Local food for local people
I can´t help but notice that much of the subject matter for these posts involves food of some description. We´ve only a few days before we set off on the trip proper (during which, this blog will fall into decline somewhat I´m sure) and so we´re trying to give you an idea of what this place tastes like. Not quite getting down and licking the street, obviously, but...
Anyway, last night we sampled our first example of local cuisine. Mama Clorinda´s advertises itself (worryingly) as the most popular and safest food in Quito. It´s also pretty damn cheap, with main courses starting at about $2.99, less if you go at lunchtime.
Although Gary was keen to sample the delights of Cuy, a local delicacy (actually a whole roasted guinnea pig, teeth, claws and all), the price was enought to put him off, clocking in at about $10 more than pretty much everything else on the menu. Wise choice, he could have bought a Harry Potter book for the same price. Instead, we settled for a cheaper dish which was described in the menu as being "Mama´s special recipie". It was stewed lamb with spices, vegetables and rice and was quite interesting. Gary loved it, but I confess it´s variety of temperatures was a bit off putting for me. The lamb was hot, but the potato was cold, the beans in the salad were warm, the letuice they were rested on was not and so on. It was all pretty tasty, but I couldn´t help getting the impression that most of it had just been scooped out of a tin. Still, it was bloody cheap and a damn sight more appetising than a packet of super noodles (or indeed a guinnea pig with a skewer up his backside).

Lunchtime today was at a little cafe around the corner from the hostel, run by a Danish woman who has been living in Quito for the past thirteen years. The soup she served us was, she told us, a local dish and was basically a thick vegetable soup with, uh, bananas in it.
Well, sort of, we were told that it had bananas in it, but I assume they were pulped or something as the taste was only subtle and they certainly weren´t sticking out of the bowl like horns from a cow pie. All this with a home-baked bread roll and a freshly squeezed mango juice for a mere $1.25. And you don´t need to run to a currency conversion table to realise that´s silly money.

That´s about it for the moment. It´s our last night in the hostel tonight, and it seems wer´re not the only ones, so a night out is (naturally) called for. Having said that, a night in might be more financially sound, the hostel sells bottled beer on the premesis for about 80 cents (50p) and these are big bottles. What´s more, if you sneakily return the empties to the shop around the corner, you get 50 cents back! If this is timed right, it should be more than enough to pay for a packet of alka seltzer...
- posted by Vince @ 1:37 PM