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A Taste Of Mayan Cuisine In Playa Del Carmen
On Playa del Carmen's main drag, you have a world of cuisines at your feet. Falafel? You've got it. Bagels? Right around the corner. Cuban bars, French patisseries, Italian pizzerias ... the tourist districts of Mexico's Mayan Riviera certainly don't lack for international options.
But authentic Mexican food? Well, that's a different story.
I arrived in Playa after a multi-hour journey filled with layovers and bus transfers. My body was tired and my stomach was empty. I was hungry, but not just for food; I craved the tastes of Mexico, preferably paired with radish, lime and an ice cold Dos Equis.
Instead, I found Subway and Starbucks. About 20 minutes into the food hunt, I was about to throw in the towel and settle for a slice of pizza. But then, my nose caught a whiff of warmth and spice. There, on the corner of Avenida 5 and Calle 22, was exactly what I'd been looking for – Yaxche, a small but sophisticated spot promising a "journey into Mayan flavors."
Before the Spaniards introduced their preferences, the people of the Yucatan peninsula subsisted on a staple diet of maize, squash, beans and chili peppers. Today, it's rare to find traditional Mayan dishes in the over-touristed resort towns of the peninsula. But a culinary revival is afoot, with Yaxche at the forefront of efforts to rescue and preserve ancient Mayan cuisine.
The restaurant menu looked foreign, and not just because my Spanish was rusty. The majority of dishes are indigenous to the region, with names unfamiliar to my Western eyes and unpronounceable by my Western lips. I was intrigued by a section titled "Grandma's Favorites," as grandmothers tend to know their stuff.
I settled on a sampler of her suggestions, which promised a "journey into Mayan flavors." There was Tsotolbilchay, a Mayan-style tamale filled with a spinach-like green called chaya, boiled eggs and pumpkin seeds, wrapped in a plantain leaf and covered in tomato sauce; Pibxcatic, an eye-wateringly spicy dish of grilled Xcatic peppers filled with slow-roasted pork; Papadzul, a type of egg taco covered with pumpkin seed sauce and epazote spice; Shrimp Panucho, another taco contraption, this time with refried black beans, shredded turkey, avocado, onions and perfectly grilled shrimp; and Tsic, a ceviche variation of shrimp and fish marinated in sour orange juice, Xcatic pepper and coriander.
"Mmmmmhh!!" read the menu after the Tsic description. "Mmmmmhh!!" was right. Each mouthful unlocked new, exotic tastes: the burning spice of the Xcatic pepper, the slight bitterness of the chaya leaf, the smoky sweetness of the pumpkin seeds. Yaxche wasn't the 10-peso fish taco stand I had pictured, but it certainly served my craving for a taste of authenticity in an otherwise manufactured corner of Mexico.
Yaxche is located at the corner of Avenida 5 and Calle 22 in downtown Playa del Carmen. The "Moloch" sampler costs 205 Mexican Pesos (about US$15).
Filed under: Food and Drink, North America, Mexico
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ron Powell Jul 5th 2012 2:36PM
Well, as someone who lives in Playa part of the year, I'm surprised you didn't walk a few blocks off Fifth Ave. If you had, you would have found many "authentic" Mexican restaurants. Playa is an international tourist site, so you can find almost any cuisine you want in the three or four blocks off the water. Once you get to 30th Ave heading west, there is almost nothing BUT "authentic" Mexican food.
Next time, don't act like a cruise ship tourist on a day trip from Cozumel. Walk a few blocks off the tourist zone. It's very safe and you'll find enough "authentic" Mexican eateries to fill a book.
jmarati08 Jul 5th 2012 2:40PM
Thanks for your comment, Ron! The following day, we actually ventured further toward Avenida 30 and spent the rest of our stay frequenting those eateries, as well as the amazing empanada stand set up in the mornings on the corner of Calle 38 and 25th. The food was pretty great, but I decided to focus on the experience at Yaxche because it was something I didn't expect to find in "cruise ship zone," and it featured a type of Mexican cuisine that I had never encountered.