What to eat in Galápagos: the fish market, the kiosks and the $5 lunch

The first thing to know about eating in Galápagos is that the fish you are served was probably swimming that morning. The second is that the islands are a thousand kilometres from the mainland, so everything that did not come out of the sea or a highland farm arrived by ship, and is priced accordingly. Eat what the islands produce and you will eat very well for little. Insist on imported cheese and you will pay for the boat.

The set lunch

Every town has restaurants that serve an almuerzo at midday: a soup, a main of fish, chicken or beef with rice and a little salad, a glass of fresh juice, sometimes a small dessert, for $5 to $8. It is how the islands themselves eat, it is the best value meal you will find, and it is usually on a chalkboard rather than a menu. Look for the places with locals at the tables between twelve and two.

The fish market of Puerto Ayora

Halfway along Avenida Charles Darwin, the waterfront street of Puerto Ayora, the fishermen land their catch in the morning and clean it on a stone counter while a sea lion, a heron and a queue of pelicans wait for the scraps. It is a spectacle as much as a market, and the best place to see what is in season: yellowfin tuna, wahoo, the local white fish called brujo, and from September to the end of the year the red spiny lobster.

You can buy fish here to cook if you have a kitchen, but most visitors come to watch and then walk two streets inland to eat.

The kiosks

In the evening the pedestrian street Charles Binford, two blocks up from the waterfront, closes to traffic and becomes a row of open kitchens known as los kioscos. Each has a grill out front with the day's fish, lobster in season, prawns and skewers; you pick, they cook, and you eat at plastic tables in the street with everyone else in town. A grilled fish with rice and plantain is around $12 to $15, a whole lobster with sides $25 to $35 depending on the season and the size. It is loud, cheap and very good, and it is where the islands' food is most itself.

What to order

• Ceviche, the coast's dish: raw fish or shrimp cured in lime with onion, tomato and coriander, served with popcorn and toasted corn on the side. In Galápagos it is often made with tuna or the day's white fish.
• Encebollado, the breakfast that cures everything: a hot tuna and yuca soup under a pile of pickled onion, with lime and chilli to taste. Sold from early morning.
• Bolón de verde, a ball of mashed green plantain with cheese or pork, fried, also a breakfast.
• Grilled tuna steak, served rare if you ask, better here than almost anywhere.
• Lobster, only between September and the end of December, when the fishery is open. Outside those months a lobster on a menu is either frozen or illegal; do not order it.
• Highland coffee: Santa Cruz grows its own in the humid zone above Bellavista, and the cafés in Puerto Ayora serve it.
• Fresh juices everywhere, $2 to $4: passion fruit, tree tomato, blackberry, soursop, or whatever the highlands sent down that morning.

Prices

Galápagos costs more than the mainland, but not more than a European city. As a rough guide: a set lunch $5 to $8, a main in a mid-range restaurant $15 to $25, a waterfront dinner with a drink $30 to $40 per person, a beer $3 to $5, a coffee $2 to $3, a large bottle of water $1 to $2. Imported snacks, wine and anything in a package cost about double what they do in Quito.

Vegetarian, vegan, and allergies

Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno both have vegetarian dishes on most menus and a few fully vegetarian places; rice, beans, plantain, avocado, eggs and the fruit are everywhere. Isabela and Floreana have less choice, so say what you need when you sit down. On tour boats the lunch is set and often fish; tell the operator about allergies or a vegetarian diet when you book so the crew brings something else.

Water

Do not drink the tap water, on any island. Hotels have filtered water to refill a bottle, shops sell it by the litre, and restaurants serve bottled or filtered water by default. Ice in established restaurants is made from purified water and is fine.

The mainland, briefly

If you pass through Quito, Guayaquil or Cuenca, eat there too: the set lunch is $3 to $5, the markets are bigger, and dishes the islands rarely make, such as llapingachos (potato cakes with peanut sauce) and hornado (slow-roast pork), are worth a detour. And Ecuador makes some of the best chocolate in the world, which packs well and gets through the biosecurity check without trouble.

In short

Eat the fish, take the almuerzo at midday, go to the kiosks at night, and let the market tell you what is in season. Bring cash: the kiosks, the market and most set-lunch places do not take cards.

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Im Reiseführer

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