Our last night in Quito before leaving for the Galapagos status booked at the esoteric and interesting Octava de Corpus.
Will was not feeling too well so Samuel and I ventured to Old Town Quito alone and discovered a huge home hidden behind a beautiful doorway on a colonial street.
The owner greeted us and escorted us upstairs through Christmas knick knacks and many beautiful keepsakes and tchochkies.
The dining room had about 8 tables of varying size ball with gilded plates and beautiful crystal. There was a huge Christmas tree in the center of the room and everywhere you knew it was a holiday here. The menu was huge and daunting, but Sam and I looked through it and finally he decided to start with a tomato stuffed with chicken and then continue with a superb steak. I started with three amazingly huge and delicious langoustines cooked in a rich brandy sauce, and then had a simple chicken dish stuffed with cheese and ham.
We asked the gentleman if there was a wine list and he chuckled and took us 3 flights downstairs to several huge rooms laid out with thousands of bottles some well over 30 or 40 years old and costing thousands of dollars were from France Spain and South America. We settles on a Bonarda from Argentina and even Sam had a glass and a half with his meal.
Nobody else ever arrived the entire evening and we almost felt horrible that the place was not doing much business, but perhaps it was due to the fact that it was the night before new years eve and people just don't go out for dinner.
We were too full for dessert and rolled ourselves into the taxi outside as a bevy of drag queens descended on us asking for money which is a tradition here on New Years Eve, but I guess they were starting early.
How awesome it was to have this experience dining in someone's magnificent private home in the colonial city of Quito.
