RESTAURANTS IN CUENCA ECUADOR - Todos Santos Church and Restaurant in Cuenca - THE BEST OF THE BEST!

 TODOS SANTOS CHURCH AND RESTAURANT IN CUENCA - A Don't Miss!

Some of Todos Santos Restaurant's Remarkable Chefs

Bo and I LOVE to cook!  We cook and eat most of our meals at home because we like to eat healthy, want to stay within our monthly Cuenca budget, and also because, since we know GOOD food, we're pretty picky about finding restaurants that we consider fabulous and reasonably priced.

Of course we could go out to eat every day here because many of the restaurants charge $2 to $5 for a full course delicious breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  However, we like to go out occasionally and find that special restaurant we want to frequent because it's a treat, a celebration, an experience, and a great meal for a great price.  Yes, we do sometimes meet friends at a restaurant for a meal, or we sit down for a simple mid-day meal because we've been out and about doing errands and we're too tired to fix anything at home.  Yet, on a regular daily basis, we are home enjoying the fresh meats, fruits and vegetables from our neighborhood "mercado" which are then transformed into fabulous healthy meals, mostly prepared by my Chef Bo.

Platanos, carrots, and camote (a sweet potato) are in the three-tier basket.  Chard, red and green peppers, avacados, red onions, cucumbers, fresh pungent basil (what a find for 50 cents) leafy lettuce.  Wooden bowl abundant with local fruits including mangos, oranges, apples, papaya, and bananas.  All this produce for $11.50.  En Serio!!!! 

One of our favorite places to dine is at Todos Santos Restaurant on Calle Larga.  It is located in a 16th Century Convent, and the food is absolutely fabulous! Recently we went there with friends for lunch.  I asked the head chef, Mauricio, if I could come and do a photo shoot for my blog.  He immediately said, "Yes," with the offer to take Bo and me on a private tour of the restaurant, organic gardens, and church grounds.  We met Mauricio the following day before the restaurant opened, and what a fun time it was photographing this kind and friendly chef and one of the most amazing historical buildings in Cuenca.  Mauricio explained a lot of the history as he took Bo and me on our own personal guided tour.  It was another fabulous "behind-the-curtain" experience I will cherish, which I love about living in Cuenca.

So join us through my lens and then plan on stopping by to meet Chef Mauricio and enjoy experiencing his artistic organic cooking.  It will be a memorable meal in a quaint and historic atmosphere which you are sure to enjoy and will never forget!

PICTURES TELL THE STORY.....

Chef Mauricio Bernal has his own special place in the garden area where he like to go and "chill" before or after a long day of meeting, greeting, and serving the public.  His passion for his restaurant and its location was evident as he proudly showed us around this beautifully restored historic building.

Cobbled floors, antique pieces, and original woodwork grace the entrance with a rustic and historic feel.  The original building was built in the 1500's.  Though recently renovated, it boasts an old-world historic ambiance with many original features intact.

A huge double wooden door leading to a cafe-bakery is open to the public daily.  Their fresh on-sight oven-baked breads and delicious pastries are absolutely worth the trip.

 

The daily breads and sweets are.......

...... freshly baked in this over 100 year old historic wood-fired oven.  The master baker uses long wooden paddles to turn the breads for an even browning.

The public can purchase these delectables Tuesdays thru Saturdays from one of the only five charitable nuns living on the premises.  Apparently, there used to be 100 nuns living here.

Chef Mauricio took us through one of the many quaint dining rooms, and we climbed over the plants that barricade this staircase.......

.......walked down a little rustic hallway.......

......into a tiny room where, in the past, a newly received nun would be called to isolate herself for a year from the things of the world (yikes, no texting or internet).  This was her time to pray and be sure she wanted to continue her life strictly devoted to her religious faith.  Yes, this is where she slept - on that thin little mat on the floor.  Ouch! 

It was time to go down and tour the lush and grand organic garden from where all of Todos Santos' fruits and vegetables are harvested.  Mauricio's salads, vegetable dishes, and desserts are always organic, freshly prepared and so delicious!  The fabulous Tomebamba River runs parallel to this abundant landscape.

We walked along beautiful tiers of stone pathways adorned with cascading plants......

.....enjoying a fabulous view of this historic city!

The leafy lettuce were abundant and thriving.

Delicious plump berries.....

.....and more!  We witnessed a wonderful array of fruits!

We sampled one of many black walnuts ripe for the harvest.

The day was sunny and warm - perfect weather for a colorful fragrant organic garden tour!

Every few steps there would be another variety of juicy fruit or colorful ripe vegetable.

Some areas were ready for planting another rotation crop.

The lush grounds are planted, weeded and harvested by one of several gardeners.

As we circled around.....

.....the rustic garden grounds......

.....Mauricio explained to us that the nuns use some of the restaurant and bakery proceeds to help support this school adjacent to the Convent-restaurant.  They also support the poor.

We watched the children come out of the building for their daily recess time.  Children in Ecuador wear uniforms to school, and each school has it's specific uniform colors. 

It was time to head back to the restaurant, but difficult to pull myself away from the beautiful church grounds and this amazing sky and view overlooking the city.

Back at the restaurant, special cakes were being created by......

.....one of Todos Santos' master bakers.

A paper is formed into a cone and filled with a sweet fruit syrup.....

.....then squeezed onto the center of each cookie.

Five different fruit flavors were pressed while we enjoyed watching this antiquated process.

While the master baker decorated his pastries and cookies, this student chef prepped vegetables and greens for the soon-to-arrive lunch crowd.

All from that abundant organic garden!

Finally, the tour is over and Mauricio heads downstairs to the elegant dining area.....

.....to check on the table settings and ambiance and give it his final approval!

Todos Santos is located at Calle Larga 5-19 y Mariano Cueva.  

They opened October 1st, after a two-year renovation.  Go early and Mauricio will take you by the hand and show you around, explain the history, and seat you for an elegant and memorable meal.  On your way out, stop at the bakery to take home some of the delicious and unique breads and sweets. 

You can order a tasty and reasonably priced elegant lunch (above) in the day time. I had "Seco de Chivo" - goat that is slow-cooked for 12 hours overnight!  It was melt-in-my-mouth delicious and tasted like the most tender steak ever!   Buen Provecho!

VISA PROCESS IN CUENCA - PART 2 - VISA VENTING - And Thank You God For Sending Us Help and Hope!

I was so discouraged yesterday.  After six plus hours at the immigration office trying to obtain our residency visas, we walked away and headed home both mentally and physically exhausted and overwhelmed with the task ahead if we wanted to continue this grueling residency visa process.  Some of our documents were rejected due to specific "picky" translation errors, every translated page must now be signed by the translator and they were not, and our residency application was incorrect (it must be filled out in Spanish only).  I could have lived with all of these rejections because they could have been corrected in a few days.  However, because Cuenca had run out of an absolutely required form called Movimiento Migratorio, immigration would not accept our visit as an initial submission of documents until we had that filled out form - which, by the way, we are told is going to take two weeks or more before they will be available.  In Ecuador, that could be two or three months!  Then, to top this "gone south" visa episode, our marriage license was now 91 days from the apostilled date stamped, and it has to be no more than 90 days once the documents are considered submitted.  SO, FOR ONE DAY (can you hear me SCREAMING), and because of their RIGID inflexibility to make any exception in our favor, we were told that we had to reacquire a current marriage license from Oregon.

This is no small task since we are over 3,500 miles away, living in a snail-mail country, and the clock is ticking because our tourist visit will expire in the next 3 weeks.  Oh, and the reason we are applying so late for our residency is because it took the entire month of January to open an account at Banco Pichincha and have our investment money wired there from our Oregon bank (another LONG story).  There were so many hoops we had to jump through just to open the Pichincha account, and also with all the holidays in Ecuador and so many fiesta days of closed businesses, the time clock just flew.  

Once our money for our investment CD finally arrived to Banco Pichincha end of January, Bo and I heard that JEP Bank paid a much better rate on CD's (9.5%).  So, we immediately walked over there beginning of February, and in less than 2 hours, we opened an account!  The staff there was so helpful and made opening an account an absolute breeze.  Banco Pichincha was not a pleasant experience after continued delays and about six back and forth visits there trying to scramble and gather all the documents and letters they required, and their interest rate is not even great!  So, immediately after opening our JEP account, we hurried over to Banco P, withdrew our money, and returned to deposit it to our JEP account.  Immediately, a CD was issued and we were given the proper documentation to submit to immigration for our investment visa.  Had we known this in the beginning, had our hired relocation helper told us about JEP and the ease of opening an account there, we would not be in the "marriage certificate now expired because of ONE DAY" situation.  But, I digress.......

By the time we realized we needed to jump on things or our documents would be expiring, we ran into the "sorry, but we have no more Movimiento Migratorio forms for two more weeks, at least" dead end!  Our relocation helper told us to go to immigration anyway and maybe they would make an exception.  NOT!  We spent the rest of the afternoon back at our apartment - I took a long nap and Bo went out for a long walk.  We later were invited to our neighbors for dinner, and they gave us all their sympathy since they, too, had recently gone through their own four different immigration denials from hell!  Today, they had finally passed the "picky" visa ordeal and had been accepted!  So, we celebrated them, and they let us whine as we dined with them, completely sympathetic to our situation. 

Every morning is a new day - and we can either rejoice in it or keep sinking.  I woke up very sad and weary, and so I prayed and asked God to give us wisdom and to help us.  I later received an e-mail from some friends here, and I wrote them back and shared our ordeal.  Immediately, we were invited over to process things and find resolution.  We found out from them that we could apply for a 90 day tourist visa extension (12-X) for $30 each, and this would give us peace of mind and lots more time to continue our visa process.  We jumped on a bus this afternoon (really, you have to jump on or they ride away and drag you along) and headed to our rescuers.  What encouragers!  Within a couple hours, our friends had helped us download the proper forms, fill them out, printed them for us, wrote us the appropriate extension application letter, and told me all I had to do to before going down to immigration's passport section next week and applying for extensions.  We would not have known this without our friends (since they are going through a similar visa rejection ordeal and time crunch).  We only knew about the $230 visa extensions (which we did not want to have to spend that much money on).  They've truly paid it forward to us, and I can't wait to do the same one day.

We visited for a few hours and laughed a lot, and then Bo and I jumped another bus home (I LOVE the buses here for 25 cents, and they drop us off a block or two from home).  Once home, we checked our e-mails, and Bo's brother wrote back (whom we had e-mailed last night asking if he would go to Portland and obtain certified copies of our marriage license and then take them to Salem and have them apostilled).  He told us the task was done and our documents were on the way today DHL Express and will arrive in Cuenca on the 15th (that's EXPRESS). it is costing us $170 - but that's a lot less than if we had to fly back to Oregon!  We still may have time to submit our documents before our 90 day passports expire on March 4th, but I don't think we want to chance things for only another $60 for the visa extensions and 90 more days each.

So, here I sit, hopeful again, and all because of the help we received today from our Cuenca friends and Oregon brother.  We still have a lot ahead of us to  accomplish.  Translation of documents must be corrected, and when the apostilled marriage licenses (I got two copies just to play it safe) arrive, they must be translated and notarized.  We have to make another trip to immigration once the Movimiento Migratorio forms are in, and the process will begin all over again (yikes!).


When I think of the positives about being here, I smile.  In spite of "suddenlies" and discouragements, which will always be a part of our days and life, it's the people we surround ourselves with who can be that voice of encouragement, that rah-rah-rah team, that wisdom and help we need when we wouldn't know what to do.  These are the friends who help us climb out of the pit of despair.  Today, we were reminded that we are not alone.  Even as new as we are in Cuenca, we already have people here who have shown themselves to be there for us!

Thank you neighbor friends, for dinner last night and for listening and caring.

Thank you friends, for letting us know the next step to take and for helping us accomplish this and encouraging us today.
Thank you brother Dave, for being there for us when we so needed you miles and miles away and getting our task accomplished so quickly.
Thank you God, for always giving Bo and me hope by sending us help and words of wisdom and encouragement, and for picking us up when we feel like we're sinking.

Yes, today's turned out to be another wonderful day in Cuenca!!!

Calle Larga - Blue Skies in Cuenca!!!  Not a day's gone by since being here that I don't walk around in sandals and a t-shirt.

Parque De Calderon - Flowers bloom year round in Cuenca!!  How I love sitting in this park surrounded by the beauty and watching the people walking by!