Ecuadorian Lunch

There are still places in town where you can get an authentic Ecuadorian meal for $2.00, sometimes even less, but this one was a little more.  I just had to share it with you, though, because I keep telling you about the wonderful food but never show it to you.  Well, here it is.

On Sunday a friend and I went to a great restaurant I had discovered with my Spanish class group last week and I had to share it with Sheiran.

We started out with soup and our beverage.  On Sunday the soup was beef with noodles, potatoes (of course), carrots, green plantain (I had no idea that's what it was until I asked--it's actually very good and is kind of like a slightly more flavorful and less mushy potato), and a bit of cilantro.  There was a piece of beef on a little rib bone that is eaten with the fingers.

We were served our soup before the juice so I've already eaten part of mine.  It started out just above
the little line on the bowl.  In the center of the table are roasted corn that's a little softer than corn nuts but somewhat similar.  The idea is to put them in your soup.  I'm not terribly fond of that so I forgo that.  The stone crock has a kind of salsa in it.  I've heard it has quite a kick.

The juice today was mora.  Mora berries are kind of a cross between blackberries and raspberries.  They have very large seeds in them and are absolutely delicious.  The retail price for them is generally $1/pound +/-.  It's a quart container full of them.

I believe the lovely woman who served us was also one of the owners.  She is a delightful woman and so very kind and patient with those of us who speak very limited Spanish.

Our main course was chicken with mushroom sauce; rice; and a cold vegetable salad with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, with a tiny bit of a vinaigrette dressing on it.  I can assure you the chicken didn't look nearly that colorless in person.  Of course having been cooked in a mushroom sauce didn't make it very colorful but it still looked better than this.

We aren't done, yet.

This was our dessert.  It was a homemade white cake, still warm, with a fresh mora syrup over it.  It was pretty darned fabulous!

The entire meal complete with superb service was $2.50.  That may actually be less than a kids meal at a fast food restaurant in the States but I really don't remember how much they cost.  It's definitely more than anything I remember buying for lunch.  What a delightful time we had.