El Mercado Restaurant

It’s always an adventure to walk the Cuenca streets, whether you’re looking for a particular place or just taking in the street scene. What’s amazing is how you can walk the same street several times over a period of weeks and find new stores and restaurants with each outing. Today’s lunch exploration led us to the El Mercado Restaurant at Calle Larga 8-27. We’d strolled through here a couple of weeks ago and thought it looked like a great place to eat. That impression proved to be correct!

El Mercado is spread over two floors. If all you desire is coffee and a postre, The Coffee Bar on the upper floor as you enter will do the trick. Across from the Coffee Bar is a tiende (store), where you’ll find hats, baskets, other local crafts and foods.

Continuing back is a tea room and bar, while downstairs we saw white tablecloth adorned tables with spectacular views down to the Tomebamba River and over the City. The opening photo is the view from both the tea room and the restaurant. There’s greenery everywhere, making for a very “outdoorsy” feel.

From start to finish, everything was excellent. Not just the food, but the location, service, views and presentation were impeccable.

Of course, we always start off with a cappuccino and mochaccino, both of which were the correct temperature and a perfect balance of coffee and steamed milk. Since we drink cappaccino / mochaccino everyday, we do consider ourselves experts on these items!

We ordered from the “Starter” menu (para comenzar) – and were glad we did, as the portions were more than enough. Jack ordered the Grilled Octopus and I the Prawn Encocado, described as “Prawn stewed in coconut milk, steamed rice, grilled plantains and spiced peanuts and ground corn.” It sounded heavenly.

Little biscuits appeared on the table, along with herbed butter and some other spreadable tasty concoction – honestly, we’re not always sure what we’re eating – but we always eat it. This was followed by two elegantly presented mushroom caps (Yes, mushrooms can be elegantly presented as we learned today!) garnished with tiny purple flowers.

I love food that is artistically and creatively presented and the Mercado kitchen did not disappoint. The “Starters” were a visual delight.

My “dish” was a coconut shell with the top on. The waiter gave me a moment to admire the initial presentation, then removed the top, revealing a culinary work of art. Grilled plantains were intertwined with herbs and a flower garnish. This was over the prawns that simmered in the coconut based sauce.

The Grilled Octopus looked like fine art on a plate. The arrangement of lettuce over the octopus accented with swirls and drips of delectable sauces was perfect. We had to agree that the food presentation on both dishes was beautifully done – even Jack thought so and he’s not prone to noticing these things.

Jack’s Octopus was the most tender he’s ever had -yes, believe it or not, he’s had octopus before- and my Prawns, well, they truly “broke da mouth.” Our Hawaiian Pidgen is showing here, but it suits the occasion!

We thoroughly enjoyed both our meals, which culminated with the arrival of two small brownie squares for dessert. Small but mighty in taste, they were the perfect finishing touch.

The final presentation was the check which came in what appeared to be hardbound book – so clever. We loved everything about this place – and it all came in for just around $30!

Yes, we’ll definitely be back for another taste adventure. If you’re looking for a culinary event, give “El Mercado” a try. Check out their website here!

They are open Monday through Saturday, 1200 to 2300 hrs. After 803 tripadvisor reviews, El Mercado is ranked as the #4 restaurant out of 589 Cuenca restaurants.

If you have a favorite dish at El Mercado or have another favorite Cuenca restaurant, please share it below. We’d love to check it out! Until then, hasta luego.