We had the pleasure of sampling guacamole at a few restaurants in Tulum. I have to admit I felt a bit like Tom Haverford who spent more time documenting the food than eating it.

El Pez’s Restaurant

First up, the guac made right outside our door. Chunky and warm. Nice balance. Just the right amount of lime. Nice complement to plain cheese quesadillas. Good and simple, but could use some tomato or onion.

Moka

Chips are glorified cardboard and take away from the taste of the guacamole. Nice and chunky but could use more lime. A bit sweet. It’s good with the garlic bread. The stale chips ruin it though. Can’t get past the lousy chips.

Mateo’s Mexican Grill

Chunky. Em said she couldn’t taste much avocado, which seems odd for guacamole. I thought it had decent balance. May have been negatively biased by the fact that we didn’t get a whole order – this just came as a side to a veggie burrito, which, by the way, was fantastic, but that’s a tangent… The guac was pretty good.

Em made me put in this photo of myself sipping a coconut smoothie at Mateo’s since I used a photo of her in this post…

Piedra Escondida

Sweet and creamy smooth. Could maybe use more lime juice. Served in an exclamation point with lettuce and a molassesy sauce which looked like but didn’t quite taste like mole. The sauce was an interesting take on sweetened guac. Em says it seems a little too rich and creamy. Would maybe like more chunks and cilantro, but definitely more lime juice. Perhaps they are trying too hard with the whole exclamation point thing.

La Malquerida

This was hands-down the best. Chunky and classic. Just the right amount of lime. Nice fresh tomatoes and onions.

Otherwise, this restaurant was fantastic as well. We went twice on our trip. A couple of days earlier, I was inflating the tire of a rented bicycle on the sidewalk across from the restaurant, and the guy who we later realized was the owner stopped to ask if we were all right. That’s why Em wanted to try out the place. One of the nights we were there, the owner was there as well. He went around to every table and chatted a bit with everyone. At one table, he did a magic trick of having a kid tear a napkin and stuff it into his hand – then he produced a whole napkin. He made a napkin rose for us and jokingly gave it to me.

Then, naturally, I gave it to Em because I felt silly holding it.