I was originally thinking of writing a post for every restaurant we ate at here in Cuenca, Ecuador.  It very quickly became clear that would really need a separate food/restaurant blog, and that it would not really be very interesting to most people.  Instead, I will try to create a post only for the really good restaurants that we visit.  That is, those that we plan on visiting again multiple times during the next few months.  I may do a summary post now and then on the other restaurants that we were not so thrilled about.

Without further ado, we present our first excellent candidate: Cafe Eucalypus:

Gran Columbia 9-41 y Benigno Malo

284-9157   or   091-001740

http://www.cafeeucalyptus.com/

Can you find the restaurant in that image above?  Is it open?  Very few restaurants in Cuenca have very much of a sign, so that half-hidden sign high up on the wall is actually better than most.  In looking at the sign though, I would have sworn the restaurant was closed, since all 3 doors below the sign are closed.  Nope. That open door on the far right is how you get into the restauant.

I neglected to take any photos of the interior, which is a shame (Note to self: photograph more than just the door and the food in the future!).  Very nice ambiance inside, covering two floors, and including a rather massively stocked bar. 

As with almost every restaurant we have visited this week, we had the place almost to ourselves.  There were two other gringo couples there, and that was it.  We have been told that this is the slow season, which is why several (other) restaurants are just now opening, so they can shake out the kinks before the crowds start arriving next month.

The food here was all absolutely excellent! The only negative was the house white wine — if you like wine, steer clear of this stuff that tastes like it was crushed last week…

The menu is much larger and more varied than anywhere else we have seen in Cuenca.  It included categories for soups, appetizers, spicy appetizers (yep, two groups just for appetizers), salads, pasta, seafood, beef, deserts, and curry.

We started with a fabulous vegetable soup.  It is common to have a large chunk of avacado floating at the top of many Ecuadorian soups, and this was no exception — I just forgot to take the photo until after we had cut it up and stirred it in…

We followed that up with a delicious…. you know, I think I need to start taking better notes, because I can’t remember what that was, but wow, did it taste good! 🙂

The next table over had another gringo couple.  When their food arrived, I couldn’t resist asking if I could photograph it.  Thus, we met Betty and John from Klammath Falls, OR who are celebrating their 50th anniversary, and were traveling with an alumni group that came for Spanish classes. This was Jim’s meal of Malaysian Beef.

Betty had Tad Puy.