In old town Quito, close to the Secret Garden Quito where I stayed while in the area, I found this restaurant via Google Maps and was marked as "top rated." I knew I was going to have to check it out! Do any of you guys do that? I found out that other travelers I met in Ecuador didn't look up restaurants this way. I like to look around the area via Google Maps just to give me an overlay of the land and some ideas on where to eat and what to see. If something comes up as "top rated" then I'm going to at least check it out. The line for this place was crazy, right out the door, and not a single tourist in sight. That's typically a good sign. Plus look at the logo for this place. Now that's a good sign! An...exquisite sign you might say! Inside was no different, it felt like almost every seat in the house was taken and people just kept coming in!
On offer here they had things like tongue (lengua), foot (pata), dried goat (seco de chivo), tripe (aji de librillo), lamb stew (chanfaina), and something called yaguarlocro. Turns out that yaguarlocro is a soup made from the viscera of goat and often served with avocado, pickled red onions, and fried lamb blood. Everything listed, except the lengua and pata, had no direct translation though Google translate, I had to look them up later on. But this was the first time I'd seen anything like this on offer, and is probably why it was popular with locals.
I'm pretty boring and stuck with the chicken lunch special for the day for like $2.50 or something like that. Nothing here was over $6.00 and I saw people who ordered the pata being delivered plates with like a whole lower half of a leg on a bed of rice and some other stuff I couldn't see, hoof and all. I don't know if it was beef, goat, pork, or what but that seems like a lot for only $6! I was pretty excited for my meal then. When you buy al muerzo, or lunch, specials in Ecuador it usually comes with a soup and fresh fruit juice in addition to your main meal. But I only paid $2.50 so I was pretty happy to just get my meal and the juice. Whelp, boy would I be in for a surprise.
They brought me my juice, to be honest I can't remember what it was and the picture is not helping to jog my memory. I do know that, just like all the fresh juices I've received throughout my stay in Ecuador, it was freaking delicious. And then look at thus soup! This is probably the one of the biggest soups I had while I was in Ecuador and it was absolutely scrumptious. There were big pieces of potatoes, a piece of meat that I didn't understand how to fully eat without making a mess, and that beautiful rich broth! I had to slow down so I didn't look like a maniac while I was eating it, it was that good. That salsa looking stuff is called aji sauce and is found on the tables of a lot of restaurants. Usually it gets brought out with your meal, but they were just out on the tables here so I kept thinking that tables were taken. Until I realized they were everywhere. Everybody makes their sauce differently, but I can tell you that this one was pretty used up by the time I left. It was addicting. My thought was that they were going to fill me up with the soup and give me maybe a small plate of food for the main dish.
Whoops, another bad assumption from me! Just look at this dish man. My mouth is actually watering right now looking at this. I combined this whole plate together (after trying each one separately) and added a generous amount of that sauce to it. The chicken was perfectly seasoned and just phenomenal. The avocado added a bright pop to the meal, the grilled veggies gave it more depth, the sauce added a bit of heat and freshness, and the rice were just a great base for all of it. Those potatoes? Yeah I ate those three babies separately. Popped 'em right in my mouth and they were gone. Especially with that white sauce on there, I think it was a cheese sauce? UGH. give them to me! I still can't get over the amount of food I received for the price I paid here. I was absolutely stuffed! I had stopped here after exploring the city all day, so it was perfect, as I was starving.
I highly, highly recommend coming here if you're in Quito's old town while in Ecuador. If you're feeling more adventurous, definitely go for some of the other interesting options or pick the dish they seem to be best known for- the seco de chivo (dried goat). If I am ever back in the area, I will be going straight for that and I'd like to check out their breakfast as well, since a lot of reviews mention how good it is. If you'd like to visit them, they're located at: Calle Caldas E1-45, Quito 170136, Ecuador. And if you'd like to virtually visit them, you can check out their Instagram.