Having suffered through a strict diet for much of this year, a primary purpose of my recent trip to Cozumel was to try out some of the restaurants I'd missed out on over my past trips staying at all-inclusive resorts. I didn't bother to lug my underwater camera rig on this trip but I did have a smartphone with a camera. This is what I ate.
Arrived Saturday morning after a sleepless red-eye from San Francisco, connecting in Houston. Breakfast consisted of a bagel and a couple donut holes in the United Club. I thought I'd be served a real breakfast in first-class, anticipating some egg dish after they passed out chocolate scones. But it turned out the scones were my breakfast. So I arrived on the island tired and hungry.
First stop was Rock 'N Java for fast wifi, strong coffee, and food. By the time I had checked in at Suites Bahia, made a trip to Mega for bottled water and to unsuccessfully get pesos out of the ATM, a trip back to the hotel to read the e-mail from Bank of America warning that my ATM card may have been compromised, assuring B of A that indeed it was me who had unsuccessfully used my ATM card, and a trip back to Mega where the machine finally spit out some cash, I crossed the street to eat.
As it was already lunchtime, I tried the linguine with walnut pesto topped with a fish fillet of the day which turned out to be snapper. The pasta was a bit overcooked for my taste, the pesto more oily than necessary, and the fish slighly underdone, but overall it was a very satisfying meal for my level of hunger and best of all I managed not to splatter any oil on my shirt. The garlic bread was bland, but the steamed veggies were a nice healthy touch to offset the carbs and fat.
Walking around a bit that night, I noticed the rooftop dining at New Especias, just up the street from Bahia. The two diners I spied up there seemed content, so I went in to give it a try. Turns out the "diners" were actually the chef and waiter who vacated the table as soon as I appeared, but since I was dining alone anyway, the solitude at least gave me a break from eavesdropping on others' conversations.
Dinner started with a complimentary piece of bruschetta, just a simple slice of toasted bread topped with chopped tomatoes. It was presented with a swallow's worth of what they called "peach champagne" which I guessed to be a bellini. As I wasn't drinking this trip, I regretfully declined that swallow, but it did look good.
The upstairs setting was very pleasant. I was able to catch a nice breeze off the ocean and watch the people milling about below. It started to drizzle at first, but the waiter and I focused our energies on clearing the clouds and the rain never materialized. In fact, it remained dry my entire trip.
Sticking to my plan of eating only seafood on the trip, I started off with an appetizer of diced calamari served atop sliced polenta in a balsamic reduction. The calamari was tender, if slightly fishy, and I would have appreciated it more had the polenta been grilled a bit, but it was a tasty beginning. Apologies for the blurry photo, it looked fine on my tiny phone screen.
For my main course, I had the tuna tagliata. Three healthy strips of tuna in a nutty crust of toasted white and black sesame seeds that perfectly complemented the tanginess of the tuna and the sweet balsamic glaze. My only regret was that they cooked the tuna a bit too long, it was a pink medium rare instead of rare or raw, but still delicious. The fish was served with a "pasta" of zucchini ribbons, again slightly overcooked but very flavorful and much healthier than real pasta, along with a tomato concasse that went well with the rest of the plate. As I was still working on expanding my diet-shrunken stomach, I passed on dessert.
It was a bit sad to see a restaurant completely empty at 8 pm on Saturday night, especially one with a very capable chef and waitstaff, but I supposed that's one downside to Cozumel's ever expanding dining options: too much competition. I sincerely hope they fare better on other nights.
Arrived Saturday morning after a sleepless red-eye from San Francisco, connecting in Houston. Breakfast consisted of a bagel and a couple donut holes in the United Club. I thought I'd be served a real breakfast in first-class, anticipating some egg dish after they passed out chocolate scones. But it turned out the scones were my breakfast. So I arrived on the island tired and hungry.
First stop was Rock 'N Java for fast wifi, strong coffee, and food. By the time I had checked in at Suites Bahia, made a trip to Mega for bottled water and to unsuccessfully get pesos out of the ATM, a trip back to the hotel to read the e-mail from Bank of America warning that my ATM card may have been compromised, assuring B of A that indeed it was me who had unsuccessfully used my ATM card, and a trip back to Mega where the machine finally spit out some cash, I crossed the street to eat.
As it was already lunchtime, I tried the linguine with walnut pesto topped with a fish fillet of the day which turned out to be snapper. The pasta was a bit overcooked for my taste, the pesto more oily than necessary, and the fish slighly underdone, but overall it was a very satisfying meal for my level of hunger and best of all I managed not to splatter any oil on my shirt. The garlic bread was bland, but the steamed veggies were a nice healthy touch to offset the carbs and fat.
Walking around a bit that night, I noticed the rooftop dining at New Especias, just up the street from Bahia. The two diners I spied up there seemed content, so I went in to give it a try. Turns out the "diners" were actually the chef and waiter who vacated the table as soon as I appeared, but since I was dining alone anyway, the solitude at least gave me a break from eavesdropping on others' conversations.
Dinner started with a complimentary piece of bruschetta, just a simple slice of toasted bread topped with chopped tomatoes. It was presented with a swallow's worth of what they called "peach champagne" which I guessed to be a bellini. As I wasn't drinking this trip, I regretfully declined that swallow, but it did look good.
The upstairs setting was very pleasant. I was able to catch a nice breeze off the ocean and watch the people milling about below. It started to drizzle at first, but the waiter and I focused our energies on clearing the clouds and the rain never materialized. In fact, it remained dry my entire trip.
Sticking to my plan of eating only seafood on the trip, I started off with an appetizer of diced calamari served atop sliced polenta in a balsamic reduction. The calamari was tender, if slightly fishy, and I would have appreciated it more had the polenta been grilled a bit, but it was a tasty beginning. Apologies for the blurry photo, it looked fine on my tiny phone screen.
For my main course, I had the tuna tagliata. Three healthy strips of tuna in a nutty crust of toasted white and black sesame seeds that perfectly complemented the tanginess of the tuna and the sweet balsamic glaze. My only regret was that they cooked the tuna a bit too long, it was a pink medium rare instead of rare or raw, but still delicious. The fish was served with a "pasta" of zucchini ribbons, again slightly overcooked but very flavorful and much healthier than real pasta, along with a tomato concasse that went well with the rest of the plate. As I was still working on expanding my diet-shrunken stomach, I passed on dessert.
It was a bit sad to see a restaurant completely empty at 8 pm on Saturday night, especially one with a very capable chef and waitstaff, but I supposed that's one downside to Cozumel's ever expanding dining options: too much competition. I sincerely hope they fare better on other nights.
