The Royal Cancun Resort Food and Wine Review: Tom’s Foodie Blog Goes on Vacation

13 Jun

This post is a special focus of the food provided by the all-inclusive resort “The Royal Cancun” in Cancun, Mexico. I stayed here during my recent vacation and decided to take my food blog on the road to the always beautiful and tasty Cancun, Mexico. I decided to blog from vacation because I was really enjoying the food at my resort, so I started taking pictures of each dish I ate, sometimes to the frowns of my wife. This blog post is purely about my gastronomical experience at the “The Royal Cancun”. My other blog posting at tandsbucketlist.wordpress.com will give you more of a feel for the resort itself and our vacation.

View of The Royal Cancun Resort taken poolside

Overall, The Royal Cancun provides high-end gourmet food with fresh ingredients, high-end cooking methods and great tasting dishes. The resort is all-inclusive so I ate a lot, plus the good food made it easy. The resort featured four restaurants and several special event food events that I will mention as well. The main restaurants are” Maria-Marie”, a Mexican-French fusion restaurant that is the crown-jewel of their restaurant featuring the best dishes and most high-end ingredients. ”Pelicanos” is an outdoor & beachfront restaurants that features mostly fresh seafood dishes. “Asiana” is a combination Japanese Tepanayaki, Sushi and Pan-Asain restaurant. “Spice” is a buffet featuring a nice selection of cold, hot and made to order dishes. Then of course there is one of our favorites, room service.

Pelicanos

Located adjacent to the pool and just above the beach. This is an open air restaurant shaped ”in the round” affording views of the beach, pool and hotel. The food is mostly seafood, but has other dishes as well such as a nice selection of steaks and chicken. I always order seafood here, as I have never been disappointed by the preparation and freshness.

Octopus in cocktail sauce and garnished with avocado. The octopus was tender, the sauce was good, but I would prefer a little more spiciness to this sweet sauce.

Sea Bass wrapped in julianed vegetables and served with vegetables and diced fruit. It was cooked in a white wine and butter sauce, which really complimented the delicate flavors of the sea bass.

Scallops in a feta and kalamata olive sauce. The scallops were infused with the sauce's sweet and pungent flavors. The Feta was emulsified into the sauce. Good overall presentation.

Mexican Cheese Pizza - Typically we found that Mexican cheese doesn't have powerful flavors like those from the U.S. or Europe, but on the pizza the 3 types of cheeses made for an international spin on the flavors.

Red Snapper Carpacio - Very fresh and marinated in a Habanero oil and line juice. I ate half of it before I could take a pictures, sorry about that.

Salmon Tostada - Great flavors of roasted salmon on fried tortilla squares and garnished with carrots, avocados and creme

Fried Octopus with Tomato Sauce (one of the best dishes on the vacation)

Butterfield Coconut Shrimp with mashes potatoes

“Maria-Marie”- A Mexican-French Fusion Restaurant

"Deer Chop" - Juicy and tender in a nice demi glaze. Cooked medium-rare per my order. Very tender and Very flavorful, the demi glaze sauce complimented the venison nicely.

Carpacio Trio (Tuna, Red Nicoise, Beef). This was a fun dish. All the meats were fresh and had no fears about eating raw meat and seafood from this resort. It was garnished with a Habanero vinaigrette. Although it was not spicy, just flavorful. Red Snapper is very good in this part of mexico.

The Amuse Bouche - Salmon , Tomato and cilantro Crostini

Monkfish Wrap around vegetables and topped with crispy fried spinach. Served with gratin potatoes, rice custard and vegetables. Good nice, served in a small portion. I ordered this with the Venison.

Coconut Shrimp with Lobster Butter-Cream Sauce. Topped with crispy fried spinach. This was Daniele's favorite dish, as the flavors of the lobster butter really enhanced the sweetness of the coconut shrimp. The shrimps were fried and just crispy on the tongue and a nice crispness.

Chataeubriand for Two and topped with mushroom sauce (this is just one side). Very Tender and full of flavor. I would pay $40 for this dish back home.

Mexican Ratatouille - Deconstructed on the place by me and served with fire roasted vegetables. The Goat Cheese cheese topping coupled with the fire roasted vegetables came together nicely. East mouthful was a little different depending on the vegetables you picked up with your fork.

Cooking Class

The cooking class is another inclusive benefit of the resort. They dress you up in a chef’s outfit and then provide instructions on how to create a meal from scratch. Taught/Supervised by the head chef and facilitated/translated by the activities coordinator Alex. The dishes we learned to make was a Nicoise salad, salmon with a butter and wine and lime sauce , an innovative technique for making chocolate bowls for ice cream, crepes. I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who like to cook or just wants to watch and eat a meal to order.You will learn recipes, techniques and plating presentation ideas. Best part of the cooking class is that you eat what you cook….I impressed myself.

Tom participates in the cooking class by emulsifying the Salad Vinaigrette

Nicoise Salad - Cut greens, tomato, hard-boiled eggs and seared tuna. Easy to make!

Tom taking lessons from the chef and Alex on safe food handling techniques and marination of salmon.

Assembling the plates

Salmon marinated in lime, white wine, olive oil, crushed Garlic and Topped with a butter, white wine, onion and celery sauce. Served with a side of garlic-butter mash. Amazing dish but dieters need not apply.

Creating chocolate bowls by dipping balloons in chocolate and freezing.

Pop the balloon to create a bowl

Dessert - Mexican Crepes with Ice Cream in the Balloon made Chocolate Bowls

Spice Buffet

The spice buffet is a high-end buffet in the resort that has options for everyone from vegetarians to carnivores. I am more of the later, so obviously I took pictures of the things I likes. We only frequented spice for breakfast or lunch, so I can’t speak to the dinner menu. But we usually rolled in at 11:00 after a late night and were greeted with whatever drinks we liked, we usually got Mimosas and coffee. The buffet is aligned in 4 main sections, Hot Dishes, Cold Dishes, Soups and Deserts. The hot dishes section included two make to order sections. In the morning there is an omelete bar, but which turns into a made to order hamburger bar with grilled to order toppings. To the right is the meat carving station, the day we went featured a giant carnal cut of T-Bone. It was cook rare, but the chef actually cooks it to order on the spot in front of you. I got mine medium-rare and it was delicious! The same station also features ,made to order grilled shrimp with your choice of vegetable mix-ins and cooked in wine and butter mixture. Down the hot line is about 8-10 hot dishes including fish, beef, chicken, potatoes, vegetables and shellfish..and some yummy fried mystery balls. The Cold dishes featured salads, fruits, cured meats, cold cuts, smoked fish, seafood salads and colossal chilled shrimp and cocktail sauce. The soups were usually regional mexican soups from albodigas to a sweet corn chowder with cilantro. The deserts were bite sized and always fantastic.

Hot Dishes and Whole T-Bone Steak Side awaiting custom cut and cooked to order

T-Bone Steak to order and grilled shrimp with your choice of mix ins

Assorted Hot Dishes- Ranging from vegetables, to seafood to meat. Something for every diet.

Cold Dishes from giant cocktail shrimp, seafood salads, fruit, cured meats and cold cuts, salads

Room Service Meals

The room service is generally very good, especially the breakfast items. The room service staff will bring the food into your room and set it up on the table in your room, complete with a flower and a smile. If you prefer privacy there is a ”Magic Box” that the room service attendant can pass the food to your room through a cubby hole in the wall with a door inside the room and a door outside the room. The Magic Box is perfect if your room is messy or dining naked. The dishes at room service are smaller than the overloaded North American style, but this is good because it affords you the ability to order more than one dish or even order some sides. The dishes on the room service menu can be confusing as to what you are actually going to get with names like Abelina eggs, blind pot and Caballo Eggs. The dishes always have a description, but it is not until you actually receive the dish is when you go…..”Ohhhhh thats what that is” in a pleasantly surprised way. I had a couple of favorite dishes including the smoked salmon omelette with cream cheese, caballo eggs (eggs to order with a piece of flank steak and the “blind pot” which is eggs with Machaca, herbs and cream cheese (really good). Of source every day with ordered breakfast with a big plate of bread…just in case we didn’t get enough calories. The only word of caution I would give a guest at this resort is to add 15 minutes to their time quote for a delivery time, especially when the weather is bad.

Breakfast in the comfort of your room. Eggs Caballo and the Salmon Omelette with an assortment of Mexican Breads

Chef’s Plate Dinner – Brazilian Theme

One of the signature benefits of the upgraded rooms is the ability to dine at the “chef’s plate” dinner once during your stay. The Chef’s plate dinner is essentially the Head Chef and his Sous Chef cooking a meal in an open kitchen for 12 people at a family table. The kitchen has mirrors set up so you can see their kitchen top, grill and the pass. Dinner is served in seven courses and you always leave very full. Every night there is a different dinner theme, the night we went was “Brazilian”. Overall the dishes were delicious in the execution, although I can’t say Brazilian dishes are my favorite. This is a great experience to interact with fellow resort guests and chat with the chef after the meal is cooked. One of the more interesting techniques the chef used was encasing their sauces in a gelatin sphere. I am not sure if they added gelatin to the sauce and flash froze them in balloons or employed the use of nitrogen, but it was a clever use of molecular cooking to control the sauce on the plate.

A Discussion on Wine and Spirits

The Royal Cancun offers unlimited alcohol with the all-inclusive stay, which includes some nice top-shelf liquor like Johnny Walker Black Label, Absolute and Frangelico. Their staff is well-trained in the art of mixing drinks and even creating custom drinks on demand. For all the resorts strengths in the food and alcohol department, one of the few failings of the resort is their poor selection and quality of inclusive house wine. There was about 6 types of house wine available at the resort, most of these were Tempranillos and Sauvignon Blanc. Of these 6 wines, they were all from Chili, Argentina and Spain. These regions generally produce some high quality wines, although what was available with all-inclusive package was not representative of these wine regions. My wife an I are large consumers of wine and at this point we know a good quality wine from a poor ones. With the exception of two wines, the resports house wines were of lower quality. If I were to go to my local wine shop or even a super-market, I would describe their wines as $5-10 bottles in the imported section. Their wines are nothing I would take to a dinner party and nothing I would serve to someone I was trying to impress. They did have a large wine list in some of the restaurants, but these wines were subject to extra charges and not worth it in an all-inclusive resort.

If consuming high-quality wine is critical to you, I would recommend budgeting for it. Their wine selection is their only and major drawback to their otherwise exceptional food, service, and other bar products. If you are the General Manager of the resort and reading this last paragraph, you should know this is one of the top complaints I heard from affluent Americans, Europeans and even a couple Japanese couples we met If you are a consumer reading this post, I would tell you that this is only a very small blemish in their otherwise spotless service and offerings.

My Final Thoughts

Our stay at The Royal Cancun was extremely pleasant with great food and exceptional service at all levels. Their tag line is ”Expect the Exceptional” and after a week of eating their food and experiencing their customer service I truly do believe it. Thanks to the staff for a great stay. Please also see my complete review of the The Royal Cancun resort on my travel blog. TandDsbucketlist.wordpress.com (this post will be up in a couple of days).

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Bio
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Tom Holmberg

Food Blogger / Founder at Tom's Foodie Blog

Tom grew up in a cultural diverse neighborhood and a culturally diverse family, so he has learned to appreciate all types of food. "I am not a Chef, nor do I play one on T.V., but I have learned to appreciate food from years of eating and cooking." Tom also spent 10 years in the restaurant industry in various roles, from Prep Cook to server.

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Comments 12 Comments
Categories Cancun Resorts, Culinary Travel, Gastromic Travel, Wine
Author Tom Holmberg

12 Responses to “The Royal Cancun Resort Food and Wine Review: Tom’s Foodie Blog Goes on Vacation”

Dani June 13, 2011 at 5:56 pm #

So when can we go back???

Reply
Phillip Fung - Travel Advisor July 21, 2011 at 8:19 am #

I am a travel advisor in Memphis, TN. Our clients LOVE The Royal in Cancun and they rave about the food! The other Real sister properties are good too, including the The Royal Playa del Carmen!

Reply
- Tom July 21, 2011 at 8:41 am #
  
  Thanks for the reply, their food really is amazing and we have a hard time going anywhere else do to this fact. I have been there 3 times and during my past visit they have really improved the resort for the better. Wine selection is still a sore point, but I think they get it and will improve. Feel free to contact me if you ever want to chat about the resort.
  
  Best Regards,
  Tom
  
  Reply
  - Phillip Fung - Travel Advisor July 21, 2011 at 8:50 am #
    
    Thanks, Tom… I will take up on the chatting about the resort some time in the future as they make changes. In fact, I just booked 6 couples going in October. People who go to The Royal in Cancun or Playa del Carmen seem to be repeat visitors to those resorts. It is that good!
    
    Reply
Angela Jones February 17, 2012 at 4:28 pm #

I have booked my honey moon at this resort for July (2012). I read in a number of places they have good gluten free options (I have Celiac Disease). Did you hear about any of their gluten free or allergen friendly options?

Reply
- Tom February 17, 2012 at 9:54 pm #
  
  Hi Angela, Yes they do offer a gluten free menu. I have family members and friends with various degrees of Gluten Intolerance and Celiac disease, so I understand the concern. Be Sure to tell multiple people about your dietary restrictions including at the checkin, food and beverage Manager, waiters. Their staff is very professional and extremely talented. With that said, still use the good common sense that you have no doubt developed with the condition.
  
  Reply
  - Agnela Jones March 6, 2012 at 6:03 am #
    
    Thanks for your reply, Tom. Your blog post has increased my excitement for my stay at this resort. Despite my dietary restrictions, I’m very enthusiastic about food and am delighted to know I’ll be eating well and safely. I’ll be sure to take your advice and reiterate my concerns to everyone that will be handling my food. Thanks!
    
    Reply
    - Tom March 7, 2012 at 8:16 am #
      
      Enjoy your Stay Agnela! I am very jealous as I wont be going this year to The Royal, but I will be back!
      
      Reply
Wayne Sannes March 5, 2012 at 6:20 pm #

Tom I followed your report on The Royal In Cancun and found it to be very accurate. We have vacationed their the last two years going again this March.I do hope the wine selection improves as well as I am a wine maker and have a very good palate for good wines and that is one area that does need to improve a lot.We love this resport and recommend it to many.Keep up your blogs as they are very good.

Reply
- Tom March 5, 2012 at 10:46 pm #
  
  Hi Wayne, thanks for leaving a comment and I’m glad you enjoyed the blog post on The Royal. I have been there three times myself and have always been blown away by their service and food. Although like you said, the wines are to be desired. What winery are you a wine maker for?
  
  Reply
Laurel November 23, 2012 at 10:53 pm #

The food there looks absolutely amazing. I know the next time I’m vacationing in Cancun I will consider the Royal Cancun.

Reply