Editor Pick
Buon Giorno
- October 20, 2006
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Shady Ady from Hinckley, United Kingdom
Normally when a guidebook recommends a restaurant, you know there’s a good chance of it being good. When it’s also recommended by a number of local friends, then I was sure I was on to a winner with Buon Giorno, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered after a long tiring day seeing the delights of Laguna Quilotoa.
The restaurant itself is perfectly located on the corner of Sanchez de Orellana and General Maldonado, overlooking the focal point of Latacunga, Parque Vicente Leon. The restaurant offers adequate seating, but the seating upstairs gives great views over the park opposite. Sadly this only seems open when the restaurant is packed full of happily eating guests.
You can see that the restaurant has tried to decorate itself in an authentic and typical Italian style, with patterned table clothes and the odd vine plant thrown in to the vacant corners. They don’t really pull it off, but it looks much cleaner and smarter than other restaurants in the area. Saying this, I do have to say that I hope the big greasy motorbike leaning against one of the tables wasn’t a permanent fixture of the restaurant!
The food on offer I thought was highly impressive, especially the pizza. There are 23 different varieties of pizza to choose from, including 6 vegetarian options. Of the other pizzas, the highlight was the ‘Meat Feast’, which contained virtually every meat available in Ecuador. They also have a small selection of pasta and a number of sandwiches, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, but it was the pizza I was recommended in using this restaurant for, and which has made Buon Giorno famous locally. A small pizza sets you back on average $4, a medium $8 and a large around $14, although when they say large it’s certainly an understatement. The large one that I shared with two other people was enormous and could have easily fed a family of five.
My friends and I chose a large cheese, tomato and mushroom pizza. Two things impressed me straight away. Firstly, the cheese was proper pizza cheese, and not the one kind of imitation mozzarella cheese you normally find for sale everywhere. Secondly the mushrooms were real, and not canned, a luxury for this area, as myself and my girlfriend had been searching for real mushrooms for months!
After not having Western food for a good 3 months, the taste of pizza was heavenly, and seemed to sweep the tiredness from my legs after my trip to Laguna Quilotoa. It will be a taste I will definitely be experiencing again. Service was efficient and it only took 25 minutes between ordering the food, having it cooked, and being served to our table, complete with a rather spicy salsa, that just added to the taste.
The restaurant is closed on Sundays, but is open every other day from 1pm until 11pm. They also do take out and delivery, although I was unable to obtain any phone details on this visit.
From journal Laguna Quilotoa - The Most Beautiful Lake in Ecuador?