The Hartwood maintains its quality and unique atmosphere after its first years of operations. In my last visit 3 weeks ago, despite heavy tropical rains, the restaurant was open and its staff as smiley as ever.

And the crowd was always the same, locals from the hotel industry, tourists from Coqui Coqui hotel across the beach road and Newyorkers following Eric Werner’s trail from Brooklyn.

I had the usual watermelon & rum refreshing cocktail, that opened my carnivorous appetite to enjoy one of the best pork racks I’ve ever had. The pork is cooked in the wood oven for many hours, with the heat of the ashes left when the oven is turned off in the evenings. It is slowly cooked the whole night, and then served the following day. The meat is coated with agave pencas (the plant of which tequila is made) to prevent it from burning too much, giving it a unique flavor. Married the pork with a powerful and price balanced LA Cetto Nebbiolo, one of the best mexican wines in the mid-priced range.

I’ll be back again this week, I’m lucky enough to be in Tulum again…