If you are considering moving or retiring to Playa del Carmen, you will be delighted to discover the wide variety of restaurant options available, with something new to try every day.
Living near 5th avenue or downtown neighborhoods will allow you to step out and experience the lively restaurant scene in Playa del Carmen.
For ex-pats everywhere, being away from our favorite foods is hard. One day you’ll wake up craving a juicy hamburger, BBQ ribs or chili con carne and lucky for you there is places that offer American and Canadian Style food.
Walk on the beach to get to Wah Wah’s, enjoy the view and their cold drinks while trying their BBQ Chicken or BBQ ribs with all the trimmings, They also offer Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican food as well as brick oven pizza and live music in the evening. Maybe you are looking for the kind of bar where everybody knows your name, with comfort food and an American ambiance, then maybe you should try Mom’s with their weekly changing menus and English speaking staff, you’ll forget you are in Mexico.
If you want to experience the “Real” Mexican food, maybe you can take a stroll on 10th or 30th avenues, with their tacos, tortas and tamales stands as well as a variety of local delicacies: sea food, Yucatecan food and many others.
There is also plenty of options for the Vegan or Vegetarian, most restaurants offer vegetarian options and you will find chefs willing to accommodate your requests. For Vegans one of the most popular spots its “La Senda” on 10th avenue, with its traditional mushroom pozole and many others soups, sandwiches and smoothies completely free of animal products. Fruit juices and Fruit cocktails are a Mexican staple, you will find street vendors selling diced fruit with optional lime and chili powder almost in every local park, so fresh fruit is always a good option.
If you are an Italian food lover like myself, you’ll find that the ever growing Italian community in Playa is always opening new restaurants. Local favorites and both located on 34th street, Al Volo with their homemade pastas and Ciao Pizzeria with their brick oven and delicious pizzas. These restaurants use the freshest ingredients and will charge a fraction of the cost of the restaurants located on 5th avenue.
Playa del Carmen has a growing community of expats from all over the world, this means there is a great variety of restaurants with cuisines from many regions including: Asian, European, Latin American and Mediterranean.
-By Bea Lozano
If you are considering moving or retiring to Mexico, a big part of your new life will be exploring places and finding your own favorites. There is so many choices there is always going to be something new and exciting but little by little you’ll find the spots you can’t live without.