After a busy day of exploring Quito, Ecuador's capital city, I was famished and looking for some grub. I had come back to the AirBnb earlier in the day and wanted to search for a place via Google Maps before heading out, as the walk would be long and I wanted to know where I was going since I was very hungry! I settled on a little spot called De La Llama and headed out.
The entrance was a small gate, covered in ivy or some other climbing green plant, hiding it well and making it feel like a secret spot. A guard was at the door to let you in, and the unassuming outside gave way to a luxurious and dreamlike space inside. It felt as though you walked into a garden, the outside walls of the patio covered in the same plants as the outside gate, with bright flowers scattered about and strings of round bulbs hung from a large pergola, casting soft light on the surroundings. Enticed by this magical space, I sat outside and peeked at the menu. I did venture in the building a little ways and discovered that the restaurant was actually much bigger than it seemed from the outside, I believe there was even an upstairs, and 2 or more rooms besides the entryway.
The menu was extensive with a lot of pretty unique options. Upon review of the menu for this post, I realized they have a tostada dish where the tostados are made of crickets! Uuuugh I wish I had seen that while I was there, because I would have ordered that. It's a fish dish, so I most likely read fish and thought, "nah I'm not feeling fish today." Had I seen the unique ingredient though...I absolutely would have snagged those. Instead I started off with an, apparently, frozen drink made with a local traditional liquor made of sugar cane called caña manabita and maracuya (passionfruit) and mint. I honestly didn't know what "hierbabuena" meant on the menu at the time, because I saw "maracuya" and was sold. Turns out, its mint. It was a subtle flavor which worked surprisingly well with the drink as a whole.
I didn't realize it was frozen, which was an extra nice treat after the walk, but I think I would have preferred it over ice instead...it always takes me a million years to drink frozen drinks, but this one never got watery or separated like some others which was a plus.
I ended up getting two appetizers because I wanted a couple different things, and this seemed like the best way to do it. It also left room for a cool dessert I had seen, so, bonus! I seriously wish I had had time to go back here another time (or even two), but I just didn't stay in Quito long enough to do that with the other plans I had. And they are only open til 3:30pm so that rules out dinner, which is when any day adventures would be done and I'd be looking for dinner. So, poo. If, no WHEN, I'm back in Ecuador I will definitely be going to Quito again as I had SEVERAL restaurants suggested to me that I couldn't get to, plus this one that I want to eat at a few more times.
Look at these two dishes! The presentation was so beautiful and look how crispy those little empanadas are! Also, those pickles? Homemade. And delicious. The top dish is the steamed buns, "2 small roasted pork buns with Hoisin sauce, crispy sweet potato and house made pickles." Holey macaroni, these were perfect. the buns were pillowy and overstuffed with filling (in a good way), the sweet potatoes were perfectly crispy, the pork was ridiculously tender, and the pickles were crunchy and a bit sour. The textures and flavors worked well together and the pickles gave a nice coolness to combat the sauce.
The empanadas in the bottom dish were called corviches and stuffed with cheese. "The dough is made from green plantain, peanuts and lemon. Served with a light sweet chili sauce," and a green salad with those house made pickles again. I mostly picked it because I liked the way the dough sounded and thought is was pretty unique to other empanadas I'd had so far. the peanuts gave it an, obviously, nutty flavor which went well with the very slight sweetness of the plantain, and the sharpness of the cheese. The sweet chili sauce was delicious and I could have bottled that up and taken it everywhere with me. Just the right amount of heat to interact with the sweet, and on the empanada? *Chef's kiss* As for the salad, it was fine. A nice palate cleanser or a way to cool my mouth off if I put too much sauce on those crispy triangles of goodness.
To finish off the meal I orders a lemongrass crème brulée that came with cute little llama cookies. Crème brulée is probably my favorite restaurant dessert, so whenever I see a unique flavored one I have to try it! It came out with the those two cute little llamas cookies that I liked quite a bit, they tasted a bit like shortbread if I remember correctly, and garnished with some edible flowers. The Brule sounded beautiful; I love testing the crusted top, so I scrape and tap it with the spoon before I crack it and boy the crack was satisfying. Definitely done right. I was not a big fan of this dish though, which was sad. I ate it because I'm not one to waste food, and discovered that I really liked it in combination with the flowers. They had a citrusy flavor that was bright and brought out a flavor in the lemongrass that I enjoyed. The flowers are little though and only went so far, I even broke them up a bit to get them in as many bites as possible. Without them it was just not the flavor for me. I'm not sure how to describe the flavor, but I highly recommend giving it a try if you're at least a semi-adventurous eater, just because the dish wasn't overly expensive, its small, and its unique. So, even if you don't like it, it's not like you wasted $30 or more on a large main dish that you don't want to finish, which is always my worry.
So, I misspoke earlier. In researching for this blog post I discovered that they are not only open until 3:30pm, well at least not everyday. They have several days with longer hours and are as follows:
Closed Monday
Tuesday: 12:30 p.m. - 3:30 pm.
Wednesday: 12:30 p.m. - 10:00 pm.
Thursday: 12:30 p.m. - 10:00 pm.
Friday: 12:30 p.m. - 10:00 pm.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
I believe I went on a Sunday, so it makes sense that they had the shorter hours. Whoops- sorry about that! At least now I know, when I go back, that I can check them out for a breakfast and dinner...maybe even another lunch too. They're located in Quito at:
Switzerland N33-113, Quito 170135, Ecuador, 098 909 5312
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