Our Favorite Local Dishes, Restaurants, and Ingredients
Besides our white-sand beaches and mystical Maya ruins, Tulum is also home to great local food—from authentic tacos to incredible fine dining.
Here, we’ll tell you the best dishes and restaurants to try while you’re here, plus spill the beans on our most unusual local ingredients.
The Best Local Dishes and Drinks You Need to Try
Gastronomy in Tulum is eclectic. You’ll find Greek, Argentinean, Korean, and Vegan cuisine alongside our typical local food.
But what makes our foodie scene truly special is our own local recipes—some of them thousands of years old.
Here’s a few of the best, most interesting local foods to try in Tulum:
Pozol: A Fermented Corn and Cacao Drink
In ancient times, Maya people fermented corn dough and mixed it with water and cacao to make a tasty drink called Pozol. Nowadays in Tulum, you can buy delicious cold Pozol from street carts, either with cacao or coconut. (Look for vendors driving/pedaling around in the Centro.)
You can choose how sweet you want it, as the vendor will add some clear syrup:
“sin jarabe” (no sweetener)
“no muy dulce” (not very sweet)
“dulce, por favor” (sweet, please)
(Just don’t confuse it with pozole, an Aztec soup with giant corn kernels, common all over Mexico!)
Sikil Pak Pumpkin Seed Dip
Think of this as Maya hummus. It’s pumpkin seeds ground into a fine paste with tomatoes and chiles. Try it with corn or yuca chips, yummm.
Cochinita Made in a Pib
Our region’s classic slow-roasted pork dish tastes best when it’s been made in a Pib—a traditional Maya underground oven covered in banana leaves.
With the tasty flavor of red achiote and sour orange, you can’t go wrong! Try it at Taqueria Honorio (more about them below).
Anything With Chaya
This green Maya superfood leaf grows on a bush in many people’s backyards and is used here in everything from soup to lemonade.
It’s supposed to do everything from cleaning the blood to keeping your vision sharp. Try it and see…
Aguas Frescas and Smoothies Made With Local Tropical Fruit
One fun thing to do when you visit Tulum is head to a market and try some fruit you’ve never seen before! Top on our list are:
creamy, bright orange mamey (tastes like flan)
gelly zapote negro (a flavor halfway between chocolate and figs)
milky purple caimito
bright pink pitaya (dragonfruit, if you’re in Asia)
Around Tulum you can find traditional aguas frescas made with pitaya, watermelon (sandia), passionfruit (maracuya), and even barley (cebada).
Or whip up your own smoothie with coconut milk and mamey, guanabana or avocado.
Tulum’s Best Local Restaurants from Humble to Haute
Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you can find great food at Tulum restaurants, but you can also find overpriced, bland, tourist-trap fare. Let us steer you right with these four choice spots:
Taqueria Honorio: Breakfast and Lunch That Can’t Miss
Yes, tacos for breakfast! It’s normal in Mexico and once you try Taqueria Honorio’s bangin’ cochinita tacos with a sweet agua fresca, you’ll understand why!
Lunch is great here as well. Try the pok chuk or relleno negro tacos or tortas, and have a little patience: lunchtime is rush hour at this local hotspot. It’ll be worth the wait. Soon enough, you’ll taste taco heaven at amazing prices.
Taqueria Honorio is open 6:30 am – 3 pm at Satelite Sur 19 in Tulum’s Centro (Closed Tuesdays).
Tulum’s Best Fine-Dining Dinner: ATTA Cenote Restaurant
There are many great restaurants in Tulum, but this one is truly special: you’ll find not only creative, beautiful dishes, but also a large, bright blue luxury cenote right there on site.
Book a day pass and hang out at the cenote all afternoon (the pass includes an artisanal cocktail, a welcome kit, and a space on the super-nice wooden cenote deck).
Then reserve dinner and find a treat for all 5 senses at ATTA, with our unusual “Cocina Libre” cuisine (Cocina libre = liberated kitchen, which means fresh local ingredients remixed into new, creative recipes).
It’s the best date night in Tulum, not to mention the most beautiful spot once the lights come on and sparkle over the cenote under the stars.
ATTA Cenote Restaurant is open 8 am to 10:30 pm inside Shibari Tulum Hotel, in the jungle just off the Beach Road. Make reservations here.
Tulum’s Best Desserts
Before having drinks in town, stop at local fave Panna e Cioccolato for a huge variety of gelatos made with fresh local ingredients. (Corn on the cob flavor, or cacao and chile flavor, anyone?)
Or hit up Churros La Lupita, a local churros stand that regularly gets reviewed as “the best churros I’ve tasted in my life!” Try them with chocolate sauce or dulce de leche.
Panna e Cioccolato is open daily 10 am – 11 pm on Tulum Centro’s main road, near Calle Centauro Sur
Churros La Lupita is open 6 pm to 10:30 pm on Avenida Satélite near Calle Polar Poniente (Closed Sundays).
Tulum Local Cuisine’s Staple Ingredients
Once you’ve tried some of our local cuisine, here’s a quick guide to the colorful ingredients that make it so tasty:
Achiote:
This bright red seed (annato in English) grows in a fuzzy, prickly strawberry-shaped fruit on the Bixa Orellana tree.
It’s used in tons of local foods to give them that rich red color and a pop of nutrients. In ancient times, the Maya also used it to make bright red cacao drinks and red body paint.
Sour Oranges:
Most Tulum chefs can’t live without our region’s bumpy, tangy sour oranges—they are literally in half our foods, from cochinita pibil to garlic marinades. Bonus: sour oranges are extra high in Vitamin C and compounds that may ward off cancer.
Xtabentun liquor:
Ancestral Maya liquor made with anise and honey from the Xtabentun flower.
Xcatic Chiles:
Our long neon green/yellow chiles, used in Maya cuisine for millennia. Medium to mega spicy. Say it “Ish ka tik”.
Hoja santa (Holy leaf):
With a fennel-licorice-spinach taste, these big heart-shaped leaves grow in patios everywhere and are used in sauces or to wrap tamales.
Red onions:
Every Yucatecan dish can be topped with these purply-pink chopped onions. Try them pickled with Xcatik chiles on top of…well, almost anything!
Creating Our Local Food At Home
Want to learn to cook with these ingredients? We highly recommend a cooking class with Lina’s Mexican Kitchen. Depending on the package you choose, you can learn to make everything from tacos and salsas to full on 4-course meals with homemade aguas frescas.
That way, you can take a taste of Tulum home with you!
Whether you are craving something spicy or sweet, we invite you to Shibari Tulum Hotel and ATTA Cenote Restaurant to try Tulum’s best gastronomy.
Come to where luxury meets authentic Maya culture and nature, and enjoy your best trip ever. We’re setting the table for you right now! See you soon…
