Food

What to eat in Valladolid

This is Yucatecan food country, and Valladolid does it well and cheaply. The regional dishes are the point; don’t waste meals on generic Mexican or tourist pasta.

The dishes to plan around

• Cochinita pibil. Slow-roasted pork with achiote and sour orange, served in tacos, tortas or by the plate. A morning market staple.
• Panuchos and salbutes. Fried tortillas topped with turkey or chicken, pickled onion and avocado. The everyday snack food here.
• Lomitos de Valladolid. A local pork-in-tomato dish specific to this town, worth ordering if you see it.
• Longaniza de Valladolid. The town’s own smoked sausage, grilled and excellent.
• Marquesitas. The crispy rolled crepe with cheese and sweet fillings, from evening carts on the square.

Where to eat

• Mercado Municipal. Breakfast and lunch at the cocina stalls: the best value in town and where the food is most honest. Approximate cost is a few dollars for a full plate.
• Restaurants around the square and on the Calzada de los Frailes. Sit-down Yucatecan places, some in restored courtyards. Nicer setting, higher prices, still reasonable — expect roughly the mid double digits of pesos to low hundreds per dish.
• Street carts in the evening for marquesitas, elotes and antojitos, a dollar or two each.

Prices above are approximate. A local’s tip: eat your big Yucatecan meal at midday, when the cocinas are freshest, and keep the evening light with street food on the square.