Isla Mujeres, Mexico Means GOOD Eats: Gelato and Mango Cafe

For such a small island (less than 5 miles in length and pretty much a stones throw in width), Isla Mujeres, Mexico has some amazing restaurants, street food and ice cream at really reasonable prices.  Your selection is big.  With over 1 million tourists coming onto the island each year, a place is going to need a ton of eateries.   Though there for just a day and a half, I saw a ton of creativity and I ate lots of delicious food.

I arrived on the Cancun to Isla Mujeres ferry at about 5pm Tuesday night and was scheduled to be on a 2pm Thursday afternoon flight out of Cancun airport.  Let’s get eating.

When I’m travelling, I love to focus on breakfast and lunch.  Dinner is generally expensive…and when I do go out for big main meal, I usually just get appetizers and dessert. They are always the two very best parts of the meal anyway.

So…for my first dinner I had a giant Ferrero Rocher gelato in a chocolate waffle cone.  Divine.  The next day I had to work some pistachio into my agenda.

My first breakfast was “mid-island” at a super cute spot called Mango Cafe.  Not only is it #1 on the much feared, controversial TripAdvisor.com but it had been recommended to me by quite a few people.

I walked in right past the “smoking chair”…

and into this SUPER cute, shabby Mexican chic place.

I like just about everything this wall has to tell me.  I ordered a orange-mango juice.

And did some perusing.Mmmmmm…must try the coconut french toast.  World Famous.

And it deserves the name.  No crust, crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, stuffed with lots of fresh coconut and my favorite part?  The almonds.  Added a really good crunch.

Other things I especially enjoyed about the restaurant:  a bottom-less help yourself coffee pot/sugar station, good Wi-Fi with the password right at your table AND lots of utensils right on your table.  Avoids three annoying restaurant situations:  tracking down the busy server for more coffee, the internet password (you don’t want to be THAT guy) and an extra fork.

I definitely recommend this spot for the ambience and the delicious food.  I’d tell you all about the super cute owner Polo if only I could.  I wasn’t in town long enough to meet him.  For that bit of investigative work there is always next time.

And there will be a next time…I NEED to get back there for lunch.  Apparently the food is amazing and the dessert called The Mango Toast and Cream (listed on the board above) is one slice of this yummy french toast with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  Right up my alley…