If you have joined Kath and my Facebook page Isla Mujeres’ Food, you will have been asked the question, what is your favourite bite on Isla? Well today I had my favourite bite of this trip so far. Let me tell you about it. 

If you’ve never been to Xaman because it’s a vegan / vegetarian restaurant, and you are not a vegan or vegetarian, you have no idea what you are missing. As many of you that follow my adventures know, I eat at a lot of restaurants on Isla Mujeres. And the food at Xaman is some of my favourite. It totally leaves my head that what I’m eating is vegetarian because the flavour is amazing!

It was wonderful to be welcome by Yadi and Memo the team behind Xaman (pronounced shaa.muhn, like the spiritual healer). This second floor space, located above Caribbean Brisas, has such a great vibe. Murals on the walls pay tribute to symbols of Mayan culture creating a rustic and tribal decor.

I noticed one particular table with two really comfy looking chairs where I can imagine myself sipping a tea and getting lost in a good book for an afternoon. Not far from that table is a lending library where you can pick up a book.

Xaman has just launched a brand new menu and alongside creative new dishes, I was relieved to see my past favourites were still there. We started our afternoon with beverages. I had the pink drink lemonade flavoured with rose petal and dragon fruit. I loved that it was refreshing and full of flavour but not too sweet. My friend had an iced caramel latte that was topped with a froth she described as being like fluffy marshmallow. Keep in mind that Xaman is an alcohol free establishment. 

When it came time to order our food, I kept thinking about the “traditional” croissant breakfast sandwich I had last year. I literally have dreamed about it since then. This year I selected the NY croissant pesto. It’s usually served on a “New York” style round croissant but they were out. Remembering how delicious Yadi’s sour dough croissants were I said I’d be happy to have it on one of those. It did not disappoint. This sandwich was smeared with pesto, topped with mozzarella, tomato, spinach, and a fried egg. The perfect breakfast anytime of the day.

Our second selection was a pulled mushroom bocata baston. Served on a rustic Spanish bread roll, similar to a baguette, it was overflowing with mushrooms cooked in hoisin sauce and topped with pickled radish, carrot, cucumber and cilantro with a kiss of sriracha. It reminded me of a bahn mi sandwich, but like the best bahn mi sandwich I have ever had! This is going to now be the Xaman dish that haunts my dreams and my “best bite” so far this trip. 

We loved the baking so much we had to treat ourselves to a few items to take home. They arrived to our table piping hot, as Yadi just pulled them out of the oven. Talk about fresh. The next day we sampled their very popular almond croissant as well as their parmesan bagel. And of course, I had to have another of the sourdough croissants. How she makes a croissant without butter that tastes better and is more layer and crunchy than a traditional croissant, is sheer magic. 

Back home I have a vegan friend who always has limited choices when our group goes out for dinner. If we had a Xaman in my hometown I’d pick it for us every time. It would give my friend an huge selection of dishes to choose from and we non-veg folks would be delighted with our meals as well. 

Check out the Mapchick app for hours, address and their full menu.

Kath’s quote: “You don’t have to love cooking to cook, but you have to do more than love baking to bake. You have to bake out of love.“-Tom Junod

Love never fails.

Share on Facebook