QUITO

While Quito is a superlative spot for an education in Ecuador’s blossoming culinary scene, I hadn’t expected to find myself actually spending the day at school. “For many years, this was a kindergarten,” says Santiago Rosero, one of the pioneers behind Fermento. Part-cooking cooperative, part-bar, the project hosts a rotating lineup of chefs in the old classrooms, with tables and chairs arranged in the former playground.

Located in the not-so-trendy La Vicentina neighbourhood, at the front of the space there’s a small organic market, which leads through to the old school. I order an Ecuadorian IPA while we talk, with an artisanal blue cheese burger on the way. A short walk away, (barbecued tripe) and deep-fried empanadas. The scene stands in sharp contrast to the cutting-edge cool of Fermento. Is any of this for them? Santiago seems to know what I’m going to ask next.