An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I was supposed to meet friends at Ta’Lico, a Chinese restaurant across from Hotel Oro Verde for lunch, but for some reason the others ended up at a neighboring Chinese restaurant and I ended up sharing lunch with Ta’Lico’s owner all by myself.
Another interesting thing is that many years ago I lived and worked in China for a year and I developed a great love of Chinese cuisine.
Fast forward to Cuenca. I haven’t found authentic Chinese food anywhere (except for Pei’s dumplings). Tell me if I’m wrong. I have gone to several Chinese restaurants and I’ve asked: Do you have authentic Chinese food? And they tell me honestly they don’t. They tell me they serve for the Ecuadorean palate. They tell me if I’ll give them a day’s notice, they can privately prepare Chinese food for me.
So I was surprised and delighted to find real Chinese food. Real “tree ears”; eggplant; sharp flavors of garlic, scallions, red peppers and fresh ginger; all cooked with sesame oil and accompanied by fresh jasmine tea. The portions were huge. I ordered three entrees, so I could take some home.
The owners are Theresa and her husband. (He cooks and does not speak Spanish or English so I don’t know his name.) They came from Guanzhou three years ago, leaving well-paid jobs for a healthier lifestyle for their children. Originally, Theresa (whose Chinese name is Wang Qing) came from Hunan and her husband came from Szechuan. Their cooking represents all three areas. And they will tone down the spiciness to suit you.
And another interesting thing: The restaurant name Ta’Lico is a wordplay on “Está Rico” (meaning “It’s Delicious”). Since Chinese can’t easily pronounce “r’s”, they say “l’s” instead. (I have to think the apostrophe would have been better replaced with an accent over the “a”, as in Tá Rico.)
Anyway, I hope you go check it out.
Address: Av. Ordóñez Lasso 6-117 y Los Olivos, 593, Cuenca, Ecuador.
Contact information: 099 114 0201
Recommended by Heather Park: 099 477 7459
