Cancun local food

Dining Tips

The Check Please: It is considered quite rude for a waiter to bring the check before asked. Simply say "la cuenta por favor" or make the international scribbling on your hand sign to get the bill when you are ready. Tipping: Leave a minimum of 15% for satisfactory service, or more for exceptional service, but make sure the tip hasn't already been added to the bill. In Spanish, the word for "tip" is "propina" and may appear that way on the tab. Your tab may also say "servicio." Hours to Eat: Breakfast usually starts around 10, lunch at 1 (the main meal of the day) and dinner around 9 or even later. Eating earlier at tourist restaurants is not a problem since they start serving breakfast at 8 or 9, but if you show up at a truly local place for lunch at noon, you will find that nothing is ready yet. For budget food, follow the locals and make for the markets. The biggest in Cancun is Mercado 28 , close to downtown's main post office at the western end of Av Sunyaxchen. There are plenty of food stalls and tiny cheap restaurants here. The other market in Cancun, Mercado 23 , is much smaller but makes a relatively peaceful venue for a decent Mexican lunch. From the bus station, walk a few blocks north along Tulum and then turn down Flamboyan or Cerdo. Further along, at the junction of Tulum and Lopez Portillo, is a small plaza, complete with fountain, at the edge of another market. The little café here are packed with Mexican families. Yucatan cooking has gained a reputation as one of the finest in all of Mexico with a combination of Mayan and European ingredients, a tasty byproduct of the Spanish Conquest. Dishes include the famous cochinita pibil (suckling pig baked in banana leaves with a rich annatto sauce) papadzules (tortillas stuffed with boiled eggs in a pumpkin seed sauce) and panuchos, (tortillas with fried black beans, chicken and pickled onions).