Eating locally is one of our most favorite things to do while traveling abroad. Both hubby and I love trying out authentic local dishes. Sometimes we like it and sometimes we don’t. During our trip to Tulum, it was neither of the two. We LOVED it. We had so many tacos that we lost count! And the best part? It didn’t cost an arm and leg. Majority of the time, we ate at small shops that the locals eat from. We also got a chance to try out plenty of street food from food carts.
Here, I am going to list ALL of the food we had in Tulum and give you a quick summary on what we thought. This list is in no particular order, but I have highlighted the MUST HAVES!
I’m going to start with our favorite and of course, the most MUST HAVE food in Tulum, street tacos. We ate from a street cart in Centro Tulum two times and unfortunately, the third time we came back, there was a different cart in this location. It doesn’t really have a name, but it is located right in front of the Super Aki Supermarket on the main highway (highway 307). Hubby had tacos each time we went and I had quesadillas. Even without the sauces, the food was amazing, but the sauces definitely brought it up a notch. This was hands down the best tacos and quesadillas we had in Tulum.
We also ate at Antojitos La Chiapaneca two times. This place is very local, very cheap and the most authentic food we had in town. Although I didn’t enjoy their quesadillas as much, hubby who is a meat lover absolutely loved their tacos! We enjoyed this place, not only for their tacos, but also for their homely atmosphere. With the cooking area set up on the outside, we were able to see how they make everything. There were many ladies continuously working and being very efficient. The male cooks were cooking a trompo of meat for the tacos, with choices of chicken, pork and beef. If you specifically want authentic Mexican, put this on your MUST HAVE list!
The first thing we did after picking up our rental car was find a restaurant to have lunch! Google helped us to find Los De Pescado, a small food spot next to a gas station in Cancun. This spot was only about 5 minutes from the airport, right off the main highway leading from Cancun to Tulum. We ordered some fish burritos, fish fried tacos and seafood ceviche. Paired with some Mexican Coca Cola, this was a great way to start our SEEfood diet!
We found many of the food carts and locations after searching reviews through google maps. Pepe’s Best Tacos in Tulum was located very close to our hotel so we tried out his cart one evening. Most of these food carts are very flexible and offer packaged food for those who prefer to take it home. There were also seating available for those who wanted to stick around.
We headed to La Barracuda for lunch on our down day. This was another food spot we wanted to come back to a second time because of how good their food was. Besides the good food and generous portion sizes, the atmosphere also caught our attention. There was a lady named Ms. Bascilia, sitting to the side and making fresh corn tortillas. I conversated with her and she told me about the whole process of making tortillas. She was making them rather quickly and efficiently, every single one with the perfect round shape. I would say this foot spot was one of our favorites and a MUST HAVE in our list!
The high reviews and attention drawing lights drew us towards Burrito Amor, located right next to La Barracuda. The very relaxed atmosphere and chill vibe is perfect for people who are on a longer vacation in Tulum. Although this food spot was a little too healthy for us, they really do take into consideration all types of people. They had a huge variety of food to choose from, including vegan options, gluten free, dairy free and anything else free! Although the prices were more touristy prices than the other places we ate at, it was still reasonable. I had fish burritos, which came wrapped in banana leaves and hubby had a carne asada burrito bowl. It’s a MUST GO place for all vegans!
Taqueria Honorio is a very local food spot that attracted us. It was crowded the whole time we were there. We waited for about 20-30 minutes for a seat, but once we got in, everything went fairly fast. The workers are constantly working, needless to say their service was great. Hubby had breakfast tacos and I had my go-to; quesadillas! It was definitely of the most authentic food we had, with less cheese aka less American.
We decided to go for lunch at El Camello Jr one day and we enjoyed it. It was the only place we had fried fish from, which was charged by the pound. However ,the fish and the shrimp ceviche from here was very generous in size. We were very full after finishing the whole meal! This location was pretty packed even after lunch hours, but we only had to wait about ten minutes to get seated. The service was good and atmosphere was relaxing as we were able to sit in the patio.
One of the few high end places we ate as was from Hippo Marina Lounge in Puerto Aventuras. After our trip to Kantun Chi Ecopark, we headed to Puerto Aventuras to see the area. The whole bay area was so fancy, with a huge golf course, high end hotels, numerous pubs, grills, lounges and places to eat. In the midst of all this is the Dolphin Discovery experience, which we were able to see while we had lunch! For lunch, I had some chicken quesadillas while hubby choose a nacho dish. After days of eating locally, we felt the restaurant was too touristy for our liking. However we definitely enjoyed the yummy food!
We spent an evening in Portal Maya in Playa Del Carmen and checked out the chain restaurant Señor Frog’s Playa del Carmen. Although we just had some drinks there, it was a very lively restaurant. The staff were very friendly, the music was fun and the vibe was very chill. Although this restaurant was also catered towards tourists, we still found it enjoyable to hang out at. We later went back to our street tacos for dinner though 🙂
Besides all this delicious food you see here, we also tried so many ice cream shops, panaderias, dessert stands, coffee shops, fruit stands, supermarket goodies and more! If you enjoyed this list, be sure to check out the second part of this… coming soon!!
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