My meal at Zazu was easily the fanciest and indulgent meal I had while in Ecuador. Ever since my trip to Iceland where Lara and I found that restaurant with the tasting menu, I've decided to do a tasting menu at least once in every country I go to. I made a reservation before I even left for Ecuador, just in case as I wasn't sure how popular or busy this place would be. I had reservations at another restaurant with a tasting menu on a different night that could only accommodate 20-30 people per night! I ended up having to cancel thanks to freaking altitude sickness, but anyway that's near hear nor there. I wasn't sure if this place would have limited seating too, so I made sure to be safe than sorry.
I got there right as they were opening, and since no one in Ecuador seems to get anywhere right when places open (whoops!), I had the place to myself for about a half hour to an hour. Inside was impeccable, crisp white linens on all the tables against light brown chairs, pops of greens yellows and pinks, scattered around from the flowers on the tables and dimmed lights giving the place an air of sophistication. I perused the menu, though I already knew what I wanted, and picked a glass of white wine to go with the meal. The worst part of the whole experience? The wine glass was only filled maaaaybe half way, if I'm being generous. I had to be stingy with it the whole meal as I didn't really want another one.
I opted for the Zazu experience, which is a 7 course tasting menu, with the option to add 1 or 2 other courses and/or a wine pairing. I decided to add on one of the extra course options, because I wanted to try Cuy, a popular and traditional food that was prepared here in very untraditional ways. Cuy translates to "guinea pig" in English. Unlike the breakfast dish called "tigrillo" which literally translates to "ocelot" but contains exactly zero ocelots, this dish is actually made of guinea pig. While I am weird about eating certain animals like dogs, cats, and rabbits because I've had them as pets, I don't have any attachments to guinea pigs so it didn't bother me. I do apologize if it does bother you, and if so, maybe that part of the review isn't for you. I'll make sure to warn you ahead of time!
The first dish that came out was an "amuse bouche" which translates to "amuses the mouth" in French. Basically a little appetizer before the meal. I don't know what it was honestly, but it was creamy and burnt orange in color, similar to a light tomato soup, punctuated by that dash of dark green sauce, and topped with toasted corn maybe and a basil garnish. The creamy portion was nice and subtle in flavor while the crunchy, toasted corn pieces were a nice juxtaposition in textures.
Andean Grains were up next and consisted of lupin beans, wood-fired hearts of palm, maize, avocado-cilantro emulsion, and toasted corn. It was...not at all what I was expecting to have placed in front of me. That avocado-cilantro emulsion was more of a soup than I expected and gave the dish a bit of tang and brightness. I loved that the corn gave a great balance with rest of the textures in the dish. I was fully ready for a bowl full of grains and beans then topped with the emulsion and corn. I was pleasantly surprised by both the presentation AND the flavor. I really enjoyed it and thought it was full of flavor while still being light enough to start off the many more courses coming my way.
Following the grains, came the stone crab. I'll be honest, I saw just how much seafood was on this menu and was nervous, as I don't always like seafood and in fact avoid it in the states for the most part. But, I seem to LOVE seafood in other countries and had enjoyed it so far in Ecuador, so I decided to roll with it. Here, the stone crab was served with cucumber, colatura di alci (an aged Italian fish sauce), green apple, lime, olive oil, basil, and borage (a flowering plant/herb). Um, WOW. This dish was phenomenal! Fresh, light, flavorful, a nice mix of textures, and went especially well with my white wine. It also, unsurprisingly, surprised me with it's presentation. Look at that dish. Would you expect that to come out when you see "seabass" on the menu?
Next up was the seabass which was again served in an unexpected way. Thin slices of sea bass presented in a pool of almost Jell-O-looking liquid, which I'm guessing was the naranjilla emulsion, a row of toasted corn (chulpi) hugging the bass, and eucalyptus elegantly placed to frame the dish. I'm running out of ways to explain the light, balanced, flavorful levels of these dishes. I will admit, while it was delicious, it wasn't my favorite of the dishes so far. It wasn't bad in the slightest it just wasn't my favorite. BUt, it seemed like a good palette cleanser for the next dish as these flavors were light and subtle. The best way I can explain this dish is delicately elegant.
To follow this up was yet another seafood dish, and probably the one I was most hesitant about. The pulpo, or octopus. At this point I was expecting to be surprised by a dish subverting my expectations visually and then was just straight up given an octopus tentacle on a plate. Granted, it was artfully placed and presented, but after all of the dishes...wait. Did they do all of that just to subvert my expectations again by giving me something I would have expected in the beginning of the meal? Anyway, that's a little more philosophical than I was expecting. I was in love with this dish and it actually was one of my top three courses! The octopus was tender, not chewy like I expected, crispy on the outside, and the flavors were deep, rich, and smoky. The sweet potato was helpful in balancing these flavors with a little sweetness and lightness, especially since this was heavier then the past meals.
This next dish was...confusing. I have yet to truly parse how I felt about it. You see that? It's literally an egg yolk on a friggin' spoon. Excuse me? The server who brought this out informed me that it had been injected with veal jus and that I was to pop the yolk in my mouth, without breaking it, like a shot, and then let it explode in mouth. Do you know those candies called Gushers? If you don't, they're filled with fruit juice and when you bite them the juice sort of pops out. This was basically a savory version of that. I think the Pulpo was where this menu shifted from light flavors to deep, rich flavors because this course was small but mighty. It coated my mouth with the yolk while the veal jus left me with a punch of rich flavor. It was a weird but luxurious experience that felt silky if that makes any sense.
**REVIEW OF THE CUY- GUINEA PIG IS NEXT***
Cuy was finally next in my courses and I was extremely excited to try the three versions on offer here. At the top of the picture is basically like a crispy chicken wing, but guinea pig leg instead. It was definitely my favorite. Loved the sauce it was in, the dark beer jus I think maybe, and the whatever it was on top of. The middle was a ravioli that I feel had the least flavor of the three versions, it was still good but not the best on this plate. it was too small of a bite to really get a feel for. However, the ravioli was cooked well and it was pretty stuffed. I cannot lie to you, I don't know what exactly is up with the dish on the bottom. If I remember correctly it was a little taco, but I don't know what exactly the foam is. I did like this one, I thought the flavor was really unique.
Here we are at a dish that I really thought I would like, I was pretty excited for it actually as it was something I had never had, but had wanted to try- oxtails. I hated this dish. Well, that's not fair. I hated the texture of this dish, which made this one my least favorite hands down. I will say that everything except the oxtail was great in this dish. I enjoyed the mushroom bullion that the oxtail was smothered with and sat in (and it was then soaked up by that leek flan- yes please!) and the veggies on top were also cooked and seasoned very well. I was just so disappointed by the oxtail! Which I think is just mainly on me. If you like oxtail, then I have a feeling you'd probably enjoy it. Usually when I don't like a food, it is texture based which makes me so mad and I don't know if there's a way to get past that. Ah well, I guess I'll keep trying to work on it.
Lastly was dessert! Always my favorite course as I have a huge sweet tooth so I was pretty jazzed for this course. And just look at this! Its absolutely beautiful. There was some peanut praline, chocolate cream, cocoa sponge cake, white chocolate crumble, and (my favorite) whisky chocolate ice cream! It was delicious, just to put it simply. The whole plate was well balanced- soft, crumbly, hard and crunchy, subtle flavors, strong cocoa flavors, rich and deep with lighter sweetness from the white chocolate. Just scrumptious. The perfect way to end the meal, having just a bite of each was a great way to experience these flavors without dreading it in a way. You know, you're at the end of the meal and stuffed and suddenly dessert comes out and you have to try and find a pocket of space for it. This was just enough to fill any little pockets of space and send me home, mostly, comfortably full.
Zazu offers a couple of multi-course meals, such as a vegetarian option, as well as normal entrees, appetizers, ceviche, and soups. You can check them out (and make reservations!) here:
Mariano Aguilera 331
Quito 170517
Mon-Fri 12:30-3:30 and 6:30pm-11:30pm | Saturday 6pm-11:30pm
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