Two days in Merida for Mexican Independence Day felt like a full week of vacation. The trip is going to need 3 posts: 1 in "Hotels I Like," 1 about the town, and this one: one about the food.
Out of three meals purchased in Merida, two were at the same restaurant: Amaro in the Centro Historico. Billed as a vegetarian restaurant (and with delicious veggie options like Zucchini Cream Soup), they also had many Yucatan regional meat dishes. The restaurant is in a lovely open courtyard shaded by a large tree. There is local art on display, there are live performances most nights, the service was amazing, and they are open all day (many of the restaurants closed for a few hours in late afternoon and re-opened for dinner at 6. I personally like a nice late lunch/early dinner combo around 4ish when I'm traveling, so Amaro was a perfect choice for me).
One of the best dishes was an appetizer called Paunchas. Each pauncha was two corn tortillas stuffed with black beans, fried, and topped with lettuce, shredded chicken, pickled onions, cucumber and avacado.
This is a super-duper delicious close-up.
I also really enjoyed the cochinita pibil - juicy/spicy pork cooked in a banana leaf. It reminded me of the food in Bali (shredded pork on banana leaf) but with a completely different flavor profile: spicy and sour notes that hit the center of your palate as you eat them wrapped in warm flour tortillas with pickled onions, beans, jalepeno, and lettuce.
For dessert - Crepes with Dolce de Leche made with local goat's milk and sprinkled with toasted oats for texture.
Almost too sweet, but with just the right touch of sour to balance the caramelliness.
Other than meals at Amaro, I also had:
MORE CHILEQUILES!
Since it was a weekend filled with Mexican Independence celebrations, there was a large street fair with tons of street food.
Beautiful, sugary Churros...
weird chopped-up hot-dogs with lime and french fries...
and men carrying baskets of chips and popcorn on their shoulders...
I could say many things about Merida, but to sum it up in one word:
tummy-wonderful!
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