My first thought when I heard that my sister in law was going to get married in Mexico was one of sheer delight, getting to eat Mexican food day in day out for 14 days without having to pay extra for guacamole pretty much swung it for me to book my flight! We were staying in the Yucatan region of Mexico, most notoriously famous for the city of Cancun (America of Mexico), the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean sea, and one of the 7 wonders of the world Chichen Itza. 'Yucatan', is a Yucatec Maya word meaning "I don't understand what you're saying." - which pretty much summed up my street food exploration, when on several occasions i was caught (much to the hilarity of my other half) saying things in French, safe to say Spanish isn’t my forte!

By day 6 we had just about managed to work our way through the 3 a la carte and the 2 buffet (all you can eat) restaurants that our hotel had to offer. We wondered whether we could even find the taste of real Mexican food whilst staying in the heart of this popular Mexican tourist resort. Fortunately for us with some helpful local advice we were on the trail of a street stall park, populated by the locals in the backstreets of Playa del Carmen.

With limited knowledge of Spanish, a backpack on my back and camera in hand we were definitely the minority amongst a flock of local Mexicans going about their usual Tuesday evening. Glancing around there was colour everywhere, flags, brightly lit stalls, and even the plastic plates were bright blue (they cleverly wrapped the plates in plastic sandwich bags - a genius way to limit the amount of washing up, i’ll definitely be recommending this method for Spicery lunches!).

First up we opted for of a mixed meat Tortas: The tortasconsisted of small cubed pieces of chorizo (chorizo seems to be everywhere over here), pork and chicken fried on a hot plate, alongside an oval shaped roll crusty roll.  A thick spread of mayonnaise, slices of fresh avocado, lettuce and tomato. On handing over the tortas we were offered pickled cucumber, radishes and an array of salsas (none of which had labels!). 

We took a punt and decided to try all 3. Without realising the green salsa (it was green habanero salsa) ran onto the bottom of the roll and within seconds i’d lost all function of my mouth. We asked the guy on the stall for some water, he didn’t understand so instead threw me a ruby red looking juice drink in a recycled water bottle. We found out that this was agua de Jamaica, something i’ve had before at Spicery HQ. A slightly tart and refreshing drink made from hibiscus flowers and sweetened with sugar, it certainly helped take the burn away. We threw our sandwich bags in the bin and handed back the plates for them to use on their next customers.

Carnitas Tacos: We wandered by a stall and the picture of the pig on the front obviously swayed us to stop. Carnitasare made by braising pork in lard until tender. It's flavoured with salt, cumin, mexican oregano, marjoram, thyme, bay leaf and crushed garlic. Once the meat is ready (after 3-4 hours) it is chopped up with a cleaver and served on tacos alongside chopped coriander, onion, salsa and guacamole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea what parts of the pig went into this carnitas, but i’m pretty sure they used most of it! The man serving us had a big wooden chopping board where be began chopping a big piece of pork with his cleaver, all the while the corn tortillas were being heated on the griddle. A friendly lady who spoke English helped us and  recommended the best salsa to have with our tacos - salsa verde, we thanked her for her advice and decided to play cautiously and only put a tiny spoon on the side of the tacos. Salsa verde is a green salsa made from tomatillos, chilies and coriander. It was bright, tart and had a right good kick. We added a squeeze of lime and some fresh onion/coriander mix, but it was the pork itself that stole the taco show. So tender and tasty, and you could tell it had been cooked for many a loving hour.

Burritos: When i think of a burritoit conjures up an image of a gigantic filled floured tortilla mainly consisting of rice, beans, meat, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and a whole host of condiments. This is definitely not what we experienced here in Mexico. The freshly made tortilla wrap was filled with marinated spit grilled pork, iceberg lettuce and spread with refried beans. It was then toasted on the griddle until the tortilla was browned and crispy. Luckily for us they cut it in half so we could split it. The man pointed to the array of salads and salsa’s on offer, again without any signs of what was what, i decided to go for the lightest creamy looking sauce (in my head i thought it may have been ceasar salad dressing!). As i poured it on my plate and took a spoon of the cabbage salad after my first bite my lips began to tingle and i realised my error as soon as the man standing by me started laughing. He then told me it went from left to right in terms of heat. I’d obviously chosen the hottest sauce on offer (yet again!), and my reaction made a whole host of customers start chuckling and discussing my faux pas in Spanish. Embarrased i then decided to put some of the milder salsa roja on instead.

Tacos Al Pastor: Soldiering on i continued on the quest. Near enough every stall we passed on our street food adventure had a spit-grill with a rotating chunk of marinated pork slowing being spun around. Basically the Mexican version of a doner kebab! Traditionally the pork is seasoned with spices, mild chilli powder, onions and pineapple.

I don’t think i could have forgiven myself had i missed out on shavings of spit roasted spiced pork. Apparently the adoption of the Shawarma spit-grilled meat was brought by Lebanese immigrants coming to Mexico. Tacos al pastor translates to ‘shepherd style tacos’ no sign of lamb here however. We went to the busiest looking stall, one guy was tending to the spit had the task of slicing off the pork directly onto the tortilla, another man adding  the chopped onion/coriander mix and wedge of lime. These were definitely my favourite of the 3 different tacos we tried. The charred sweet pork was delicious, i wasn’t going to run the risk of ruining it with an unknown salsa! The final taco completely finished me off, but then from the corner of my eye i saw dessert...

Marquesitas: We had spotted these marquesitas bicycle carts when we first came into the town & wondered what they were, a little google search later and we managed to find out that they are a local Yucatan sweet treat. Thin crepes cooked on a waffle iron and filled with Edam cheese and a sweet sauce of your choice. At first i wasn’t sold on the idea, cheese and nutella didn’t really sound like my idea of heaven, but when in Mexico do as the Mexicans do right?!

Marquesitas were the innovation of Don Vicente Mena, an ice cream vendor from Merida. He was in need of  a cold weather treat to entice customers during the winter months when his ice cream sales were low. Traditionally Edam cheese is used in marquesitas. The Dutch cheese seems like an odd choice, but it all began back in the 1800’s when Europeans brought it to the Yucatan peninsular and it’s been here ever since.

The carts serving these are equipped with gas flames that heat the waffle iron press. The stall holder poured the batter that he had premade in a big plastic jug onto the press and closed it shut. After a couple of minutes he then lifted the lid and spread a layer of nutella down the middle (fortunately for us he was out of the cajeta, i later tried this caramel at the hotel, safe to say i only tried it the once!) and then sprinkled the cheese on top. He then rolled it up and handed it to me in a napkin. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was just like eating a crunchy sweet crepe. The residual heat of the crepe melted the cheese a little, making a delicious mix of sweet and slightly salty flavours. If i wasn’t so full i think i could have nailed another.

My white t-shirt really told the true story of our adventure splattered by the different coloured salsas and red stains of hibiscus. I ensured i took far too many photos of all the food we tried in order for us to show off our adventure to the others back at the hotel who were probably tucking into their Italian pasta. We waved goodbye to our little corner of Mexico and headed back to the bright lights of 5th Avenue.