Typical food of Costa Mujeres – Cancun

The intense flavor of Mexico reflected in the traditional cuisine of Costa Mujeres

Costa Mujeres offers an extraordinary culinary experience by fusing the flavors of Mexican cuisine with all its regional variants. Furthermore, in the hotel zone there are restaurants offering an extraordinary number of international options.

Excellent customer service is combined with a dream setting: palapas facing the sea, terraces with views or restaurants with lively music, traditional shows, mariachis and jaraneros. Many of these are rated the best by specialist travel magazines and have received distinctions from the Michelin Guide and the AAA (American Automobile Association).

In this guide, we show you a selection of the most popular dishes in Cancun, those that you cannot miss if you want to discover the flavors, colors and aromas of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Cochinita pibil: the star dish

It’s undoubtedly the most iconic dish of traditional Yucatecan cuisine and the one that has transcended the most internationally. It’s of pre-Hispanic origin and is cooked in a “pib”, a stone oven. Its preparation has evolved to become a mestizo dish that consists of pork marinated with annatto paste, spices and lime. It’s usually served in tacos and eaten with your hands.

Tikin-Xic Fish

Tikin-Xic style fish is a traditional recipe of pre-Hispanic origin that is prepared with grouper. The fish is marinated in a sauce of annatto, sour orange juice and a mixture of local spices. It is then placed on a bed of banana leaves and cooked in a wood-fired oven. A delicacy that will conquer any palate!

Panuchos

The delights of popular Mexican cuisine include Yucatan panuchos, which are small corn tortillas filled with stewed beans and then fried in oil or pork fat. Legend has it that this recipe comes from the mid-19th century, when Don Hucho, who ran a street food stand, prepared a bread filled with beans and eggs that travelers called "Don Hucho's bread." As time went by, the bread was changed to a corn tortilla and the recipe became popular under the name “panucho”.

Yucatecan lime soup

This is a traditional dish of the Yucatan Peninsula. It’s called this because the soup's main topping is sour lime, a local variety of lime that gives it a unique flavor. The soup also contains chicken or turkey, cilantro, cloves, cumin... It’s usually served with strips of corn tortillas that you dunk in the broth. The dish is suitable for eating for both lunch and dinner.

Marquesitas

Marquesitas are popular throughout the state of Yucatan. They’re rolled crepes filled with Edam cheese, or condensed milk, jam, pastry cream or chocolate. They are very typically found in street food stalls in plazas and parks.

Xtabentún

On top of its vast cultural and gastronomic legacy, Mayan culture has left us with a selection of ancestral drinks and liqueurs from the very innards of Mexico. One of these elixirs is the legendary Xtabentún, a sweet liqueurs made with anise and the honey of the bees that pollinate the Xtabentún flower. It can be drunk on its own as a digestive or added to more elaborate cocktails.

Michelada

This excellent Mexican drink combines three ingredients that make it irresistible on a hot day: the freshness of ice cold beer, the acidity of lime, and the spice of Tabasco. The most traditional and authentic version is made with lager, lime juice, hot sauce (Tabasco, Sriracha or Tapatio), Worcestershire sauce and finished with salt and a slice of lime. A perfect drink for days on the beach!