The best restaurants Ecuador

Overlooking a pretty courtyard, this colourful restaurant offers good value for money, but be aware that it is (very) touristy. You can choose between pasta, sandwiches, salads and empanadas, meat, fish and seafood dishes... Don't hesitate to try the fritada quiteña, a delicious local speciality that is very copious here. Vegetarians will appreciate the tallarines salteados con verdura. Good to know: Café del Fraile is also a nice place to have a drink in the evening, with a wide choice of cocktails on the menu.

It is just next to the new Cocoa Museum, on Calle Panama, that Romain welcomes you in this nice little French restaurant in the heart of Guayaquil with a nice terrace in a very pleasant patio. After having made his Ecuadorian debut in Salinas, Romain de Lamar, who has also worked in France in various gourmet kitchens, now offers an inspired cuisine based on fresh products. Octopus with parsley, chicken medallions with mustard or homemade crème brûlée will delight the taste buds of the most demanding palates.

In the heart of the Floresta district, this cozy eatery with its bobo decor of wood and bric-a-brac concocts tasty cuisine with Andean and Ecuadorian costeña influences. The produce is often organic and the recipes original. The setting is as pleasant as the service is friendly, and it's a popular spot for breakfast (several formulas are available), as well as lunchtime, when the starter/main course/drink menu offers excellent value for money. Home-made jams and other artisanal products for sale on site.

In the Floresta district, a restaurant in the most subdued setting (it almost lacks light!) that fuses Japanese and Peruvian cuisine. Admittedly, prices here are higher than elsewhere, but the quality and freshness of the produce are unmistakable. On the menu: ceviche, sushi, maki, temaki, tempura, gyozas... all sprinkled with an Andean touch, bearing in mind that Peru has very close ties with Japan. Beware, portions are small... A "chic" table that also prepares good cocktails.

A real favorite of the year in Quito, this is a lovely restaurant on the banks of the Floresta where Chef Santiago offers fusion cuisine to share with friends, often served on beautifully decorated planks. From smoked swordfish with Japanese-style sweet and sour sauce, to octopus in garlic sauce, to a range of succulent meats, the chef offers rare inspiration in an atmosphere that locals and travelers alike appreciate. This restaurant has become the "canteen" of some of the neighborhood's executives. Recommended!

If you are looking for a place to have lunch in a natural setting in San Cristobal, you can come here to taste all kinds of local dishes, soups, encocados, fish in all their forms, but also some very typical Galapagos dishes such as the encocado de langosta, a delicious lobster with a coconut sauce to die for! The general atmosphere is very friendly and we meet many locals who come to relax here at lunch time.

A very popular table in La Floresta for eating lamb a la parrilla. The latter is prepared here in all its forms, in sauce or grilled, without forgetting to mention the delicious lamb chops. The restaurant is run by Germans who settled in Ecuador and who started breeding lamb on the slopes of Sincholagua about fifteen years ago, with the help of Mexican breeders specializing in Peliguey lamb. Prices are a bit above average, but worth the detour. If you don't like lamb, don't go.

Without doubt one of the most creative restaurants in the city. Urko offers a beautiful culinary experience aimed at sublimating regional products. From the specialties of the coast to the Andes and the Amazon, you'll love it. If your budget allows it, let yourself be tempted by one of the tasting menus, a real trip for the taste buds! The theme of the restaurant is the Andean cosmovision, the basis of the indigenous beliefs and the menus are built around the 4 seasons of the cosmovision which correspond to the agricultural cycles.

A café-resto with a friendly, wooded, intimate setting, honouring the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. You can enjoy sandwiches, tacos, tortillas and cheese platters in a relaxed and arty atmosphere, seated on solid wooden tables. The owners pay particular attention to helping the most disadvantaged inhabitants and offer, for example, the café pendiente, allowing you to pay in advance for a coffee that will be offered to those who ask for it.

This is where you can enjoy the best asado (grill) in town. On the menu, good meats, grilled with care, including a very good lomo (beef tenderloin) that browns on the hot stone. French fries and yuca on the side. It is a very popular place with the locals, the atmosphere is friendly and the meat delicious. Each table has a very practical plate warmer to keep the grilled meat at the right temperature. It takes about ten minutes to walk to the restaurant from the centre, but the meal is worth the effort.

To taste the local specialities and to eat at low prices, go to the market of Riobamba. Here you can be lured by the sellers who will entice you with their hornado (the famous roasted pig) served with white corn. The dish to try. You will also taste smoothies concocted, it seems, with snow from the Chimborazo volcano! You feel good here, in the heart of the most traditional population of Ecuador. The first contact is sometimes complicated, but once it is taken the smiles arrive and the tongues are loosened.

We meet at the house of the "maito" to taste this typical specialty of the Ecuadorian Amazon, the " Maito de pescado de agua dulce ": fresh fresh water fish (today, it is generally tilapia) rolled up in a banana leaf that is cooked on the grill. The whole thing is accompanied by yucca and plantains. The place is very simple, with rustic wooden furniture and a terrace surrounded by fences, as is often the case in the remote towns and villages of the country. Delicious, typical and very economical!

This typical restaurant of Guayaquil, opened 9 years ago and very well located in the center of the city, is an excellent address to try the Ecuadorian cuisine, and more particularly the specialities of the coast, such as the delicious ceviche (one does not get tired of it!), the dishes in sauce bathed in the coconut milk or the arroces decorated with products of the sea. Fish, shrimp and other shellfish generously garnish the plates here. It's good and colourful. And the atmosphere is warm in the costeña way! We recommend it.

Here you are at the house of Ceviche in Guayaquil. Whether it is made with shrimp, fish or octopus, the ceviche here is always delicious. It is the speciality of this restaurant, which has been located in the city centre for a few years and has a pretty outdoor terrace. You can accompany your ceviche with tempura-style squid or plantain chips. Some meat dishes are also offered on the menu. The restaurant remained closed for a long time during the pandemic, let's hope it will recover from this difficult ordeal.

A nice pizzeria run by the young Chivo. Italian specialities are in the spotlight, including good pizzas with thin dough, but well garnished. The room is nice and offers beautiful wooden tables where the young people of Mompiche often meet. For those who have been surfing all day, we recommend the spaghetti dishes with a homemade sauce of your choice (the bolognese is excellent), they are gargantuan! Note that the place is accessible by bus from the terminal of Esmeralda, a stop is planned just in front of the pizzeria.

This restaurant concocts delicious Peruvian specialties to be enjoyed on wooden tables. It's hard to pass up the fresh, tasty ceviche , but don't forget to try the delicious marinated fish on the à la carte menu. An interesting fish&chips dish is the Jalea Marina, with octopus, shrimp, calamari and fish of the day, breaded and served hot on a bed of lettuce, corn and tomatoes, a gourmet's delight. Everything is very fresh and the vegetables are generally locally grown and free of pesticides. Vegetarian dishes are also available.

At the very end of the main street, this restaurant opened in 2013, offers successful Italian specialties (seafood pasta, risotto, lasagne...). Generous filling, fresh products. In the morning, you can choose between 4 types of breakfast, and for lunch or dinner, the menu is very complete. Beautiful salads, excellent pasta and homemade risotto will satisfy your desires. If you like sweet things, order a Tiramisu. You can also come and sip a cocktail while watching the passers-by sitting outside the restaurant. A good option!

Ceviche lover, you will be delighted in this small restaurant in the heart of the modern city. Only one dish on the menu: ceviche! The principle is simple, you choose among 4 flavors with funny names: Rompe Colchón, Mata Suegra, Levantamuerto or natural. You then choose fish, shrimp, squid, crab, shellfish, octopus, or even a combination and finally your accompaniment. The dishes are prepared to order and are a real delight. Beware, the Levantamuerto flavour lives up to its name, it is spicy enough to wake the dead!

Chef Carlos Fuentes studied culinary arts in France. Passionate about local flavors and culinary history, he offers us an original menu in the lovely patio of the Bolivar Theater, an Art Deco building constructed in 1930 that also houses a fine art gallery. The dishes are sophisticated and, based on traditional recipes, offer us flavors revisited with talent. If you like fish, we recommendaji de corvina, a grilled curry with a delicious peanut sauce.

The specialty of the house is the beef filet cooked on a refractory stone and served at the table like this. The beef is excellent, it comes from the region of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, and the cooking is on demand. If you prefer fish, we recommend the traditional fried trout accompanied by the no less famous patacones. The welcome is very friendly, the portions are copious and the flavours are great. A beautiful wine list of Spain, Chile and Argentina at less than 25 US$ the bottle, the whole for the pleasure of your papillae.

In Cotacachi, we advise you to do like the locals and have lunch at the market (Mercado de los Andes). A pleasant place, full of life, where you can taste typical Ecuadorian and more precisely Andean food. Grilled pig, chicken soup with vegetables, quinoa soup, so many family dishes that are rarely found in traditional restaurants will delight your taste buds at the corner of a very local table. The cooks will be delighted to help you discover their ancestral recipes.

This property belonged to the Ordóñez Mata family, a family that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had an important political and economic influence at the national level. It has been completely renovated and now houses a dozen different cafes and restaurants. From Dunkin Donuts to the traditional gourmet restaurant El Consuelo, you can also taste local products in small stalls spread out on the ground floor of the building. A beautiful heritage restoration not to be missed during your stay in Cuenca.

On the beautiful San Sebastain square, a little away from the centre of Cuenca, this pretty Belgian bistro offers a very nice terrace to taste various Belgian beers, Lambic, Dubbel or Quadruple, a vast sample chosen by the master of the place, Belgian of course. You can also taste culinary specialties typically from the flat country such as Frikandel, meat croquettes cooked in beer and of course the famous Brussels shrimp croquettes. It's like being on a Brussels square and the atmosphere is young and friendly.

The sushi at Shankha is simply excellent. Prepared on the spot of course, often with fish coming out of the water, as the fishermen are not far away, the menu is long and the choice difficult. We particularly recommend the Spicy Tuna roll which is to die for. The big plus is obviously the location, just extraordinary. With your feet in the sand, facing the sea, you can enjoy your meal to the sound of the waves in a Zen atmosphere that is different from the hectic atmosphere of the village centre. We are at the punta!

Maxi, an Argentinian chef, and Oriana in the dining room, make this restaurant a place to return to. The pizzas are excellent, but the a la carte dishes deserve special attention. Nestled in the heart of Balsa Surf Camp, Jaja en Balsa is indeed a true gourmet restaurant. Maxi is very inventive and his cuisine will surprise you as much as his little tropical paradise. The burgers, tacos and marinated fish dishes will undoubtedly seduce you. To complete the meal, you can choose from a good and varied drinks menu. Recommended!

If you like Ecuadorian Cevihe, you won't be disappointed here. Chuky's shack is a must-see beach restaurant serving probably the best ceviches in Puerto Lopez. Everything is prepared to order, which leaves time to enjoy a good fresh juice or a good local beer (beware they are often large) while admiring the spectacle of the bay. Fish ceviches, squids, octopus and especially the unique ceviche of conch, a specialty not to be missed. Chuky and his wife welcome you with a communicative good mood.

Here you are in a beautiful restaurant, rather gastronomic, offering an inventive Ecuadorian cuisine and a very well stocked bar, not to mention a clear view of the bay from the upstairs room. Enjoy the catch of the day or if you are tired of fish, don't hesitate and order a superb T-Bone cooked on the grill as you wish. The service is impeccable, the employees are smiling and the taste is there. You can also come for breakfast or just to have a drink at sunset. Relaxed atmosphere.

A small local restaurant, very well located, right next to the Villa Tacunga hotel, 50 m from the Santo Domingo square. It is a pizzeria, but the food is also very good. The place is part of the historical building of Villa Tacunga, but the management is independent. A good place to have dinner after a trip, the staff is friendly and the products used are of good quality. On Saturdays, Teddy's often offers delicious braised beef in a very affordable menu. Every day there is a different menu.

Everything here exudes luxury and voluptuousness. Large rooms with superb tables laid out in squares, impeccable staff - we're in one of the capital's finest restaurants! Don't miss the Pandora crab, a delicious crab mille-feuille with passion fruit vinaigrette... a delight. The rest of the menu is on the same wavelength, and even if the bill is a little steep, the quality of the dishes and produce more than justify it. Recommended.

Here's an excellent option, right in the heart of the Mariscal, for visitors wishing to enjoy gourmet Ecuadorian cuisine at an affordable price. The friendly staff will guide you through an experience rich in colors, flavors and aromas. Dishes are prepared mainly with local produce, with a touch of originality that denotes a real chef at the helm. The crunchy cuy is the best cuy preparation we've tried anywhere in the country, and the rice pudding for dessert is well worth the detour.

Do you like Sushi? You will love Midori Sushi. Here, the fish is fresh and caught in the waters of the Galapagos! The tuna is exceptionally melting, and its Tataki with sesame seeds very successful. If you want to vary the pleasures, you may be tempted by a ceviche, don't hesitate, they are all at the level. The variety of rolls is impressive and the chef being inventive, one can come back without getting tired in this charming restaurant, of first line where many locals have their habits besides!