El Morro is the first place on the list of the best restaurants in Ecuador. In the second story (first floor is another restaurant) of El Morro's orange and white pier house, look for this delicious no-name cafe. The restaurant is casual, with just a few wooden tables and plastic chairs, but it serves the best crab soup you'll ever have. It went as it went during the day.

Arrive early to avoid disappointment. Although there is no formal menu, the lunch plates include a soup, main course, and beverage. Ceviche, garlic breaded shrimp, and other dishes include shrimp or seafood soup, fish in plantain sauce with rice and salad, ceviche, and more. Fishermen bring their daily crab catches in from the pier, and here is the first place they sell them to, ensuring that they are as fresh as possible. For years to come, you'll most likely be telling your friends about this site.

Location: 599 Page Blvd Springfield, Massachusetts, El Morro
Phone: 09-8141-0236
Hours: 8am-3:30pm
Google ratings: 4.9/5.0

Few views in the world compare to the one from sails restaurant in capturing the soul of a city. Every table in the restaurant views out over hundreds of ships, as it is located in the center of the Southern Hemisphere's largest marina, Westhaven. The Auckland Harbour Bridge, North Head, and Rangitoto Island are visible beyond this sea of masts, forming the City of Sails' perspective. Sails Restaurant is not only about location. It is minutes from Auckland's central business district, yet in a world of its own, with limitless free parking right outside the door. Over the last three decades, the restaurant has forged its reputation as one of New Zealand’s top restaurants through an uncompromising belief in using only the freshest ingredients, the most talented chefs and professional waiting staff.

Sails also offers one of the most extensive wine lists in New Zealand, with rare vintages from the country's best wineries. Sails is one of the few restaurants that employs traditional Sommeliers to help you navigate the cellar's more than 200 wines. Sails Restaurant's beautiful views and award-winning food and service make it a dining experience not to be missed, whether you're a businessperson looking to impress your clients or a visitor looking to be impressed.

Location: 103-113 Westhaven Drive, Westhaven MarinaAuckland 1144

Phone: 239.360.2000

Google ratings: 4.6/5.0

Hotel del Parque, Guayaquil's first luxury boutique hotel, opened in 2017. It is the city's newest stylish restaurant, located in Parque Histórico in front of the Guayas river and surrounded by a forest. Casa Julián is more than a restaurant; it's an adventure that transports you to another era. The mansion was built in the early 1900s by renowned Ecuadorian doctor Julian Coronel. It enjoys a new age after being donated to Ecuador's Central Bank in 1987 and subsequently placed within the park. Casa Julián is located next to the hotel and provides a calm setting with its larger windows, large trees, and proximity to a lagoon.

Casa Julián's food, according to Juan Carlos, focuses on both tradition and innovation. As a result, it does not necessitate a great deal of technology, modernity, or molecular food. Casa Julián is more than a restaurant; it is a whole experience that provides guests with a great meal. This Ecuadorian restaurant's secret for success includes traditional tastes, Ecuadorian culture, history, and a high level of service. Locals and visitors may try the Ecuadorian version of a tamal made of corn and loaded with fresh cheese, known as Humita, but crisped with goat cheese, chorizo, and chile pepper and tomato jelly at Casa Julián. This meal is one of the menu's starters, while a plate of prawns with coconut sauce served with a plantain version of corviche (patty) and sweet and crunchy coconut chunks for the main course could be the perfect pairing. Without a doubt, Casa Julián is making a name for itself in Ecuadorian gastronomy by allowing the tradition to capture the attention of both locals and visitors.

Location: Calle de Don Ramón de la Cruz, 12, 28001 Madrid

Phone: +593 98 645 3037

Google ratings: 4.6/5.0

Heladería Rosalía Suárez ranks 2nd in the top of the best restaurants in Ecuador. Rosala Suárez found in 1897 that the tastiest ice cream had no cream at all. Since then, her shop has become a sensation. Helados de paila, sorbets made from pure tropical fruit juices (guanábana, naranjilla, maracuyá) and egg whites, mixed with a wooden spoon in a copper bowl (paila), cooled on a bed of straw, are now run by her grandson.

"She was in at least six spots here in the center, in a place in front of La Merced park, she was there for a long time until the space on Oviedo street opened," says Rosala. Rosala's great-grandson, Tiberio Vásquez, states, "We rented there for more than sixty years." There are currently two Doa Rosala Ice Cream stores: one on Oviedo and Olmedo streets, which Tiberio inherited from his grandmother Angélica Suárez, Rosala's daughter, twenty-eight years ago, and the other on Oviedo and Olmedo streets, which Tiberio took over the management of twenty-eight years ago. Another great-grandson owns the spot in front, where they continue to follow the same recipe and tradition.

Location: Oviedo No 7-82
Hours: 7am-6pm

TripAdvisor ratings: 4.5/5.0

During a trip to Spain, Juan José Morán, the owner and chef, noticed that all of the restaurants had something in common: a blackboard (pizarra) where the seasonal menu was displayed at the restaurant's entrance, allowing customers to see what the restaurant has to offer ahead of time. With this in mind, Juan José intended to bring the tapas concept to Guayaquil, but with Ecuadorian dishes as little servings. "The idea is to offer a seasonal product," Juan says, "and because it's written on the blackboard, it's easy to write it and erase it." After all, it was a creative method to let locals and visitors to sample a variety of foods in one sitting.

Authentic Ecuadorian cuisine with a modern twist, delivered in small bites to allow each guest to experience the essence, flavors, textures, and aromas that have been familiar in local family kitchens for centuries. One of the summer 2018 special dishes is a Shrimp Terrine with a puree of black and white garlic and a crust of shrimp. Not only is this dish blowing people's minds, but there's also a San Cristobal Island from Galapagos rendition with a cup of Brujo fish soup from Galapagos, crusty fish cheeks in tempura of a San Cristobal's artisanal beer called Endemic, dried tomatoes, and mint. However, if you have a sweet tooth, don't miss La Pizarra's "Un Café por la Tarde," a sponge soaked in San Cristobal's coffee and served with a blackberry and lemongrass sorbet, which is just incomparable!

Location: Local 6, Av. La Puntilla, Samborondón 092301, Ecuador

Phone: 662 685 804

Google ratings: 4.5/5.0

By adopting the name of Ecuador's previous currency, Dos Sucres pays homage to the past. "They are merely cooks, they are not saving the world," says Daniel Contreras, owner and chef of Dos Sucres. Nonetheless, he hopes to improve people's perceptions of food by eating healthy, without sacrificing flavor, and combining it with a twist on tradition. As he notes, food fads can become ingrained in a family's way of life if they opt to incorporate them into their daily routine.

Dos Sucres is a fusion of regional flavors, customs, and agro-ecology, as well as responsibility and the chef's interpretation of the origins. Daniel is proposing a sustainable restaurant idea in which local farmers play a key role in the puzzle he is putting together in Cuenca. Dos Sucres not only buys their goods directly from the farmers, but also gives them a spot in the restaurant every Tuesday where residents may buy their products. Another pillar of Dos Sucres' structure is the continuous exploration of local recipes, ingredients, and customs, as well as how they might be adapted to modern life.

Even though their menus are different, many people believe Dos Sucres to be the brother of La Pizarra in Guayaquil and Nuema in Quito. All of them, however, symbolize the evolution of Ecuadorian cuisine, pushed by young local chefs who are working to enhance and promote Ecuador's gastronomy in order to set the table for expert foodies who are always on the lookout for new gastronomic destinations across the world.

Don't miss out on Dos Sucres' take of Encebollado: tuna paired with tomato, onion, corn, plantain chips, and crispy corn, to name a few ingredients. If you're looking for a unique dish, try the sous vide ribs with fig vinegar, caramelized almonds, and mote (corn) with avocado sauce. Furthermore, for those who enjoy sugar, the customary figs with cheese are created as a fig's mouse with goat cheese emulsified and an Amaranto caramel leaf at the restaurant. As part of its healthy approach, Dos Sucres does not serve sweet colas or carbonated drinks, but it does offer a good selection of local juices, cocktails, and craft brews.

Location: Roberto Crespo Toral 3-56, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador

Phone: +593 98 453 7693

Google ratings: 4.5/5.0

Nuema is one of the most unique and innovative eateries in the list of the best restaurants in Ecuador. Alejandro Chamorro, the chief chef, studied art in college before discovering his passion for cooking. He views each dish as a work of art, combining many textures, flavors, and smells in a single piece that, in the end, will wow the guest. Alejandro has worked in some of the world's most renowned restaurants, including Noma in Denmark and Astrid & Gaston in Lima, where he met his wife, Pia Salazar, pastry chef at Nuema.

Ecuadorian origins are represented by Nuema. "Due to a lack of understanding, we must believe in what we have and what we can do with what we don't know we have," Alejandro says. That Ecuador's Macambo, like Parmesan in Italy, is a one-of-a-kind product." Visitors to Nuema can experience Ecuador's culinary heritage through adaptations of indigenous delicacies such as tongue with peanut sauce, milk, and sambo nuts (pumpkins seeds). Nuema, for example, bases its culinary idea on three pillars: a combination of the three, farm to table, back to the beginnings, or culinary memoir.

In Nuema's recipes, the aim is to use three elements that allow people to quickly perceive and decipher the flavors. Innovation, expertise, and ancestral flavors are all part of the final mix. Working with local producers, according to Alejandro and Pia, is the greatest method to control the quality of their food while also boosting the sustainability of local farmers and producers. They can also find products that aren't common or simple to come by, but are usually associated with the origin of a traditional dish, such as Camote, Mashua, Pino, Paico, and Macambo, among others.

Back to the origins or culinary memoir: Nuema chefs strive to preserve the essence of each dish, even as they innovate in the preparation process; in the end, the goal is to preserve the essence of each dish by mimicking the memoir that each plate carries. Using green plantain in some meals, for example, can reawaken Alejandro's sensory memory of his grandmother, which he can then relay through his rendition of the traditional dish. Nuema is located at the Illa Experience Hotel in San Marcos, and serves breakfast, Sunday brunch, lunch (with reservations), and tasting menu dinners with 5 to 7 courses that are available to the public.

Location: the Illa Experience Hotel in San Marcos

Phone: +593 99 850 2726

Google ratings: 4.4/5.0

Casa Alonso embodies the combination of Ecuadorian and world cuisines in a single location. One of Cuenca's best restaurants is located at the renowned Mansion Alcazar hotel, which is part of Conde Nast Johansens' luxury collection. Casa Alonso, which can accommodate a maximum of 26 guests, adds to the opulence of Mansion Alcazar. Guests may feel the nostalgia of the early twentieth century while dining in this 19th-century mansion's garden, which is accented by pewter and handcrafted glass plates, silver cutlery, and crystal glasses.

The menu at Casa Alonso has been designed to showcase the best of Ecuadorian cuisine alongside the best delicacies from across the world. Try the smoked trout, shrimp ceviche, or their take on the traditional Mote, an Andean corn delicacy. Casa Alonso also has a great range of teas and infusions that are served in the afternoon. Small bits of traditional sweets are presented alongside a mix of local and imported flavors.

Location: Simón Bolívar, Cuenca 010104, Ecuador

Phone: (+52) 777 316 0591

Google ratings: 4.2/5.0

The best food in the Oriente may be found at this relaxing riverside restaurant, which is part of the lovely hotel of the same name, located 1km north of town. Sofia, the award-winning chef-owner, makes aromatic pollo ishpingo (cinnamon chicken – ishpingo is a sort of cinnamon unique to the Oriente), which awakens the palette with its sumptuous, delicate flavors.

El Jardin is a casual restaurant with a variety of delicious Southwestern/Mexican cuisine, including sizzling fajitas, grilled pork chops, and steaks with green chile. Sopapilla Rancheras, Tequila Lime Chicken, and their grilled Steak Picado are among their daily offerings. Then there's the green chile, which can be mild, medium, hot, or extra hot depending on your preference. They didn't forget about the youngsters, don't you think? Every Monday evening, children under the age of 12 eat for free from their children's menu.

If you want to take your dining experience to the next level, their full-service bar, which was recently rebuilt in 2013, has all of your favorite spirits and eight beers on tap. Every night, their bartenders shake things up with their exquisite margaritas and freshly squeezed MOJITOS. On Thursday evenings, they offer their famous 16 oz. Margaritas for only $2.99 each. On Thursday nights, they'll be serving over 300 margaritas, so get there early!

Location: Paseo Turístico, Barrio Obrero

Phone: (408) 320.2411

Google ratings: 4.0/5.0