secondly, skip the actual Taco tortilla. Whatever meat that you're going to get, get it on the salbute. These are deep fried doughy corn tortillas that are crunchy on the outside and doughy and soft on the inside. They're so good. You can get tacos anywhere but getting these salbutes will change your life.

Third, this place is obviously known for their cochinita pibil but I found that the relleno negro (turkey meat) was so much more tastier and fulfilling with so much flavor packed in.

So in closing, get the orange juice and get the salbutes with your...

Go where the locals go - here. Always crowded and known for their lechon. The pork is moist and sitting in it's own juice and fat. They also have grilled turkey, turkey in negro sauce, breaded steak and negro Relleño soup. This is located inside the market. There are many places selling the exact same thing but this place was the most crowded and busy. The food was incredible and the prices were the lowest we've paid during our stay in Merida.

I recommend the lechon de horno. It's the roasted juicy moist pork topped with a crunchy pork rind. The combination is music in the mouth. Get it on a taco, torta, tamale or salbute (soft puffy fried corn shell)

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