A cafe in the cutest square in Cuenca serving good coffee and snacks.

Plaza de San Sebastion, Cuenca.

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This is a nice little cafe that serves good coffee and a great breakfast, among other things, in a relaxed atmosphere. Open from 9am.

Benigno malo, Cuenca

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A fantastic cafe-bar that has live music on most nights, serves excellent tapas, has comfy sofas and a couple of fires for those cold evenings. Open 5pm until late.

Gran Columbia, Cuenca

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Restaurant for carnes asadas and parrilladas at great prices. Two people can eat great food and have two large beers for $10. Order the llapingachos as your potato, pancakes cooked in pork fat. Mmmm, tasty!

Gran Colombia 20-88. 282-6997. A block and a half before Unidad Nacional coming from centro.

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Traditional upscale restaurant. They use first class ingredients and traditional recipes in a wonderfully remodelled space.

Calle Larga 1-279 y Calle de las Molinas. 284-0224

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Chinese (Taiwanese actually) vegetarian restaurant with daily two course lunch menu for $2. Fresh and tasty. Lunch includes a drink of either fresh juice, yoghurt or soya milk. Only place I know of serving soya milk.

Gran Colombia 1-89 y Capulies. One block before Avenida de las Americas coming from centro.

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Argentine Parrillada Restaurant. Great value on Bife de Chorizo, an argentine steak, yes, steak, for $8. An even greater value on their menu "Mini's" at $4.50.

El Che Pibe, Remigio Crespo 2-19, Cuenca

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Cuy: Guinea pig, the Andean speciality. Usually reserved for fiestas, weddings or special occasions, it is not cheap and a big honour if offered to you. There are various places to eat it in Cuenca, including on the street in certain barrios, but the best place is definitely in the house of a newly made friend.
Chancho: A Quichua word for “pig,” it comes in various forms – sometimes spit-roasted, other times with the skin hardened using a blowtorch, or cut into lumps and fried in a big pan. Markets are probably the best places to eat this (Gualaceo in particular), provided you are strong of stomach and nerve.
Mote: Omnipresent yet tasteless, mote consists of kernels of maize boiled into submission over hours and then served with “aji,” the local condiment made from chilli peppers, tree tomatoes and cilantro, to give it some flavour. The best kind is “mote sucio” (“dirty mote”), friend with pieces of bacon and potato. The restaurants in San Joaquin are good places to sample this.
Llapingachos: Superb. Essentially just potato cakes, but manage to taste fifty times better than anything your local chipper has to offer. Why? The secret ingredient seems to be pig fat. Perhaps we are starting to see a trend here…
Tamales, humitas, quimbolitos: If not pig then corn. These three are all made from ground maize, then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed, and taste great. The exact difference between them is a little imprecise (there is more to it though, I am assured, than just a different wrapping technique), but tamales are savoury, the others sweet.
Zhumir: The local rotgut, made inevitably from sugar cane, it can therefore be classified as “aguardiente.” But unlike some of the locally produced moonshine, this is devoid of any redeeming flavour, is cheap, nasty and strong as hell. A one-way ticket to a punch in the mouth.

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Charming little restaurant right next to the Cathedral on the main square, Parque Calderon. They specialise in local fare, so it’s a great place to see how many different dishes made from corn you can eat at one sitting. Always busy, especially at lunchtime, it’s a slice of real Cuenca to go with your cafecito.

Benigno Malo 8-59 and Simon Bolivar;tel: (593-7) 2834-159

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The place to be seen in Cuenca. Busy all the week through, with particular spikes for Ladies’ Night on a Wednesday and Salsa Saturday, it’s a buzzing mix of the beautiful people of Cuenca, hoary old expats and baffled looking travellers in zip-off trousers. Located in a superbly restored colonial building – all dark wood and exotic plants – and offering delicious international cuisine (although the portions are small), Eucalyptus is where it’s at.

Gran Colombia 9-41 and Benigno Malo;
tel: (593 7) 2849 157;
email: cafeeucalyptus@yahoo.com;
www.cafeeucalyptus.com;
Open 5pm to late, Monday-Saturday.

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Been travelling in the Andes for a while? Sick to the back teeth of chicken and rice? Can’t look another guinea pig in the eye? This is the best restaurant in Cuenca, serving up an international mix in a beautiful old colonial building (pink, of course), and very cheap by European standards. Go on, treat yourself. The rice will still be there tomorrow…

Calle Gran Colombia 12-22 and Tarqui.

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This tiny village in the outskirts of Cuenca is renowned amongst locals for its food, and caters for all tastes … provided you want meat. It comes in all shapes and sizes, but it’s fresh and there’s plenty of it. Served with local favourites mote (corn kernels) and llapingachos (potato cakes), and washed down with a beer, it’s carnivore heaven. And then of course there’s the guinea pig. Spit-roasted and served whole, you’ll never look at Fluffy the same way again.

There are a number of these restaurants, but El Tequila or El Campo are recommended. To get there take a short taxi-ride, or hop on a No. 19 bus from the centre.

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Mexican food, Ecuadorian style. A little pricey and with a slightly eccentric menu, it’s in a superb colonial building and covers all the bases: burritos, margaritas, tacos, tequila, and Mariachis at the weekends. Did I mention they have tequila?

Gran Colombia 10-29 and Padre Aguirre; tel: (593-7) 2823-652

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A lively spot, complete with that brand of funky décor that basically involves sticking beer mats, licence plates, and just about anything else that comes to hand onto the walls. It has good burritos and guacamole, its own potent concoction consisting of blue beer, and a nice crowd. But it always seems to close just as those beers are starting to blow the blues away.

Corner of Calle Larga and Luis Cordero.

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Cheap and cheerful. A tasty and affordable menu, including the best chips in the city, cold beer and Dire Straits on the stereo – no-frills fun.

Presidente Borrero 9-68 and Gran Colombia, opposite the post office

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A charitable concern run by French people and promoting the advancement of the Andean people and Quinoa cookery. It offers a daily almuerzo (set lunch) for about $1.50. This is more than usual, but the food is good, although Quinoa soup, followed by Quinoa stew, and Quinoa cake takes some getting used to. Hey, it's a staple grain dontcha know. Plus you might get to hear someone practising their panpipes, or read about a cultural event (usually a bit worthy looking).

Hermano Miguel 6-40 y Juan Jaramillo

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