The food found in Guayaquil was far more interesting than I imagined. It seems soups are the centerpiece of this cuisine, which we thought odd until we started to delve into them. Some restaurants have two sizes--a meal size and a half size which can be ordered as we would order a soup course in the US. Most of the soups are quite heavy-we didn't find so many brothy refreshers here.

Soups

Since it was Easter Week, the specialty hand-written on pretty much every menu was Fanesca - a spring soup traditional served around Easter, consisting of lots of vegetables and some salt cod. [Recipe]

For the adventurous a simple Caldo de Manguera might foot the bill. A blood sausage, made of rice and blood stuffed inside pig intestines, floats in a hearty broth. Honest, it's good.

Encebollado consists of albacore, yuca, onions, cilantro, tomatoes and more to make a hearty soup that'll make a meal.

Cazuela was our fave. It's a peanut and plantain fish soup, although it can be made with chicken (usually for the Christmas holidays I understand).

The Rest of the Cuisine

Potatoes are popular and more tasty than bland US varieties.

Any food can be made more palatable (or less, depending on your taste for chili heat) by the use of aji sauce. Ask for it if it's not already on your table.

Goat stew (seco de chivo) was found in every restaurant we ate at. I had it twice; it's that good.

The Doral hotel has a cafeteria with a steam table right out there where you can look at the food before deciding upon what to eat. Good for lunch, the joint is cheap and the portions generous. I had to eat the one thing I couldn't identify using my halting (er, well, halted...) Spanish. It was Guatita. Tripe. Yummy. Honest.