Lupe

Los Pilones' founders trade twenty years of tourist crowds for a neighborhood taqueria in Bos en Lommer.

Pedro and Juan Mouneu spent two decades running Los Pilones in the city center, feeding a mostly tourist crowd the Mexican food Amsterdam associated with Mexico before Coba and Bacalar showed up and raised the bar. Lupe is their answer to that shift: smaller, further from the canals, built for the neighborhood rather than a coach party. The room skips the sombreros-and-cacti routine on purpose, staff greet you in Spanish, and the menu runs on shareable plates rather than one main course each. Weekdays it is cochinita pibil tacos, enchiladas de mole and a hibiscus margarita list; weekends it turns into a proper brunch, huevos rancheros and chilaquiles alongside Oaxacan cheese and fresh conchas sourced from local Mexican suppliers. Tortillas are corn-based and gluten-free by default, which the neighborhood's celiac regulars have noticed. It is not cheap for what is essentially a taqueria, tacos run around five euros each and a full dinner lands closer to thirty per person, but the room earns its following on consistency rather than any single showstopper dish.

Open Tuesday-Friday 17:00-22:00, Saturday 12:00-22:00, Sunday 12:00-15:00 for brunch; closed Monday. Reserve for the weekend, the brunch crowd fills fast.

Photo: Lupe, via Your Little Black Book