Contemporary Ecuadorian Cuisine
1. NUUM
Nuum didn’t come to set the table: it came to shake Ecuadorian dining for its core. It digs up raw, native flavors and throws them on the plate with rigor and risk. José Sogues, Juan Carlos Alulema, and Luis Jiménez take the country’s wild biodiversity and turn it into world class cooking, never cutting the umbilical cord with the land that feeds it.
Cuenca’s iconic Tiestos has the drama of a family feast: clay pots piled high with shrimp, beef, or lobster, sauced with abandon and meant for sharing. Chef Juan Carlos Solano’s creations are as much performance as they are a meal. Generous, theatrical, and utterly Cuencano in girth and spirit, Tiestos turns eating into celebration itself.
Zazu has long been considered one of Quito’s first fine dining powerhouses. With decades of experience and a flair for reinvention, it’s stayed ahead by adapting to the evolving tastes of discerning locals and globe trotting foodies alike. Seasonal menus, flawless service, a cellar stocked with top vintages, and a cuisine now boldly rooted in the true flavors of Ecuador.
At Nuema, Ecuador is served in real time. A menu crossing Amazonia and Andes paiche with chonta, mashua, criollo black pork turns each dish into living territory, ingredients pushed to their fullest expression by chefs of the highest caliber, proof that Ecuadorian cuisine is writing its now boldest chapters.
Born 3,500 meters up in the Antisana páramo, 3500 began as Alejo Huertas’ remote kitchen, where he cooked with forgotten Andean herbs at hand. Today, its sleek urban outposts reinterpret Ecuador’s biodiversity through a singular cuisine rooted in his grandmother’s unwritten recipes and playful, seasonal creations.
6. Casa Gangotena
7. Somos
8. Dos Sucres
9. Chulpi Urbano
10. Kriollo
