As with every trip we take, I searched the internet for a nice place to have dinner in Guayaquil. The restaurant that came up most often was Lo Nuestro, which serves classic Ecuadorian cuisine. We asked the concierge in our hotel about it and he said it was the best restaurant in the city. That sounded like a pretty good endorsement so we asked him to make a reservation for us that night.
The restaurant was a short cab ride away from our hotel, the Hilton Colon (you go everywhere by taxi in Guayaquil; rides are super cheap, ranging from $3-5 to go almost anywhere). It had a very homey décor, with countless framed photographs and articles hanging on the walls. It’s a large restaurant but is sectioned off into many smaller dining areas, which gives it a cozy feel. It’s rustic and cluttered and frilly, almost like dining in your grandmother’s house. Not exactly what I was expecting but quite comforting nonetheless.
Cluttered and cozy dining room
We ordered a bottle of wine to start and decided to split some appetizers and an entree. It’s important to note that portions here are pretty large so they’re good for sharing. The meal started off with some bread that was accompanied by two dips. The bread was white and ordinary but had a nice crispy crust.
Basket of carbs
We used the bread to taste the dips, which turned out to be a cheese dip and a super spicy salsa. We weren’t fans of the cheese dip so we steered clear of it for the rest of the meal. It didn’t taste bad, it just didn’t like cheese or much of anything and had a weird pasty texture to it.
Some sort of weird cheese dip
Josh had thought the salsa was either a roasted pepper or sun dried tomato dip so he had slathered it onto a piece of bread and took a huge bite. Big mistake! It was probably worse because he wasn’t expecting it, but it was shockingly spicy. I tried a little dab and even my tongue was burning. Still, it had a nice tangy flavor and we used it to kick up the flavor of some of the dishes we ordered.
Super spicy salsa
The spicy salsa complemented our order of shrimp empanadas. The empanadas that we had in Ecuador had a thicker, pastier crust made from I think cornmeal. It’s not the thin crispy crust that we’re used here in NYC. It wasn’t bad, just different. I did like the shrimp filling though and thought it worked well with the thicker crust and the spicy salsa.
Shrimp empanadas
We couldn’t be in Ecuador and not have one of the country’s most well known dishes, ceviche. The restaurant had lots of different options to choose from but we went for their namesake version, Ceviche Lo Nuestro. The ceviche was beautifully presented on a platter and served in two giant clam shells. This was my favorite dish of the night, with fresh and tender pieces of octopus, shrimp, fish, and calamari marinated in tangy lime juice and topped with slivers of sweet red onion.
Ceviche Lo Nuestro
Our last appetizer dish was crab claws in garlic sauce. Usually we get shrimp or chicken in garlic sauce, but the crab claws seemed like an interesting change. The claws were meaty and dusted with spices that made them taste a bit smokey. The garlic sauce was mild but tasty, and good for dipping bread into.
Crab claws in garlic sauce
For our main course, we shared a mixed seafood plate that featured corsiva, a local white fish. I actually liked this fish a lot, because it was meaty but still flaky and tender. The fish was topped with an assortment of mussels, clams, crab claws, calamari, and a jumbo head-on shrimp. The broth that bound the dish together was light and garlicky. It was a fantastic plate of food but we were so full at this point that we barely got through half of it.
Mixed seafood platter
Near the end of our meal a group of musicians came into the restaurant and started making rounds. There was a female singer with a beautiful, deep voice accompanied by two guitarists. We had a nice time just listening to them perform while we finished off our bottle of wine and Josh had a cortado (espresso with steamed milk). Unfortunately he wasn’t a fan of the cortado, as it was weak and watery, but the rest of the meal was fabulous.
Lackluster cortado
Overall Josh and I both really liked Lo Nuestro a lot. The food wasn’t fancy but it was tasty and comforting. It’s considered to be one of the more authentic restaurants in Guayaquil in terms of classic Ecuadorian cuisine, and it really felt like we were eating something lovingly homemade. If you plan on going to Guayaquil, I absolutely recommend eating at this restaurant. I don’t know if it’s really “the best restaurant in the city” but it’s pretty darn good, and I know you’ll enjoy it immensely.
Lo Nuestro
Guayaquil, Ecuador
