Category Archives: Restaurants

restaurants and dining out

La Fournee, a true French bakery to enjoy tasty croissants and bread in Tulum Mexico

Posted on by
Reply
tulum bakery croissants

Croissants and good coffee

Opened in 2011 in the beautiful caribbean seaside town of Tulum , La Fournee Panaderia & Pasteleria is based on the traditional french baking methods and techniques using only the finest natural ingredients. This Artisan Bakery delivers the best fresh-baked baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat right to your doorstep every morning (except Saturdays) if you order in bulk. Alternatively, you can sample all of their delicious baked goods at Restaurant Le Bistro in town.
La Fournee Panaderia & Pasteleria was designed to cater for hotel businesses who wish to offer customers a first-class breakfast or simply for those who crave a delicious croissant or pain au chocolat with the morning coffee.
Contacts:
Cell: 984 130 99 28, facebook.com/LaFournee.Tulum, lafournee.tulum@gmail.com

 

Casa Jaguar, a stylish restaurant and bar in Tulum Mexico

Posted on by
1

Casa Jaguar lies at the “trendy” part of the Tulum-Boca Paila road, where other eco-chic restaurants and boutique hotels like The Heartwood, Coqui Coqui, Be Tulum, La Rosa de los Vientos are located.  As opposed to the first hotels and cabañas you reach coming from Tulum town, Casa Jaguar and the others in the list offer good quality and a chic environment as opposed to the hippie/dirty style of the ones located at the first miles of the road.

Casa Jaguar is both a restaurant and a bar, with one of the best atmospheres of the Tulum beach.  Any pizza or dish emerging from the wood oven is just amazing.  The restaurant’s speciality is fusion Asian-Mexican food, including some tasty vegetarian dishes.  The place combines open air spaces with thatched roof bars, surrounded by a wall made stone by stone with local materials.  The decoration in nicely completed with some owners family antiques.

Casa Jaguar offers live music (check daily), usually good fusion and jazz.  In the mornings the restaurant is operated by other restauranteurs, breakfasts are highly recommended.

Casa Jaguar is managed by Mexico City’s Patricia Calles and her son Diego, both excellent hosts and always ready to give advice on Tulum activities and places.  Casa Jaguar is definitely one of the Tulum restaurants, and the right place to spend a great time in Tulum Mexico.

Be Tulum, a top eco-chic hotel, restaurant and beach club in Tulum Mexico

Posted on by
2

Be Tulum is a one-of-a-kind place in Tulum.  Recently opened (2011), it boasts stylish cabanas secluded in the jungle, most of them in the upper floors featuring private terraces with jacuzzi and a breathtaking view to both sea and the jungle of the Sian Kaan reserve.

With a combination of excellent materials, love and a lots of good taste, Be Tulum is probably the nicest hotel at the Tulum Beach.  Its sophistication has a cost though, double rooms start above $300, a bit more than other hotels in the area with less enchantment.

The beach club and restaurant is a great option for both hotel guests and visitors.  On weekends they offer a tasty barbecue.  They have a great wine list and live music (the jazz band played the best version of “Summertime” I have ever listened to in a live event).  A plus of the beach clubs is that it boasts the hipster crowd of the Tulum sand.

New visit to the Hartwood, a trendy restaurant at the Tulum beach

Posted on by
1

The wood oven of the Hartwood restaurant at the Tulum beach

This is my second visit to The Hartwood, the place set up by the new yorkers Eric Werner and Mya Henry.  The Hartwood, and the excellent review it got at the Times is probably one of the reasons why so many New Yorkers are now heading to Tulum.  From movie celebrities to bankers and models, you can now find a lot of people from the Big Apple in Tulum, and almost all of them go to The Hartwood.

The restaurant is clearly different from all the others in Tulum.  In many ways it is very new yorker, with hosts really caring about a fast table turnover (the restaurant is small and there might be a waiting list in any night even in low season).  But the service is warm, good and highly professional.  The ingredients are top quality, hand picked from providers and markets and in the area.

This time I had the flat iron cooked giant shrimps, with a side (on the same flat iron pan) of a vegetables combination reminding ratatouille (red and green peppers, onions, zucchini, etc).  They are cooked (as most hot dished) at wood oven, given them an unique taste.  As a second I had pork loin, it was also excellent, the pork loin is very difficult to cook at the over without a sauce because it can dry very easily.   The wine list is kind of short, but they have good options at a reasonable price (I had a LA Cetto Nebbiolo for $35).  The bar of fresh cocktails is great (I recommend the watermelon, peppermint & vodka drink).

It can be pricey when compared to other Tulum restaurants (mains at approximately $20-30), but it offers really good quality.

Le Bistro, best french restaurant in Tulum

Posted on by
2

Located in downtown Tulum, Le Bistro has become a favorite for both locals and tourists.  Founded in December 2010 by the french partners Gilles and Laurent, it offered something new to the Tulum dining scene.  It was an immediate success, it is one of the few restaurants (other than local taquerías) that are always crowded.

The menu is french based, using the available local ingredients including see food, poultry and meet.  I went for dinner and had a tasty tuna carpaccio with a fruity/chili sauce. I also had a green pepper duck leg, both excellent.  Other tempting dishes at the menu included Grouper in a parsil sauce, Filet Mignon in champignon/red wine sauce and herbs roasted chicken.

Not surprisingly Le Bistró also gets crowded for breakfast: they have one of the best coffees in town, and they bake their own bread and croissants (cooked and delivered by Laurent every morning at 9am).

The place is very nice, you can pick up either the street terrace tables to know what is going in town, or one of the nice tables under the trees at their patio (they have a small stage for occasional live jazz).

They have a short but hand picked wine list, including some Bourgogne and Rohne wines with an excellent price/quality ratio. A good wi-fi connection is a plus.

I would say without a doubt it is the best restaurant in downtown Tulum.

 

Fun and sugar cane drinks at La Guarapera

Posted on by
Reply

The friendly Italian owner of La Guarapera

Tiziana from Mexico recommended us La Guarapera, a cool spot to freshen up before or after the beach.  La Guarapera makes sugar cane beverages, and the sugar cane is crushed at the very moment you ask for the drink (they let you do the crushing if you want).

La Guarapera is owned by a very friendly Italian (one of hundreds of Italians who moved in to Tulum), who changed the shadows of the London subway for the pristine beaches of Tulum after working for 16 years in the underground.  His “shop” is an old Volkswagen beetle, purposely re-shaped for the sugar cane mill machinery.  The beetle is located on the road to the beach, very close to the highway.  Worth visiting.

Zamas, a restaurant for pizza and live music at the Tulum beach

Posted on by
1

Zamas Restaurant (in reality it is called “Que fresco!”, meaning”how fresh!” in Spanish) is a good option for the Tulum evenings. Located at a great spot on the beach, it offers tasty pizzas and some seafood dishes with a fun atmosphere of live music (tropical, drums, other).  Tourists and some local mingle to spend a good time and occasional dancing under the thatched roof of the main place or on the beach seats.

Pizzas are by far the best option.  Couple them with beer or a tropical drink as the wine list is too short.  Leave your table and interact with the lively crowd, take a look at the waves in the beach with a mojito in your hand, and you will have a Tulum magic moment.

Zamas was of the first hotels and restaurants in Tulum.  It dates back from December 1993.  It is owned by a San Franciso couple: Daniel Vallejo McGettigan and Susan Bohlken.  The kitchen is run by Paul Bentley.

The Zamas is one of the first hotels/restaurants on the Tulum – Boca Paila road in south direction, located at the km 5.0, in the most densely populated of the Tulum coastal road.  Credit cards are not accepted. It opens daily for lunch and dinner (dinner is more fun). Check below the videos of live music parties at the Zamas Tulum.

Roberto Lopez Viajes


The Hartwood, a new top restaurant in Tulum

Posted on by
1

Combining local ingredients, with a bit of a New York style, The Hartwood is a totally innovative eating alternative in Tulum.   Despite the local tropical weather, the way the ingredients are selected and treated can give the foodie a sense of Tuscany or Provence (great basic ingredients + simple cooking = amazing food).   The wood burning oven reinforces the countryside feeling.

Tulum “traditional” restaurants started offering just two options: the traditional local food based on fish/seafood and low quality tacos places, and the first “immigrant” cuisine developed by the Italian settlers in the 90s (followed by some French and Argentine who discovered Tulum a little later).

I do not mean to say that Tulum lacked good restaurants, I ‘m just saying this is just new and different.  The Hartwood is run by Eric Werner and Mya Henry.   The kitchen is run by Eric, who used to the be chef of Vineger Hill House (Brooklyn) and Peasant (Manhattan), while Mya is in charge of the restaurant service.

The opening of The Hartwood maybe one of the many signs that Tulum is changing fast, hopefully for the good.

Menu changes almost daily, but some of the recommendations are roasted octopus, lobster salad, stuffed calamari (squid) and the catch of day (freshly bought daily from the Tulum fishermen cooperatives).

The Hartwood is located on the Coastal Road (Carretera Tulum Boca Paila) on the South direction, at the mark of 7.6 Km.  The Hartwood’s email for group reservations is Info@HartwoodTulum.  Opens daily from 6pm to 9,30 PM (no credit cards except for big groups).

 

Roberto Lopez Viajes

Pequeno Buenos Aires, the Argentine restaurant in Tulum

Posted on by
Reply

Pequeno Buenos Aires (“pequeño”, pronounce “pehkehneo”) restaurant in Tulum is a great option to have some beef after so much seafood you get all around.  They offer relatively good quality beef for a great value (good cuts for less than $20).   They have a reasonable wine list to find a malbec to marry the taste of a good “asado”.

Pequeno Buenos Aires is a charming thatched roof open air restaurant and it is located in the heart of Tulum downtown.  The tables on the sidewalk are good for watching people passing by.  The combination of tourists and locals immigrated from around the world make this a fun free entertainment.

The location and contact details of restaurant Pequeno Buenos Aires are as follows:

Phone: 984871 2708

Address: Avenida Tulum at the intersection with Beta Sur, downtown Tulum