We've booked a spontaneous 10 day trip to Mexico City starting on Monday. Would love advice on which neighbourhood we should stay in, what to do, see & eat. Thanks!

Area?

In Mexico City? We haven't decided yet, that's one of the things I'm hoping to get advice on

Great fares on interjet! Neighbourhoods Roma and condessa. I am sure others will have their recommendations.

Thank you!

Lucky! I wish I could go home!
I would highly suggest checking out the Coyoacan, Condesa, Roma, and Polanco neighbourhoods for accommodations.
Coyoacan- Casa Azul (Frida Kahlo's house), lots of cool restaurants and coffee shops. The houses in that area are very colorful and make for nice pictures. The main plaza has a restaurant/ bar that I recommend for trying mezcal and grasshoppers: Corazon de Maguey.
Condesa, Roma and Polanco are the artsy/ trendy neighbourhoods with LOTS of restaurants, cafes and stores. They are very accessible by Subway and Metrobus, and you can also rent bikes like the Mobi ones here in Van (I would stay away from buses since it is very complicated to figure out routes).
Mexico City Downtown is a MUST. There's so many amazing buildings to look at starting with the iconic bellas artes, plaza zocalo, all the palaces, templo mayor, cathedral. If you take the turibus (which I highly recommend) you can hop on and off the main sights.
Walk down Reforma Avenue, go see "Angel de la Independencia" (every time our soccer team wins, people go celebrate there), check out Chapultepec Castle and Chapultepec park. Go to the Soumaya museum since it is a pretty unique looking building and the art collection is one of my favourites (if you are into Dali and Rodin)
There's so so many museums in the City, as far as I remember it was the city with the most museums so you just have to figure out which ones you want to visit. Pro tip: Most museums have free entrance on Sundays!
If you are into folk art/ mexican products, check out the Ciudadela market.
And of course a trip to Mexico City wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Pyramids and the luchas (they are SUPER fun! and there's a turibus dedicated to them!).
I hope this kinda helps, there's just SO much to see and do, I can also recommend some foods to try if you wish!

Wow, I love your passionate enthusiasm for your city! Thank you so much
If you want to recommend foods, I'm interested! My husband is a chef, so food is a definite priority for us.

I forgot to mention, visit Xochimilco and hop on the trajineras! You can order food and listen to mariachi music while you are on one!

thanks! I'll have to research what those are...

Don't forget the renowned museum of anthropology. Incredible!

I'll add it to the list, thanks!

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As for food recommendations, where to start?! I guess the top food to try is real tacos. Small holes on the wall are usually the best ones. A sit down place that looks “fancier” will probably not have the best tacos. Street tacos could be a hit or miss as you can get sick, but at the same time they could be the most delicious thing you’ve ever had.
For breakfast I highly recommend visiting “Cafe Tacuba”, it is a classic and it is located in a historical building in downtown. “Sanborns de los Azulejos” (almost across from Bellas Artes) is a must see. Food is good as well, but I mostly get food there for the experience.
Some of my fave breakfast items: enchiladas, huevos rancheros and molletes.
If you are feeling adventurous try birria or pancita. It is a weekend food usually and they are some sort of meat soup with a mild broth. Pancita includes the intestines and stomach, so it might not be for everyone.
Another weekend food is barbacoa which is cooked lamb. Usually served by weight and accompanied by tortillas and lamb broth (MUST TRY).
If you visit the Jamaica market, nearby there’s a couple of places that serve birria, and pancita, and a really popular place called “El huarache azteca” serves huaraches, which are some sort of really long and thick tortillas filled with beans and topped with salsas, cheese and sometimes meat.
Quesadillas are another must in the city. Just make sure the place where you get them from is making the tortillas either by hand or right there, because you will be surprised how different and better they taste! Street stands are usually a ok, and to be honest I’d rather get quesadillas from ladies that have their little red tarp on the street and a small griddle. If you can and find some, try the blue tortillas (it is actually very interesting the process of making the flour for a blue tortilla since they are made out of a very specific type of corn).
Since you mentioned your husband is a chef he would probably be into the more high end restaurants and cafes in Roma and Condesa. Some of the top restaurants are Puijol and Rosetta. They are extremely popular, so I would check in advance to make sure you get a table.
If you have time, visit a cantina and order a “molcajete” to share. It is kind of a big mortar made out of stone and inside it comes with an assortment of meats, salsas, cactus, and grilled cheese.
As for sweet things, I feel like I must mention churros. “Churros el Moro” is definitely the most popular place and they have multiple locations. “Ruta de la Seda” in Coyoacan is a cafe that serves organic cakes and pastries and their Lavender cake is very popular. Also in Coyoacan, there’s a cafe called “Cafe Jarocho” which usually has loong lines and it is mostly a stand up place. Our version of starbucks is called “Cielito querido” and they have multiple locations as well if you feel like just grabbing a quick coffee. Speaking of coffee, a very popular drink in Mexico is called “cafe de olla”, which is kind of a sweet Americano with a hint of cinnamon.
You’ll probably also see a lot of street vendors that have a couple of cylinders that have orange and yellow stripes, those are “Nieves", and they are kind of like gelato. Another popular ice cream place is “La michoacana” (there’s one everywhere), they have a really big assortment of ice cream, popsicles and flavoured water.
If you want to buy Mexican candies, the best place to go is “Dulceria Celaya”downtown. They have many many varieties of candies, from caramelized fruits, to dulce de leche sweets.
Another spot that your husband might enjoy is “Central de abastos”. The closest thing we have in Vancouver is Granville Island Market. It is where all the businesses, restaurants and some families find their produce and it is usually sold in bulk. It is quite the experience but it might be hard to get to on your own. This website does a couple of food tours and one of them includes a visit to the market: http://eatlikealocal.com.mx/
Another great site for food tours is Club tengo Hambre https://clubtengohambre.com/

Most of the typical Mexican food, you'll find at local markets (usually one per neighbourhood). "La Casa de Toño" restaurant also serves a lot of typical Mexican food, and people always recommend it for the Pozole.
There's a new trend of cool and hip markets popping up in the city: http://mercadoroma.com/ and this is also a cool spot if you want to try bunch of different latin american food "Comedor Los Milagros" https://www.timeoutmexico.mx/.../comedor-de-los-milagros

Wow, Andrea, thanks so much for taking the time to share all these great recommendations! My husband is pretty adventurous with food, organs are usually not a problem. And he'd take authentic, rustic food over fancy restaurants any day, so these recommendations are great! Thanks again!