Eating Out
Ecuador's restaurants range from those charging western prices for top-class international cuisine to the grimiest roadside eatery serving chicken, rice and little else besides. The majority of restaurants , however, are clean but modest, and offer decent food at low prices. Most of them simply call themselves restaurantes , but others you might encounter are cevicherias (for ceviche ), asaderos (usually roast chicken), pizzerias (pizzas), marisquerias (seafood), picanterias (cheap snacks and sometimes spicy food), parrilladas (grillhouses) and paradores (roadside stophouses). The Chinese restaurant, or chifa , is to Ecuador as the curry house is to Britain; chifas are found in just about every town in the country, dishing out tasty, inexpensive food to a loyal local following. The typical chifa dishes are chaulafan (fried rice) and tallarines (noodles), both mixed with meat and vegetables and served in large helpings. Vegetarians are likely to become well-acquainted with chifas for their tallarines con verduras (noodles and veg), one of the few hot veggie meals available across the country. There's no shortage of vegetarian food in the main tourist centres, but away from those, the cry of " soy vegeteriano " (" vegeteriana " for a woman), "I'm a vegetarian", will sometimes be met with offers of fish or even chicken, and you'll have to discuss other possibilities with the waiter; they should be able to get something together for you even if it's just egg, chips and rice - and even the blandest food can be enlivened by aji , the chilli sauce found on most restaurant dining tables. It's one of the few spicy-hot elements of Ecuadorian cooking, but the degree of spiciness depends on the establishment. Many restaurants open early in the morning and serve breakfast ( desayuno ) in either the continental or americano varieties, the former being bread ( pan ), butter ( mantequilla ) and jam ( mermelada ), accompanied by coffee ( cafe ) and juice ( jugo ); add huevos revueltos or fritos (scrambled or fried eggs) to this and you've got an americano . In the Oriente, you'll come across the petrolero (oil man), which is all this plus a chunk of meat or a similar manly accessory. Fruit salad, granola and yogurt also make appearances on breakfast tables in tourist centres. Eating out can cost less than $1.50 per head if you stick to set menus; at lunch this is called almuerzo and at dinner merienda , which consist of two or three courses and a drink. A la carte and individual main courses ( platos fuertes ) dishes are typically $2-4 - you're probably in a smart place if it's more than $5. A real blowout in a nice restaurant shouldn't go much over $15 a head. Bear in mind that the better places will add 12 percent tax (IVA) and 10 percent service to your bill.
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