Why Thai food on a tiny island in the Mexican Caribbean? People ask almost everyday what prompted us to open a Thai and Chinese restaurant when most people are looking for fish tacos and really cold beer.
The short answer is that Mexican ingredients lend themselves beautifully to Asian cuisine -- cilantro, lime, chile, coconut, pineapple, fresh fish and more. Isla Mujeres doesn’t lack for good restaurants but delicious Asian food and creative use of Mexico’s native ingredients was our niche to fill. Peter learned to cook Thai and other Asian cuisines from a Thai chef that he employed for over 10 years in our restaurant in Maine.
The considerably longer answer is that we have been vacationing on Isla Mujeres for almost 17 years. We own an inn and restaurant on the coast of Maine that Peter has had for 30 years. As Maine winters seemingly grew longer, our Mexican vacations got longer, too. Our connection grew stronger when our younger son was born here in 2000 (that’s another story). Finally, we tipped the balance of where we were spending most of our time and had to start paying for it.
Peter’s restaurant experience on Isla began as an off-again-on-again consultant various island restaurants from 2004 to 2007. Firsthand experience in professional Mexican kitchens and learning the ins and outs of working in a different culture were invaluable. His first eye-opener was discovering that his communication problems with the kitchen crew didn’t stem from his lack of Spanish but from the fact that they were speaking Maya!
Asia Caribe opened in late December of 2008 and moved to present location on Hidalgo in 2009. Now into our third season, we have enjoyed meeting people from all over the world. We have developed a very strong clientele based on using fresh, local ingredients to create a delicious alternative to Mexican food. With tofu on hand, vegetarians and vegans are pleased to find dishes prepared with non-meat eaters in mind.
So while we don’t have fish tacos, we do have really cold beer which many people know goes well with Thai food, too. Negra Modelo, Dos Equis Amber and Bohemia are three Mexican beers that have the heft to accompany richly flavored, often spicy food. Cheers for now, we’ll hope to see you soon.
