If you’re eating vegan in Tulum, and looking for a special meal out, ATTA Cenote Restaurant is the perfect spot.
Our adventurous menu constantly changes with the seasons, so you’ll always find a whole array of yummy animal-product-free creations. Prepared with the freshest local and organic ingredients, we promise every dish will delight all 5 senses (and maybe your 6th sense as well!)
Here are our insider tips on what to eat when you come:
Huitlacoche Ravioli: Food fit for the (Aztec) Gods
Huitlacoche, also known as “Mexican truffles,” is a blue-black fungus that grows on corn. Since ancestral times, it’s been highly valued for its unique, earthy flavor.
While in the U.S., farmers typically throw corn fungus away (yikes, the waste!), Indigenous people in Central Mexico (the Mexica/ Aztecs) and in the Southwest of the U.S. (Hopi, Zuni) have long considered huitlacoche a special delicacy.
The Zuni and Cherokee historically even used huitlacoche as a medicine. No wonder, since it’s packed with phytonutrients, antioxidants and lysine (a muscle-builder and immune-booster.) All that’s to say, it’s both tasty and brilliantly healthy.
In Mexico City, huitlacoche pops up often in vegan tacos. Here at ATTA, we serve huitlacoche tucked into fresh homemade ravioli, offering a rich umami burst in every bite. We top that with a delicate pumpkin-flower sauce, a sprinkle of caramelized macadamia nuts and a dash of truffle oil. This crunchy- salty- sweet- earthy- smooth collision of flavors creates a scrumptious vegan meal you’ll remember for a good long while.
Muhammara and Cauliflower with Tofu Croutons and Black Garlic
You can never be bored as a vegan at ATTA. Case in point: all the layers of delicious flavor in this completely animal-product-free dish.
We start with cauliflower, roasted to perfection, so tender yet still slightly crunchy. Roasting takes this mild-flavored veggie and turns it into a true delicacy, caramelizing it to bring out its natural sweetness.
Second flavor level: Muhammara, a traditional Middle Eastern red pepper and walnut dip, with a creamy texture similar to hummus. Its smoky, savory, sweet, earthy, and slightly spicy notes pack a mouthwatering taste punch from here to Lebanon (where this recipe originated), plus a no-joke nutritional profile.
Black Garlic Explained
Next comes black garlic, which, if you’ve never tried it, tastes completely different from regular garlic! When ordinary garlic cloves are aged under very careful conditions, then—voilá!—they gain a molasses-sweet taste, a sticky-soft texture, and a deep black color.
Added to this dish, they lend yet another treat for your senses, together with the pièce de résistance: crunchy, protein-filled tofu croutons.
Maya Rice: Mother Earth’s Bounty
Another fab vegan option at ATTA is Maya Rice. We start with Carnaroli rice, grown in the sun-drenched fields of Lombardy and Piedmont in Italy, and considered the world’s finest rice for risotto. It’s known for its absorption powers, meaning it can grab up a whole rainbow of flavors in a dish.
In our case, we create those flavors with a completely vegan stock made with various different mushrooms native to Mexico. (While we’re famous for our heirloom corn and chile varieties, few people know Mexico’s also rich in tasty mushroom species!)
Maya Superfood
Next up, we add a chaya sofrito. A sofrito is the sauteed mix of aromatics, like onions, herbs, and garlic, typical to Caribbean cooking. We make ours with fresh chaya native to our Yucatan peninsula—a nutrition powerhouse!
Last, we toss in a blend of lightly sauteed native mushrooms, preserving their juicy natural flavors. Italy meets the Yucatan, meets vegan joy!
How Chef Daniel Franco Fell in Love With Vegan Cooking
At ATTA, we’re not content to just offer vegan options; we constantly strive to innovate. We believe that food should pop with creativity, and that meat-free is never a limitation.
All that started one day when our Chef Daniel Franco was invited to create a special dinner at a completely-vegan restaurant in another city, where the menu was created on the spot daily, based on which fresh market ingredients were available that morning.
The head chef led him to a kitchen counter piled with brightly-colored heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, mushrooms, aromatic herbs, and exotic fruits, and basically said, “Let’s see what you can do with all this!”
Chef Daniel, always up for a new challenge, says, “I remembered the words of one of my great mentors, Chef Larbi Dahrouch: ‘The most important thing when preparing a dish is to highlight the quality of the ingredients.’”
So, he got to work creating this summer vegan menu, now an inspiration for what he creates at ATTA:
Salad:
An Heirloom Tomato Salad with fresh basil, kalamata olives, and a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.
Main course:
Zucchini and Eggplant Ravioli, where thin slices of zucchini became “pasta,” filled with a mixture of roasted eggplant, garlic, and fresh herbs, served with a tomato and basil sauce, and garnished with crunchy caramelized nuts.
Third course:
Mushroom Risotto, a mix of local mushrooms, including shiitake and portobello, slow cooked with arborio rice in a homemade vegetable broth, topped with grated truffle and truffle oil.
Dessert:
Coconut Pannacotta with a Passionfruit Coulis: creamy and acid, refreshing and just sweet enough.
After he presented the meal to the diners, many of whom were regulars at the restaurant, he was happy to get so many compliments, smiles, and requests for him to come again. That inspired him to dream up more vegan dishes at ATTA, creating a new go-to fine dining restaurant for vegans in Tulum.
Come try all these creations at our cenote-side restaurant tucked away in Tulum’s jungle. Between the amazing food, peaceful atmosphere, and harmonious natural architecture at one of Tulum’s most beautiful resorts, you’ll be glad you came.
