Hartwood

Hartwood is the Tulum dinner everybody talks about — opened 2010 by the New York couple Eric Werner and Mya Henry, no electricity, no gas, everything cooked over a hand-built wood-burning oven and grill, and the menu rewritten daily based on what the local fishermen bring at dawn. The room is open to the jungle, the lighting is candles and oil lamps, and the experience is the closest thing in the world to the Tulum that was promised before the road got paved.

For honeymoons and special-occasion dinners in Tulum this is the obvious first night — book three weeks ahead in high season (December–February), arrive at 7:30 for the late seating, and order whatever the server tells you is best that night. Cash only, fair warning.

The open-fire kitchen that defined the town.