Cancun Eats

If you missed my last post about my trip to Dreams Cancun, you'll want to catch up here first.

So now that you've seen where we stayed and what we did for a week in Cancun, I bring you the most important aspect of vacation - THE FOOD.  If you know me well, you are very aware that I plan all trips and excursions around food.  I love trying different regional cuisines and am always up for trying something new (except OLIVES - the only food I absolutely hate!).

The resort had 4 main restaurants.  The World Cafe served all 3 meals and was the only restaurant open for breakfast.  It is buffet style and always had a vast array of foods to make a plate from.  Breakfast featured several freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, traditional American fare (eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes), Mexican specialties, and lots of tropical fruits.  After my early morning workouts I was always craving this meal!

Please note the green drink - freshly squeezed juices of apple, spinach, and celery.  Yum!

Exhausted from a hard run.  Time to eat!!

Perfect fruit every morning.

There were a few restaurants open for lunch each day.  We rotated between Oceana, Seaside Grill, and most frequently, World Cafe.  Something about a huge cold salad always hit the spot after spending the morning in the sun.  After lunch I'd grab a cup of ice cream and return to my chair under an umbrella for an afternoon siesta.

I met a man in Cancun - he wanted me to stay forever.  He made us sit in the same area of the restaurant each day so that he could wait on us.

One thing I certainly learned on vacation was that anytime is tequila time in Cancun!  By 10am each morning the beach boys were making rounds and taking orders for frozen drinks.  Something about alcohol before lunch just didn't work for me, but I definitely enjoyed some frozen concoctions while lounging in the afternoon sun.  

Mojitos were my drink of choice.

When early evening rolled around, we headed back to our room to clean up for the night and discuss which restaurant we wanted to check out for dinner.  One thing that is great about all-inclusives is that you never have to worry about researching restaurants and driving to them.  Instead, you can walk right out your door and be just a couple minutes walk from several different options.  We rotated between the four restaurants on the resort property, which included Oceana (seafood), Seaside Grill (meats, seafood), Himitsu (Asian and sushi), and World Cafe (buffet style with a different theme each  night).  One of my favorite meals was the Mexican Fiesta held on the beach and included a performance of many traditional Mexican dances.

Ahi tuna steak, carrot puree, and rice pilaf.

Fantastic oceanfront buffet

Tamales, seafood salad, beans, Mexican fruits, quesadillas, churros, and much more.

Really unique desserts.

While the food was plentiful and there were lots of options, there were a few negatives associated with all-inclusive dining.  First, portion sizes were very tiny.  A shrimp citrus salad, for example, consisted of a single romaine lettuce leaf, 2 orange segments, and 2 shrimp.  The dinner entrees often were plated as the cut of meat or fish without any accompanying starch or vegetable.  The lesson we learned was to build a meal with several courses - soup, salad, entree, dessert.  A second area that was lacking at the resort was snack foods. It never failed that I was hungry at 4:30pm and there were no food options until dinner at 6:30pm.  And finally, dessert was really disappointing.  While there were always lots of fancy looking desserts on the buffet and several options to order, they all tasted very similar - creamy and tasteless.  I was desperately craving a rich chocolate sweet, but despite my best attempts to taste everything with chocolate, they were all very disappointing.

So that, in a nutshell, are my vacation eats for a week.  Overall the food options were pretty impressive and pleased a wide variety of palates.  However, if you were staying more than about 5 days, you would likely become bored with the limited menu options.

With all this talk of food, it's time for my second dinner.  Time to raid the kitchen!