Where to Eat in Ecuador

Ecuador's dining scene runs on three distinct altitudes,. In Quito, you'll find locro de papa, a potato soup thickened with cheese and avocado that tastes like the Andes in a bowl. It arrives beside ceviche made from shrimp trucked up from the coast that same morning. Cusqueña grandmothers in Otavalo market still pound roasted corn into mote for morning tamales. Meanwhile, new-wave chefs in Guayaquil are taking the same ingredients and plating them like they're in Copenhagen. The food here carries the weight of Spanish colonization, African coastal communities, and the Inca empire in every bite. Fritada, slow-fried pork, tastes like the highland villages where it's made. Bolón de verde, green plantain balls, trace their roots to the Afro-Ecuadorian south. Right now, Ecuador happens to be in that sweet spot where traditional street stalls still serve better food than half the "fusion" restaurants. But the serious chefs are finally paying attention to what was always here.

• Quito's Mariscal and Guápulo districts house everything from 200-year-old picanterías serving seco de chivo, goat stew, to rooftop spots doing Amazonian fish with craft beer pairings
• Coastal signature dishes include encebollado, fish soup with yuca and red onions, at dawn in Guayaquil, and encocado, coconut-seafood stew, along the Esmeraldas province beaches
• Price bands run from street stall set meals using US dollars, Ecuador's currency, to mid-range restaurants that offer three-course lunches, to splurge-worthy tasting menus in restored colonial mansions
• Timing matters, highland towns like Cuenca shut down for afternoon almuerzo at exactly 2 PM, while coastal cities like Manta keep serving ceviche until the last fishing boats unload at sunset
• Unique experiences include eating cuy, guinea pig, in an indigenous community near Cotopaxi, or joining families for fanesca, a 12-grain Easter soup, that's cooked communally in huge pots

• Reservations aren't needed at most spots, except the new wave restaurants in Quito's La Floresta neighborhood on weekends, call ahead or expect to wait with a craft beer at the bar
• Payment is cash-heavy outside tourist zones. Carry small-dollar bills since few places accept credit cards, and tipping runs 10% at sit-down spots, loose change at street stalls
• Dining etiquette means waiting for the host to say "buen provecho" before starting, and using both hands to pass dishes, it's considered rude to reach across someone else's plate
• Peak hours are noon-2 PM for lunch, 7-9 PM for dinner, highlanders eat earlier, coastals eat later, and Amazon communities might serve dinner at 4 PM if they've been up since 4 AM
• Dietary restrictions work best with simple Spanish: "sin carne" (no meat), "sin lácteos" (no dairy), most cooks understand but may still use chicken stock, so specify "caldo de pollo también"