In all my years visiting Isla Mujeres (since 2005), I had only had the pleasure of eating at Fenix, one previous time. Here is that post. With their move to Playa Sol and my love of both that location and their food, I was excited to dine again. They had the perfect table reserved for my brother, his wife and I (my husband D was not yet on the island).

The first order of business was to sit back and enjoy an Isla sunset (with all the other folks who think that Fenix’s location is the perfect sunset viewing spot on the island).

Since we are family and well accustomed to sharing our plates and our food, we chose a number of smalls plates. First up were enormous garlic shrimp with toasted baguette. These were perfectly cooked so that the flesh didn’t shrink and become too dense.

We loved the Verde fish ceviche on tostados. Cucumber replaced the typical chopped tomato which made for a sparkling version of one of my favourite island treats. These were particularly “limey” enhanced by plenty of cilantro.

We were so enamored with the goat cheese stuffed red peppers that I attempted to recreate them for a fiesta later in the week. The smokey peppers had been roasted and skinned and then served on crostini. The pungent cheese offset the sweet pepper beautifully.

Coconut shrimp were presented on a skewer which made them easy to eat. Instead of tamarind or salsa these were served alongside a mango chutney. A lovely switch up.

Tempura grouper skewers with wasabi mayo arrived last. Once again the bamboo skewer made them tidier to eat. The tempura batter was absolutely greaseless allowing the subtle tastes of the grouper to shine through.

As we lingered and appreciated the extensive layout of the restaurant, we decided that it would be the perfect spot for a wedding or other special event.

Kath’s quote: “Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?’ ‘Hmm . . . What do you think, Harry?’ said Luna, looking thoughtful. ‘What? Isn’t there just a password?’ ‘Oh no, you’ve got to answer a question,’ said Luna. ‘What if you get it wrong?’‘Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right,’ said Luna. ‘That way you learn, you see?’ ‘Yeah . . . Trouble is, we can’t really afford to wait for anyone else, Luna.’‘No, I see what you mean,’ said Luna seriously. ‘Well then, I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning.’‘Well reasoned,’ said the voice, and the door swung open.” –JK Rowling, Harry Potter

Love never fails.

 

On our final day we were up at 630 am for the sunrise. It did not fail to delight us.

We took one last golf cart scoot into town and back again.

We had arranged to drop off the golf cart at 830 am where we were met by Eduardo who took us to a boat. We were being treated to AGI Tours VIP service. See the link here. It was a lovely ride over with 2 other couples (a Dentist married to a Dermitologist). We had our own van to the airport. Easy Peasy. And just like that we were home.

Kath’s quote: “Wow. I’ve never been a VIP before. I’ve never even been a IP“.Sophie Kinsella

Love never fails.

 

Our last day full day, what will it hold? We made plans as we basked in another gorgeous sunrise.

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We would soon miss “our” Isla home.

D talked me into breakfast out even though I was concerned about eating all the left overs in our fridge. We went to Mango for stuffed poblano and coconut French toast (me). We absolutely love Mango’s.

We took the golf cart there and back. We took some beautiful pics at the church across the street.

We emptied our kitchen and dropped off a bunch of leftover goodies with Hortenzia. Then we spent a couple of hours at the beach, wading in the water, taking some last pictures and reading. D finished his 2^nd book in 2 days.

When we came “home” D confirmed arrangements at Sunset Grill as well as our VIP service in the morning. We sipped Kahlua while our bathing suits and my hair dried.

I wrote all about our dinner at Sunset Grill in this link.

We started watching the exquisite sunset from Sunset Grill

and then carried on from our trusty golf cart.

We walked Hidalgo one last time and treated ourselves to Ferrero Roche gelato for dessert.

Kath’s quote: “It isn’t how much time you spend somewhere that makes it memorable: it’s how you spend the time”. -David Brenner

Love never fails.

 

On our second to last full day, D has walked into town. We are working out some logistics about paying for this year, booking next year and where we want to eat our last meals and see our last glimpses of the sea.

A rare photo of me. I am usually the one holding the camera.

  

We love the Caribbean side of the island. If we were ever able to stay some place long term, it would have to have at least a glimpse of the water.

I especially enjoy looking at this home where you can see the water right through the house.

The colours that Lo Lo painted her home have always been my favourite.

We had a long and lovely cart ride through Colonias so that I could take some last photos and then home for reads, hammock time and amazing left overs from Angelo’s.

Our progressive dinner (we do one every year) commenced early with a booze delivery to Javi’s and sampling their fried asparagus which was fantastic.

Next stop was Mininoes for Camaroon Soup. Also delicious.

The sunset from their second floor was sensational.

From Mininoes we walked into Centro to decide on our next course.

Do I love blue because it is the colour of the Caribbean or because it is the colour of my Love’s eyes?

We enjoyed entrees of fish cakes and drunken noodles with shrimp at Asia Caribe. Unfortunately the light was not complimentary to my photo taking. Suffice it to say, they were delicious to see and eat!

We were too full to sample their amazing desserts but ended sharing churros as we strolled “home” to the airport strip. Our island time was almost at an end.

Kath’s quote: “If you come home as happy as you leave, you have had a good vacation“. -Unknown

Love never fails.

 

Up for another glorious sunrise and then off to pick up Boo and the Frenchman for 8 am. We must have been early because we managed to get them onto the 8 am ferry.

Afterwards we toodled around for breakfast fixings to no avail so we had our yoghurt especiale.

After zooming around the island some more, to see if Bruja was open, we ended up having lunch a Q Brava. Delicious and cheap cubano mixto totas.

In between the day was filled with shelling, reading, napping, etc.

D made amazing pina cooladas for Happy Hour Part 1, then we headed to playa sol for a lengthy sunset with wine.

We may have had a little bit too much to drink for D got his foot stuck between the brake and accelerator of the golf cart. Turns out he was able to pop the cart that we ran into’s headlight back into place without a mark-whew.

We tried Rubens for dinner and when it was closed for a first anniversary party, we ended up at Angelo’s for fruita de mare pizza and pasta (photos were out of focus, I confess).  As I have said before, Angelo’s equals our meals in Italy.  We headed home and tried to watch the Winnipeg Jets’ game but we were too pooped so it was lights out.

Kath’s quote: “Pasta doesn’t make you fat. How much pasta you eat makes you fat”. -Giada De Laurentiis

Love never fails.