El Arrayán Cocina Tradicional

Lonely Planet review

Owner Carmen Porras takes special pleasure in rescuing old family recipes from obscurity and finding new converts for real traditional Mexican cuisine. Her restaurant, with its open kitchen and romantic courtyard, emphasizes local ingredients: the delicious panela cheese comes straight from the small dairy south of Puerto Vallarta and the corn used for the tortillas is locally produced and comes directly from the mill.

House specialties include special: crispy duck carnitas with orange sauce - scrumptious! - and rib eye steak marinated in Mexican spices with blood orange tequila sauce. Raise a toast to a truly memorable meal with a shot of fiery raicilla, a rare agave distillate produced in Jalisco.