Being Vegan in Tulum – Mexico

Tulum seems very hipster, just walking to our hostel we passed an organic whole food shop, and a vegan restaurant that is right opposite our hostel – so I think we will be in luck and not go with out choice for food!

HOWEVER, we are here for 8 days, so we really do need to make some of our own food, which we can do as there is a kitchen, fridge, hob and best of all a freezer to keep water in – not having to buy cold water is a dream… I am so easily pleased.

It turns out that Tulum is like the most vegan place ever, there is a place to eat on every corner, and even vegan street food carts!!!

Pizza Papi

We came here on our first night, and we had said that we really fancied some pasta, and then as luck would have it, there is a vegan pizza and pasta place 7 minutes away! We had a look on the menu and set our sights (stomachs) on Spaghetti Bolognese. We arrived and it was a cute little venue, with an outside seating area, and plenty of lovely plants. We discussed that we would get a pasta and a pizza and then share half and half – I am loving being able to share food like this!

To our dismay they didn’t have the Spag Bol, so we went for a mint, basil and pesto pasta and a tomato pizza with Italian Sausage. OH and we splashed out and got the “Caponata” for starters (roasted aubergine, red peppers, pine nuts, raisons, basil and served with grilled focaccia”.

All the food was LUSH – I was sad as I filled up on starter, that after my pasta half. I could only manage 1 slice of pizza! Luckily we took it home in a box. The food and two beers came to 460 pesos (£19.05 so a tenner each for all that!). On the receipt it said “suggested tip 70 pesos” – Hollie and I thought this seemed a bit cheeky, and as we need to make out money last as long as possible … we have a lot of other countries to visit, we put 500 pesos in, and planned to leave the 40 pesos in change as the tip…but they never bought the change back! Cheeeky cheeky – so this place gets a 7/10 because the food was devine, and it is all vegan, and they have a great selection, but we just didn’t appreciate the tip assumption.

Suculenta Tamaleria

This place had a lovely homely feel to it, probably mostly because someone’s house was next to the garden and it looks like this is where the owner lives! We sat in a garden area with bunting and greenery. We got a Fruit Water to drink which was guav and cinnamon, it was very refreshing, despite my worry about the cinnamon. There were so many options on the menu, it was hard to choose! The soup looked super healthy so we both opted for this for starters. MY WORD it was lovely. It felt so good for my body and was super tasty!

For mains I had a Tamale -which is a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a banana leaf. It came with some sauce and onions, which was very much needed, as it was chunk of dense food for sure! I wasn’t really sure what to expect, it had that prominent taste of corn with a hint of spice. I got too full to finish it. Hollie had a burrito and salad which looked very nice indeed! We treated ourselves to a brownie for later. which was divine and such a luxury!

I give this place an 9/10 because there were a lot of options, and the owner was lovely and very trusting when the wifi didn’t work for the card reader and she didn’t take my card as a deposit until I returned with the cash. The food also came out really quickly too!

Bonita Burger

We went here with 2 other hostel friends, who said they had been trying to go, and not been successful yet. It wasn’t a strictly vegan place, but it had a selection of vegan burgers, a cheese cake and cauliflower bites. However. when we got there the menu was smaller than online, and didn’t have the bites or the cheese cake! There were 3 vegan burgers to choose from, so we chose the chorizo one. as to avoid a mushy lentil burger full of disappointment. We got a combo deal so added garlic chips and a beer for 245 pesos – so this worked out at like £10 – okay a beer included makes up for the price, but the burger wasn’t fake chorizo meat style as expected and the chip advisor rating was 4/10 – they were hard, and the garlic was lovely, but it didn’t cover them all. Eliza who we went with got sweet potato chips, which we think was like Yukka, and to make it sweet they were coated in maple syrup!!!

Overall we could have done with out going to this place, it was the most disappointing meal yet and the most expensive. I rate it 3/10 because I feel like I could have spent those pesos in a much yummier place!

Che Hostel

So there isn’t actually any vegan options here, which is surprising because there is SOOOO many vegan places in Tolum. They have chips on the menu with cheese, onion and bacon. I ordered the chips and asked for just onion. The lady came over later to ask cheese and onion, and we clarified no, just onion. The chips came out covered in cheese, and she said they didn’t have any onion! We told her that we can’t eat cheese. She returned with a very sad plate of chips (sad because very small portion). I love a home cooked chip, but these were under done. I ate them all still anyway, it takes a lot for me to not eat something, but these chips were filled with regret because I had paid 100 pesos (£4.16 – basically 50p per chip), andddd we were still charged the full amount despite not having bacon, onion or cheese. Chip advisor rating 1/10.

Laylo Vegan Lounge

We came here for breakfast, and had seen fried tofu on toast, which is what I reallllly wanted, but they didn’t have this. So I opted for something bready, I didn’t realise I was basically ordering a burger! We also got a huge surprise in that if you order ‘cauliflower’ – YOU LITERALLY GET A WHOLE CAULIFLOWER. I cannot express how much hysteria this caused. It also comes with a lovely pesto dip and bread, which is kind of random. They have a lot of options, I got a brioche bun, beet burger with guacamole. This place gets a good rating because when asked “do you want chips or fries with that” and because I love chips but also want to be healthy, it took me a minute to think about it, so the waiter was helpful and suggested ” 50/50″ … okay maybe that isn’t so revolutionary, but to have both was great. Chip Advisor rating is a 6/10 and the place gets an overall 6/10 as it is expensive, but they do have a lot of choice, and lush drinks.

La Cordobesia

I don’t think I can fairly comment on this place as we went here after a day of drinking and I only remember eating the pizza because it had mash potato on, so it was kind of weird. It also had a slice of pepper and pepper… I think. They have other food too – I can’t rate because I can’t remember, but I’m happy that there is vegan street food, but not so happy about mashed potato on a pizza.

Bo Laundry

So this place is a launderette, with a cafe, alochol and vegan ice cream! I think they have a vegan menu and options for vegan coffee … but we just went for the ice cream. We had Kinder Beueno on a stick and Oreo in a tub, it was so so good!!! Sadly we went back the next day and they didn’t have it, but we did get Oreo and Mint choc chip on a stick. The fact they were nearly out shows how popular they are – the ice cream was 10/10 – couldn’t beat it!!! And you can get your washing done as well.. what more do you need aye!