Of all of my planned food adventures in Oaxaca, none was more anticipated than a visit back to the Mercado 20 de Noviembre for some grilled meat. We’ve dubbed this adventure “the smoky hall”, and everyone who’s in the know, knows what we’re talking about.
It’s not hard to find this hall, just follow the smell and the plume of smoke. Inside you’ll discover a world of eating at its simplest and delicious.
The trick to choosing a vendor amongst the many that are there, is to find the one with the biggest crowd in front of it.
We ordered 1.5 kilos of carnita de res (beef), cecina enchilada (pork with red chile) plus chorizo. They take the meat and slap it on the charcoal grill attached to their meat stand.
We walked into the seating area, and although it seems like it’s full, they are always able to find you a seat.
The vegetables are ordered from a different vendor.
We ordered some onions and chiles de agua which are very spicy. You take these vegetables back to the grill and they put them directly onto the coals.
The vegetables grilled this way are my favourite.Fatty meat on the grill x 20 vendors = SMOKY HALL. It wasn’t that busy this day, so it wasn’t too smoky.
Meanwhile, back at the table, the condiment person offers us a selection of sides to compliment our meal. We also ordered come soft blanditas.
We chose the salsa, avocado, guacamole and nopales (cactus).And then came the meat. Behind our platter is a basket of crunchy salted chapulines (grasshoppers) a woman was trying to sell us.A shot of my first sampling. After this, it wasn’t as pretty.
Mercado 20 de Noviembre – Oaxaca, Mexico
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Call me a food lover... not a foodie. Maybe you have a definition of foodie that's different than mine, but I think of myself as a person who loves to eat, cook, find amazing eating spots, browse interesting grocery stores and drive a hundred miles out of the way to visit a farmers market. I like talking about food and taking food photos...
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You didn’t mention how good they tasted!
How was it? It looks amazing, how did it taste???
I thought it would be implied that it was delicious. My favourite was the cesina this time. Mmmmmmmm!!!
What a great adventure! I’m beyond jealous!