Page 120 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2023 SPECIAL CRUISE EDTION

hominy with house-made chimichurri, onion/
tomato preserve and a crispy golden potato
cake. One of the tastiest dishes of our entire
week was Escardo’s play on comfort food:
grilled pumpkin gnocchi with a confit of arti-
choke and Andean cheese - resting in a silky
bath of sacha inchi (sometimes called the Inca
peanut) pesto – garnished naturally with a per-
fectly roasted baby carrot. Scrumptious.

Aura – Kitchen with Soul

Enrique “Quique” Sempere is a made-to-
order TV chef: young, handsome, charismatic,
passionate about food – and a damn good cook.
The son of a Quiteno mother and a father
from Valencia, Spain, Quique learned his way
around kitchens and culinary classrooms in
both countries before landing a job as a TV
judge on the first season of Master Chef
Ecuador. That led to other gigs on the Latin
American cooking channel, El Gourmet TV –
and an avid fan base spread throughout Latin
America and into Europe.
Sempere helmed the Royal Palm Hotel
restaurant in the Galapagos and Pacha, a tapas
restaurant in Quito, before opening his dream
project earlier this year in the buzzing Gonza-
lez Suarez District. He calls the place Aura –
Cocina con Alma (kitchen with soul).
“We are inspired by the gastronomic wealth
of our country, its products and flavors, its
people, its regions, its culture, its traditions, its
creativity,” Sempere said. “It’s the spark that
infects us with joy and life.”
Guinea pig is pretty much a national dish in
Ecuador. Sempere serves it in deep-fried spring
rolls. Our tasting menu also included yellowfin
tuna tartare and a hearty traditional dish made
with sticky rice, smoked squid and chorizo in a
red sauce. Another course offered a trio of
arancini stuffed with local cheeses, sweet chut-
ney and achiote, nuzzled atop a pool of lamb
stew. For a contemporary plate, the chef
stacked caramelized foie gras atop a plantain/
cacao butter tortilla he then topped with a

120 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2023
120 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2023