Tag Archives: the hartwood

The Hartwood: review after the fourth visit

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The Hartwood maintains its quality and unique atmosphere after its first years of operations. In my last visit 3 weeks ago, despite heavy tropical rains, the restaurant was open and its staff as smiley as ever.

And the crowd was always the same, locals from the hotel industry, tourists from Coqui Coqui hotel across the beach road and Newyorkers following Eric Werner’s trail from Brooklyn.

I had the usual watermelon & rum refreshing cocktail, that opened my carnivorous appetite to enjoy one of the best pork racks I’ve ever had. The pork is cooked in the wood oven for many hours, with the heat of the ashes left when the oven is turned off in the evenings. It is slowly cooked the whole night, and then served the following day. The meat is coated with agave pencas (the plant of which tequila is made) to prevent it from burning too much, giving it a unique flavor. Married the pork with a powerful and price balanced LA Cetto Nebbiolo, one of the best mexican wines in the mid-priced range.

I’ll be back again this week, I’m lucky enough to be in Tulum again…

Coqui Coqui: design boutique hotel in Tulum (new visit)

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Last week I paid a new visit to Coqui Coqui to know more about the success story of this beautiful boutique hotel at the Tulum beach. Coqui Coqui, founded by the ex-model Nicolás Maleville, is one of the top eco chic hotels at the Tulum beach strip.

I sat with Marcos, one of the two hotel managers at the cute cafeteria decorated with large mirrors and perfumerie glasses and we let the chat flow.

Coqui Coqui Tulum has only seven rooms. The hotel was built on what was Nicolás’ own beach refuge (the cafeteria/reception was a large sea facing living room). In the 8 years the hotel has been operating it has built a recurrent base of happy guests, many of them celebrities from the fashion industry and Hollywood. And the reason why they come to Tulum is to find what they miss in New York, LA, Paris or London: anonymity, laid-back relax and being treated as any other guest. Many of the fashion celebrities are former colleagues and friends of Nicolás Maleville, like Kate Moss or Giselle Bundchen, but the fame of the Coqui Coqui in this special group of people has gone beyond a personal network and reached specialized and exclusive design, travel and lifestyle publications (including this site lol!). Many of this famous clients visit Coqui Coqui up to three times every year.

Due to the small size of the hotel, occupation rate is high, only September can be considered kind of a low season. To book a night in the top season (around New Year’s Eve) you’d better book 4-5 months in advance. Rates can go from $210 in low season for a regular room to $430 for a suite in higher season. Rates are relatively low compared to neighbor hotel and also very chic Be Tulum (nothing below $350).

For those clients who prefer to stay for dinner, Coqui Coqui has hired Sergio Granados, a famous chef who built his reputation at Los Cabos. Upon reservation, and for $86 per person (including wine) Sergio can surprise you with three-course meal of delicious mexican cuisine inspired in old mayan recipes. Most clients combine the Coqui Coqui restaurant dining with scouting excursions to the other good restaurants in town, mainly to the Hartwood (I found three Coqui Coqui guests there after my visit), located 200 yards across the beach road.

Coqui Coqui has a unique spa service, using all the house’s perfumes, soaps, creams and scents. The spa offer is ample and tempting for both individuals and couples. The spa area has amazing design. Located on the top of the building, it has natural ventilation and you can hear the soft rumour of the Caribbean waves washing the beach (no need for the typical ambience music of the spas).

The hotel is operated by just 10 people, with Marcos and Gabriela shifting the hands-on daily management. Service is very close, all guests called by their names by all the personnel.

Coqui Coqui also has a presence in nearby Valladolid, Cobá ruins and the city of Mérida. The Valladolid and Mérida hotels are one bedroom old mansions, they are rented on an exclusive basis for $280/night. The Cobá ruins property has 5 bedrooms in front of the Cobá lagoon. The rooms upstair have a view on the amazing Cobá pyramids surrounded by the Mayan jungle.

Read the previous & complete review of Coqui Coqui hotel Tulum.

Coqui Coqui, eco-chic hotel and fashion celebrities at the Tulum beach

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Coqui Coqui is a one of a kind hotel in Tulum and one of the best examples of the trendy eco-chic design style that predominates in Tulum.  Founded by the famous Burberry, Donna Karan, etc. model Nicolás Maleville, this 7-room hotel is visited by celebrities and owner’s friends from the fashion industry and Hollywood.

Daria Werbowy, Kate Bosworth, James Rousseau, Rene Zellweger, Sienna Miller and Amy Sacco among other are some of the names in the guest list.  The perfect Mayan beach, far away from tourists and fan hordes are an irresistible attraction for true celebrities.

The Coqui Coqui hotel value proposition is simple, yet unique in Tulum: architecture resembling the Mayan ruins (local limestone), traditional mayan handycrafts (including a hammock) and a gadget-less life (rooms have no electricity, and night light is provided by an unlimited amount of hand made candles).  Mobile phone coverage is dodgy or non-existent. All the hotel 7 rooms and the restaurant-bar are powered by 12 volts solar panels; back to basics.

Coqui Coqui is the perfect romantic getaway for couples, do not expect much more than a perfect beach, a blue Caribbean sea, a lively coral reef and a cozy rustic-design room.  If traveling with kids Coqui Coqui might not be the most comfortable place, and you might spoil somebody’s honeymoon or romantic escape.  Dogs are welcome.

If you feel like leaving your little heaven in Coqui Coqui for some more social activity and try the Tulum dining scene you have very good alternatives just a 30 minute walk again (or a 5 minute bicycle drive away).  Just 1.500 meters/0.9 mile away (on the direction of the Sian Kan natural reserve) you have Casa Jaguar, the trendiest bar in Tulum, 200 meters more and you can find The Hartwood, the best of the New York dining scene with local organic ingredients, creative tropical cocktails, a wood fired oven and a sandy floor.

Coqui Coqui offers double rooms and suites from $250 (and up to $500), a reasonable price for a piece of paradise and a 24hs of cable, wireless, wired, 3g, 4g and satellite disconnect.  Anywhere, if you just cannot wait to update your Facebook status and post photos of your feet at the perfect pristine beach you can access free internet wifi at the lobby/restaurant.

Coqui Coqui offers full spa service, using the scents, soaps and oils made by themselves using local ingredients (also provided at the rooms as part of the service).   Rene Zellweger is told to ship tons of them on her way back to the US.

The hotel is run by Nicolas’ friends and family, and the help of friendly locals.  Expect warm service, like your family’s tropical beach retreat.  Actually, the hotel was born as Nicolás’ idea of a private beach cabana, but living in New York City while modeling required a lot of attention and maintenance costs, so Nicolas’s decided to start renting it out.  Coming from a tiny town lost in the Argentine Pampas (Adela María, 60km south of Río Cuarto, Córdoba Province), he was fascinated with the Tulum pristine beaches and palm trees as me when he first visited them in 2001.  Nicolás now lives in Williamsburgh (Brooklyn, New York City), only 3 hours away to the Cancún airport.  If the Tulúm airport (Aeropuerto de la Riviera Maya) is built he and all the New Yorkers that love Tulum will be closer to paradise than ever.

Nicolás Maleville also owns another two boutique hotels, one in the middle of the Yucatán Jungle nearby the impressive Mayan ruins of Cobá (probably the most authentic, uncovered, jungle surrounded ones) and another one at the cozy small town of Valladolid, a XVII’s century Spanish colonial town and the heart of the splendor of the “henequen” (rope) exploitation in the XIX’s century, a place worth visiting to fly back on time just 1 hour drive from Tulum.

If you notice the hotels’ decoration and landscaping are just perfect it is not a coincidence.  Nicolás Maleville graduated as landscape architect.  He studied in Argentina and then in London, where he used to have garden clients in Chelsea and other affluent neighborhoods.  His career as a model started just by chance.  He was visiting Punta del Este, the trendy summer spot in Uruguay, working part time at Los Negros, the famous Francis Mallman restaurant when he was spotted by Kate Moss and his agent.

Coqui Coqui is a great place for a long weekend.  Get to JFK or La Guardia, catch a three hour flight.  Once in Cancún rent a car, drive south 1.5 hour.  Once you get to Tulum (before entering into town and after the Tulum Mayan ruins) go to the crossroad that leads to the beach (Tulum-Boca Paila road).  Get your odometer (milage counter) to zero, turn left towards the beach (you will see a “Chedraui” supermarket and the firefighters station on your left), drive 3km and once you get to the crossroad turn on your right.  You will start seeing hotels on your left and some shops on your right.  And jungle, and people in their bicycles heading to the beaches and beach clubs.  When your odometer marks 5.9 you will see the Coqui Coqui hotel sign.  Enjoy!

 

 

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

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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.