The Yucatán
29 open around Mexico
The peninsula: Playa's taco stands, Tulum, colonial Valladolid and Mérida, and village singles inland.
The towns
Restaurants28
Huniik★just added
Destination · Yucatecan, creative · Parque Santa Ana, Centro · $$$$
booking essential
Roberto Solís runs twelve courses of Yucatecan cooking off an open pass, aguachile through pibil lamb to a habanero xe'ec.
CetliBib?
Solid · Mexican, moles · Villas Tulum · $$
book ahead
Claudia Pérez Rivas grinds her spices and herbs on stone metates and builds the moles from there. The istak is a fish fillet poached in seawater under a white almond mole.
HartwoodMichelin?
Solid · Mexican, wood fire · Tulum Beach · $$$
booking essential
Everything cooks over open fire in a wood-burning oven and grill the kitchen built by hand, and solar panels run the lights.
Cocina Doña Paulajust added
Solid · Mexican home cooking, Tlaxcala recipes · Centro · $
walk-in
A hundred and twenty-five pesos buys a dish, a sopa de fideo, a litre of agua fresca and up to a kilo of tortillas. Tlaxcala recipes, on Calle 6 between the 10 and the 15.
Chef Rosalía Chayjust added
Solid · Maya, Yucatecan · Yaxunah
booking essential
Rosalía Chay Chuc cooks cochinita in the píib behind her house in Yaxunah, out of achiote she grows herself. There is no restaurant. You book, and you eat at her family's table.
Hotel El Mesón del Marquésjust added
Solid · Yucatecan · Centro · $$
book ahead
The kitchen, Hostería del Marqués, cooks Valladolid's own dishes: queso relleno, longaniza, lomitos, pavo en relleno negro.
El Fogón (Constituyentes)?
Listed · Mexican, tacos · Gonzalo Guerrero · $
walk-in
They cut tacos al pastor off the trompo from noon until eleven, seven days a week, and quesadillas, gringas and alambres sit behind them.
Lonchería Doña Mary?
Listed · Mexican, antojitos · Gonzalo Guerrero · $
walk-in
They cook quesadillas, tlacoyos and traditional soups on Avenida 30, from five in the evening until eleven. A local told Jeff to eat here. They close on Mondays.
El Pirata?
Listed · Mexican, seafood · Zazil-Ha · $
walk-in
They fry fish and build seafood tostadas on Calle 40 in Zazil-Ha, ten in the morning to eight at night. They close on Wednesdays.
Taquería Honorio?
Listed · Yucatecan, tacos · Tulum Centro · $
walk-in
They cook four Yucatecan things in one small room on Satélite Sur: cochinita pibil, lechón al horno, relleno negro de pavo and poc chuc.
La Bamba Jarochajust added
Listed · Veracruz seafood · Gonzalo Guerrero
walk-in
Jeff had a seafood lunch here and what he wrote down afterwards was the cheesy soup. It sits on Avenida 30 in Gonzalo Guerrero, away from the Quinta.
IX CAT IK Tradicional Cocina Maya?
Listed · Mayan, Yucatecan · Colonia Militar · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
Some of the food is buried and cooked underground in the píib, and the rest goes over firewood. Every plate lands with tortillas pressed by hand.
El Fogón (30 Avenida Norte)?
Listed · Mexican, tacos · Centro · $
walk-in
They cut al pastor at the Centro door, on 30 Avenida Norte where it runs into Calle 6. The Constituyentes branch is a separate room and a separate spit.
Birria de la 30?
Listed · Mexican, birria · Centro · $
walk-in
They cook birria on 30 Avenida, between Calle 34 and Calle 38 in the Centro.
Carnitas Teresita?
Listed · Mexican, carnitas · Centro · $
walk-in
They fry carnitas on Calle 1 Sur in Playa del Carmen's Centro, and the sign over the door is also the menu.
La Ceiba Móvil Bosque Realjust added
Listed · Mexican breakfast · Mundo Hábitat
walk-in
Jeff's list has this down for breakfast and nothing else, and that is the whole record. It is the Sian Ka'an door, not the other La Ceiba across town.
Los Aguachiles?
Listed · Mexican, seafood · Gonzalo Guerrero · $$
walk-in
The fried fish taco and the tuna tacos are what to come for. This is the Calle 34 Norte door, not the Constituyentes one and not the Avenida 10 Sur one.
La Zebra Restaurant?
Listed · Mexican, coastal · Zona Hotelera, Tulum Beach
book aheadthe room’s own account
Breakfast lands at 7:30 on the sand, pastries and tropical fruit and Mexican breakfast plates. By dinner the kitchen is on ceviches, handmade tacos and grilled Caribbean seafood.
La Perla Pixán Cuisine & La Carboneríajust added
Listed · Mexican, mezcal and pulque · Gonzalo Guerrero
book ahead
Two names over one door on Calle 38, between the Quinta and the beach. Jeff saved it and wrote nothing beside it.
Carnitas Merchant
Listed · Carnitas, Michoacán style · Centro
walk-in
Carnitas on Avenida Benito Juárez, near the ferry terminal end of the Centro. Jeff saved it and wrote nothing beside it.
La Casona de Valladolid?
Listed · Yucatecan · Centro · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
They serve cochinita pibil and sopa de lima in a colonial house on Calle 41, two blocks off the main square. You pick the buffet or the à la carte menu, and the doors shut at seven.
Primo?
Listed · Mexican · Gonzalo Guerrero
book ahead
A restaurant called Primo trades on Avenida Constituyentes, between 5a Avenida and Avenida 10 in Gonzalo Guerrero.
Sendero 34?
Listed · Mexican · Gonzalo Guerrero
walk-inthe room’s own account
A Mexican restaurant called Sendero 34 sits on Calle 34 Norte in Gonzalo Guerrero, on the same street as the Los Aguachiles door.
Provisions1
Carnes Ahumadas "Mozon"?
Listed · Yucatecan, smoked meat · Temozón · $
walk-in
Sellers work the Valladolid-Tizimín road with smoked beef by the kilo, about seventy of them along the same stretch through Temozón. They will vacuum-pack it so it travels without a fridge.
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