Blogging is hard work ;)
I'll quickly wrap up the second part of Ecuador food.
Dinner (3$-15$ per person)
Our dinners in Ecuador consisted mainly of asadors (grilled meats). Most places offered on standard chicken, beef, pork or sausage. Every meal was accompanied by rice and beans or fried plantains. The sauces were what made you a regular at one particular joint.
 |
All the meats
|
There were also a few places that specialized in rotisserie chicken. 5$ gets you a 1/2 chicken with rice and beans.
The beach in Olon was lined with cabanas that were all similar in their offerings. Fresh seafood took up 95% of the menu. The main difference was portion size. This was our splurge meals because they did tend to cost more.
 |
| Entire fried fish |
 |
| Seafood risotto |
 |
| Seafood soup |
We also had some not so great dinners. Either the meat was so tough it was barely edible or the portions were ridiculously tiny and you were left needing a second meal. We learned through trial and error to avoid those places. For the most part the rule of thumb was the same anywhere you travel....if it's busy with locals, it's delicious and worth it.
We of course had to incorporate a couple of "international" inspired meals during our month. Pizza (which is a given).
 |
| This pizza was almost as big as our table. |
 |
| While it looks delicious, everything about it was off....esp the cheese. |
 |
Thankfully Il pirate made a stellar pizza with real ingredients.
|
We also lucked out and found some legit Mexican food in Montanita. The chef makes everything to order, so thing took a while, but were definitely worth it, He was half Ecuadorian and half from Guadalajara. It made for deliciousness.
 |
| Enchiladas |
 |
| Carne fajitas |
We also tried our hand at a few recipes. Most of them involving fresh fish or seafood from the market. Rarely do we have the luxury of fresh seafood in Ontario, so we tried to get our fill. Most dishes were Southeast Asian inspired because it's delicious, but also because we had a lot of the ingredients at our fingertips. While they may not look super appetizing, I assure you they were effing delicious.
 |
| Shrimp and trumpet fish coconut curry over rice |
 |
| Lime and cilantro albacore tuna steak |
Going to town every day to pick up our supplies for breakfast, lunch and dinner was actually one of our favorite activities. There are no big grocery stores in Olon, so you go to the market and pick up fruit, veg and pantry items. Then the fishing stands, the butcher and the bakery. They even have trucks that roam the streets selling you citrus and another for cheese.
DESSERT (1-3$)
One thing we did not expect to have were the bakeries. Every town has at least one that serves up not just buns and traditional baked empanadas, but also various cakes and pastries. We had 3 in our town but one was quickly boycotted due to giving us gringo pricing one evening and the other had limited hours and served mainly fresh baguette.
 |
| Vanilla Cake with pastry crust |
 |
Dolche de leche
|
 |
| Chocolate torta |
 |
| Dolche de leche filled shell |
SNACKS
Snacks for us ranged from fresh fruit to street foods like Corviches (a plantain based dough filled in the center with meat or fish) and empanadas. Traditional empanadas in Ecuador are often baked or fried and sprinkled with sugar....yes even the savory ones.
 |
| Maracuja (passion fruit)....not alien spawn |
 |
| Argentinian style empanada |
 |
| Street cart burger which tasted as close to a Big Mack as you can get |
 |
| Chicken empanadas in Montanita (made and served by a very old man with stellar homemade hot sauce) |
 |
This was a cart within an empanada place in Guyaquil a block from where we stayed.
It was a whole leg of pork roasted with crackling skin served on a crusty bun and dipped in the pork drippings.
Also served with stellar homemade hot sauce.
|
 |
| Above mentioned sandwich... |
BEVERAGES
While we didn't explore a ton of drinks in Ecuador, I can say with total confidence that finding good coffee....or coffee that is not Nescafe is a challenging affair.
We did drink our share of fruit juices, most served with your lunch.
Beer was our other main staple, a casual beer a day. We stuck to Pilsner or Club (which were your typical easy drink beers). There were a few options of craft beer. Most were Czech beers and very expensive at 4$ a bottle. Il Pirate also served large steins on tap of a dark lager.
Well, that wraps things up (finally). Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed Ecuador and plan to return to explored more that the costa del sol on our next visit. I would highly recommend Ecuador to anyone. The coast is delicious, safe, friendly and has great beaches.
We were also happy to learn that these two will eat just about anything and try everything....even the sand.
Comments
Post a Comment