Contramar

Roma Norte, Mexico City · Seafood · $$$

Contramar opened in 1998 and has functioned as Mexico City's answer to a Parisian brasserie ever since - a loud, crowded, white-tablecloth seafood institution in the Roma where everyone from gallery owners to government ministers goes for Friday lunch. The tuna tostada - a cylinder of sashimi-grade tuna on a fried tortilla with chipotle and mayonnaise - has been copied in restaurants on five continents; Gabriela Cámara's original is still the benchmark. The pescado a la talla, half painted in red mole and half in green herb sauce, has its own claim to iconic status. Book two weeks out.