Tostado is a cosy ceviche bar café in Soho where you can taste the diverse flavours of Ecuador. It probably isn’t the first place that you would think of to get a cooked breakfast. But hold your horses, I’ve tried it and the breakfast here has some twists that may excite a jaded palette.
Tostado’s Ecuadorian breakfast adds an unusual yet welcome South American twist to the dish. The sausage becomes spicy chorizo which goes well with some slices of cooling avocado. A llapingacho pattie sounds half-Welsh and suspicious but it turns out to be a softly fried potato and cheese cake. Two fried eggs and some tomatoes finished the plate, along with no sign of that unnecessary interloper black pudding.
Ecuadorean breakfast, £7.50 at Tostado, Soho
I was at Tostado to meet artists Connor MacNeill and Sara Thomas who have just returned from a rather exciting journey across Ecuador. You can read about their exploits and see their images here. Part of the Feel Again Project they were members of a group of 18 artists and writers who explored different parts of Ecuador from the Andes to the Galapagos Islands. They’ve returned enthused, with tales of canoeing up the Amazon, staying in Eco Lodges and climbing in the Andes. The whole country is about the size of the UK, so it’s quick to get between the different attractions. It’s hot and humid in the jungle and cooler in the mountains with – just to pick two facts at random – 1630 species of bird and and 750 different types of soup. They didn’t try them all. (Soups, not birds).
If you’re still hungry try a Tamales Lojanos. Wrapped in a banana leaf it is a mix of chicken, pork and vegetables on corn cake-like base. With a dry crumbly texture it’s served as though you eat it with your fingers, but I found a fork necesse est. Worth trying but it’s not going to replace the Equadorian breakfast in my breakfasting plans.
Follow Connor and Sara’s journey across Equador here.
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