QUICK BITE:We bought an air fryer

We have made the next step!!   We now own an air fryer!! 

This is the Ninja Max XL.   Cost about $100 from Amazon. We considered a higher end model but this felt like the right amount to spend. 

We already tried fresh chicken and frozen chicken cutlets which came out okay.  Today and this weekend we are trying some other fried favorites.  First up is fried pickles.

I used an egg wash and potato starch which makes them gluten free.  They have a good crisp. You have to let the pickles sit at least 15 minutes after coating so they have a chance to absorb as much coating as possible.  

And this is certainly easier to clean up compared to the deep fat fryer we have.  Also trying onion rings and buffalo cauliflower.  And tonight will use it to make sweet potatoes.  If anyone has recipes to share, please comment.

Dinner at Himitsu at Secrets Playa Mujures

Dinner tonight was at Himitsu.  A great meal was had.  Wonderful service from Luis.   

Started with the shrimp and veggie spring roll. 

 So crispy and on top of a delicious sauce made with soy and coriander.  

Next was pork dumplings. 

These were pan fried and crispy on the outside, but delicate and so flavorful inside.  And the sweet plum sauce complimented the savory filling.  If we hadn't more food coming, I think I could have just had these. They were so good.  

Then the sushi arrived!!  

From left to right we had a spicy tuna roll, spicy beef roll and the dragon roll.  Of the rolls, the dragon roll was my favorite with well fried shrimp, avocado and mango!!  Sweet, savory and crunchy!! 

Then we also had orders of tuna, salmon and octopus sashimi. This was my overall favorite of the sushi platter. Rolls are okay and you can find good combinations, but fresh fish, by itself is really what you crave when you have sushi.  And it was all very tasty. I don't know where they source it from.  The salmon was some of the best I have had as well as the octopus.  The tuna was tasty, but I have had better at Unico 2087 and Sandal Ochi.  The knife skills of the sushi chef also needed a bit of work. Or maybe his knife needed sharpening.  Thin sliced fish always tastes better.   

For main dishes, we had the crispy duck with housin in a pancake. 

 This was a remarkable dish.  I believe they made duck confit, shredded it and then deep fried it.  Each delicious morsel had the savory note of duck along with that crispiness you crave from the skin.  And the pancakes were almost like the soft buns they have in Chinese BBQ Pork rolls.  Such a great dish.  

Also had the pork ramen bowl. 

 While the pork was a bit overdone and dry, the broth more than made up for that.  It was spicy but not overpowering.  And the ramen had a perfectly poached egg along with shitake mushrooms and other veggies.  A really satisfying ramen bowl.  

We also received one more starter when our mains came.  This was the spicy noodles salad and my least favorite dish. 

 The sauce was really tasty, comprised of soy, sesame oil and lime.  And there were two pieces of tender spicy beef.  Where did it go wrong?  The noodles.  They used glass noodles and they weren't cooked enough for me. Where you needed the noodles to help sop up some of the sauce, these weren't up for the task.  They were crunchy when they should have been more al dente.  

Dessert as the coconut rice pudding and the tempura ice cream.  

Both were okay.  The pudding desparately needed more coconut flavor. The tempura ice cream needed a crispier outer shell. Fried ice cream is hard to make since you have to have the ball of ice cream frozen solid and then have your oil hot enough so the tempura batter will seal and crisp up in just a few seconds.  Here it seemed to soak up too much oil.  Not a bad tasting dish, especially with a rich chocolatey sauce.  Just could have been elevated a bit.  

Highly recommend eating here.  So many great dishes.  If you come with a group, you will be able to try more things then my wife and I did.

Lunch at Barefoot Grill at Secrets Playa Mujures

Definitely try Barefoot Grill on the Secrets side!!  You can order from your chair!  A very extensive menu of two kinds of salad, chicken wings, chicken tenders, fish tacos and nachos Im addition to your normal burgers and dogs!!  And each order comes in a bento box!!

Salads had each ingredient portioned so you could add what you wanted. The caesar was terrific but the winner of lunch is the spinach salad.

  Some delicious roasted beets, fresh greens, dried cranberries, feta and a surprising citrus, spicy dressing. So good. Highly recommend!!

The Barefoot Nachos had delicious fried shrimp in addition to the normal toppings. 

We will be trying the shrimp tacos before we check out on Saturday. 

The chicken wings could have been crispier but kudos for having a spicy sauce and a different spin on ranch dressing.  It had the tang of buttermilk but with more kick.  And loved that it came with jicama, carrots and cucumbers.   

The burger was tasty.  Your standard  outdoor grill burger. 

 It was cooked medium so it wasn't dry.  And you could add the pickles, sauteed onions and tomato nod you wanted.

Dinner at El Patio at Secrets Playa Mujures

Dinner last night was at El Patio.   We had all but one of the starters.  Chicken Mole and the Shredded Pork for our mains.  

They started us with some chips with refried beans and another type of dip I had never had before.

 This was warm and was a puree of what I will call winter squash along with some al dente pieces of grilled zucchini.   It was a nice surprise and a good nibble before we ordered.  

My favorite starter was the taquitos.  

They were well fried and sitting in a fresh tasting salsa verde.  The sour cream added some needed creaminess.  These are what you would want to have with a cold cerveza while watching football.  

The melted cheese with chorizo as really good. I mean, who doesn't like melted cheese with a bit of spicy meat?  

Really good but better with the chips instead of the flour tortilla it came with.  

The aguachile was a good assortment of fresh fish in the same salsa verde that was on the taquitos.  It also had a creative foam, but it lacked any flavor. 

 I found scallops, octopus and what I think was grouper.  All very good and fresh tasting but would hace been better with some brinoised peppers for heat. 

The panal  was essentially a tuna tostada.  

The tuna was tasty but I never got any of the honeycomb flavor that was mentioned.  

I was hoping for the Esquites to be better than they were.

It was a white corn in a creamy sauce but lacking any corn or paprika flavor which is what you crave in this dish.  I kept trying more of it in hopes the flavor would eventually come but it didn't. 

The chicken mole was very good.

  It was in a thin sauce with notes of raisins and chocolate.  To often moles get the flavor correct but it is over reduced and gets gummy and thick.  The chicken was a whole thigh on the bone and very moist.  I only wish there has been a bit of heat to the party.  It seems as if this menu may be a bit tailored to an American pallate which keeps the spice level mild.  I would have liked to be able to get some of these dishes spicier - like you can in a Thai restaurant.  

Dessert was the churros.

  I was expecting thin ropes that had been well fried, coated in cinnamon sugar. Instead it was more like a doughy funnel cake.  The flavor was there but missing the crunch I craved.  It was topped with some chocolate ice cream which was good but would have been better in the side.  

Everything we had was good to very good.  And you will like it here as long as you are okay with mild spice.  If you like more spice and heat (like I do), then you might be disappointed.  

For tonight we will pick between Himitsu and Portofino depending on which menu looks better.

Lunch at Oceana at Dreams Riveria Cancun

What's for lunch at Oceana?  Let me tell you. Lots of delicious seafood.  

The Tuna Tiradito was my favorite. 

Barely seared, thin-sliced tuna in a soy sauce based glaze.  So flavorful but the tuna still was present.  

We also has the Mexican shrimp cocktail.

This is very different than your standard American shrimp cocktail.   The Mexican version is sweeter and saucier compared to it's American "cousin". I also feel that the shrimp are  fresher then you would would see in most US restaurants.  

Also tried the seafood aquachile which was primarily scallops in a spicy brine with cucumber and onions. 

The scallops were a bit soft which tells me the brine needed more acid.  It also needed a bit more bite. There was hardly a hint of heat.

The signature dish was the whole fried fish.

 If you have travelled to Mexico and never had this, add it to your must do list.  I have had this dish many times over the last fifteen years.   Each place will have its signature take.  But keys to look for are respecting the fish.  Do they want you to enjoy the whole fish?  Do they fry the fish in oil with the correct temperature?  How do they plate it?  

Here they met all the criteria.  Perfect plating.  The whole fish was presented creatively.  The skin was so crispy yet the flesh was moist and flavorful.   And it was garnished with perfectly fried green onions and lemon grass slivers. 

So creative and made.it so flavorful.  One of the best I have ever had.  Please order this when you visit.

QUICK BITE: Coco Cafe at Dreams Riveria Cancun

For me, it is hard to start the day without some caffeine and sometimes a sugar boost.  Almost every all-inclusive has a coffee shop to help with that. 

Coco Cafe has some great choices for pastries.  As always went with our standard double espresso.  Also tried this very cool looking cherry croissant.   I also posted the different kinds of milk you can get in your coffee.drinks.

Room Service at Dreams Riviera Cancun

I was very pleased with room service last night.  It was a bit of a wait, but the estimated time I was given (75 minutes was pretty accurate.  It arrived in 90 minutes.  

I started with the green salad.

 It really just has greens so it was well names.  They were crisp and crunchy which tells me the salad was fresh made.  Perhaps played and then kept in the fridge. It came with a dressing that was the combination of sweet picallil and giardineria (the topping used on Italian Beef).  It has good flavor but was a strange dressing since it was hard to coat all the greens.

Next was tortilla soup.  

This came in two parts which was a smart choice.  The creamy soup came in once bowl.  And another had the sliced, crispy tortilla, chicken and cheese.  You then added it yourself which kept the chips from getting soggy during transport.  The broth has great flavor from tomatoes and also a subtle smokiness, in addition to the warm heat. The broth by itself would make a delicious smoky tomato soup.  Combined with the other ingredients made a well composed soup. 

I wasn't sure about ordering the grilled salmon but am so glad I did.

 It was moist, flaky and flavorful.  Simply seasoned with salt and pepper. It has hints of garlic and butter but not overpowering.  And it came on some well seasoned smashed potatoes.  Just enough salt and butter. It makes me want to eat at Oceana to see how he prepare other seafood

Last course was the spaghetti bolognese. 

 Again I has a little fear that this might be a gummy mess of overcooked pasta and bland sauce.  Instead, the pasta was all dente and the sauce was rich and meaty, without being overly sweet.  I had been cravjng a little Italian food and this helped.

Lunch at Seaside Grill at Dreams Riviera Cancun

Checked in today after having stayed three nights at Now Sapphire and three nights at Dreams Natura.  I will start by saying there seems to be a lot more people here compared to those two resorts.  Now was at about 25% capacity.  And Dreams couldn't have been much higher.   Based on chair availability and the pool bar, there are quite a few people here.  

We had lunch at Seaside while we waited for our room.  They bring up tricolored chips, guacamole and salsa. The guacamole was so smooth - almost like a puree.  I liked it as a change to guacamole that has been mashed.  

Salads were caesar and thai.  Thai was my favorite.  A spicy, creamy peanut sauce with thai noodles and greens.  There were also lots of spicy nuts for crunch.  There was a bit too much dessinh for me.  If you order this, see if they can have the dressing in the side.  

The chicken wings were hot and crispy, served with a spicy sauce similar to Frank's Red Hot.  These tasted especially good with the cold beer. I loved that in addition to celery and carrot sticks, they also had jicama sticks.  I could have had more of those - and had a use for the extra dressing from the salad. 

Both the beef burrito and beef fajitas used grilled flank steak. The steak was seasoned very well and had some crispy edges which helped with the flavor.  The peppers and onions were also seasoned well.   It was fun that the flour tortillas were also tricolored like the chips that came at the beginning.