Many years ago as a teen-aged boy I move with my family from Long Island, New York to Orem, Utah. My sister Lynn and I felt that perhaps we had fallen off the side of the world. One of the things we used to joke about was a huge bill-board sign that was placed alongside the roadway leading up from Provo to Orem that proudly announced that, “Things Are Happening In Orem!” We wondered if that sign was announcing that some cherry orchard owner was having a sale or something, because we did not see too much else “happening” in Orem. At that time Orem had a population of perhaps 15,000 people, but now it is a large city with over a hundred thousand people. So, apparently the sign was right.
This morning Mary and I broke out the bicycles and pedaled up to the north end of town and then down into “central.” As we rode around I commented to Mary about just how much construction and change was going on in our little village. I was reminded of the sign in Orem and suggested that someday I should drive all over town and take pictures of ongoing construction and put them in a blog post entitled, “Things Are Happening In San Clemente.”
Well…On that note, Things are happening here!
When we moved to San Clemente in 2011 there were a half-dozen full service restaurants and a few more almuerzo only (lunch special) locations in the village. Most of them were very good, but all of them served marisco (seafood) only. While that is not surprising as we live in a seaside resort town, It does leave one longing for the occasional hamburger and fries, or Italian food, or Chinese takeout, or…just about anything else… every so often.
Lately things have been happening in San Clemente. The local Gringo hangout – Meiers’ started serving breakfast sandwiches in the morning and pizza at night. An Ecuadorian named David opened a nights and weekend barbecue place on the main corner of downtown. Another North American friend of ours (coincidentally) named David serves American style food on Mondays and some Wednesdays. And, just recently a friend named Pablo has started serving unique sandwiches and Oriental style stir-fried dishes in the evenings and weekends. So, we do have some variety available at times without having to travel to Canoa, Bahia, Crucita, or Portoviejo.
For the last couple of weeks we have been hearing about another new restaurant in town that offered Spanish dishes, pizza, hamburgers, and other non-seafood dishes. Today we decided to drop in to the Ceibo y Bambú for breakfast to see for ourselves.
From the street the restaurant does not seem very large.
But, once you step inside you can see that the dining area stretches back quite a ways to the kitchen and bar area.
We got there quite late in the morning (after all we are retired) so I asked if it was too late to order desayuno. Our waiter (one of the owners), Fernando, surprised us by responding in fairly good English that breakfast was still available. We had heard that the Ceibo y Bambú had regular (not instant) coffee and an especially good Spanish omelet, so we ordered that.
The coffee was somewhat different than we had anticipated as it was served up in a small pitcher of concentrated coffee (something like espresso) with some hot water in cups, but it was much better than the instant coffee generally served at Ecuadorian restaurants. The tortilla españa (Spanish omelet) was simply amazing! Fernando served it up with special tomatoes in garlic sauce and it looked like we had ordered for a family of four.
We had also heard that the restaurant makes their own jams and jellies (mermeladas), so I asked about those. Fernando promptly brought out a dish with a sampling of all of their mermeladas artesenales (home-made jams)!
In addition we learned that Fernando and his partner, Elisabet (who incidentally speaks very good English!), make home-made ice-cream which they sell at the restaurant as well. Fernando is from Ecuador, but lived for many years in Barcelona, Spain. Elisabet and her parents moved here to Ecuador with Fernando and opened the restaurant.
Elisabet and Fernando assured us that all of the jams and ice-cream products are made with fresh fruits, no chemicals and no sugars.
The restaurant serves the expected marisco from its’ normal lunch and dinner menu, but also boasts hamburgers and tomato sauce style pizza in the evenings and weekends. Fernando showed me his special pizza oven which he fires up in the evenings and all day Friday through Sunday.
We were well-fed, but could not resist ordering a salad to go with our tortilla so that we could call it, “brunch” and avoid cooking until suppertime (perhaps 4:30-ish). The cook, Elisabet’s mother Mariangels, prepared this salad to accompany our meal!
Home-made pesto salsa from Spain accompanied the salad.
We had not expected to stop for a meal and certainly did not expect to buy jars of home-made jam, so we only had enough money on hand to pay for our meal. But, do not worry, I turned right around and headed back to the Ceibo y Bambú to buy some of the very reasonably priced jam to enjoy at home.
Now don’t get us wrong – we still love marisco and will “suffer” along having to eat fresh lobster, crabs, and langostino (huge shrimp) at Viviana’s, El Eden, or any of the other seafood restaurants in our little town. But now we have several other dining options here in San Clemente where…
Life (and the eating) is good in Ecuador!
Looks absolutely delicious!!!! I can hardly wait to try it in a few weeks!! ( OH joy…so looking forward to seeing you two again, along with the other wonderful people of San Clemente!!)
LikeLike
We are getting pretty “cosmopolitan” here in little San Clemente. By the way, we have been hearing the bulldozers working all day at your condo site, so there will be some progress for you to inspect when you arrive. We are looking forward to seeing you both too! See you soon.
LikeLike
WThank you for taking us to brunch! That reminds me – I should stop to eat!
Great review!
LikeLike
Anytime you can make it we will take you to lunch! Glad you are home safe and we hope to see you soon!
LikeLike
We tried to eat at Meier’s place, but it was closed. So Nan and Joe took us to David’s place, where we met most of the expats living in San Clemente and had excellent food and conversations. So nice to hear that your food choices are expanding. Although, I agree…there’s nothing like marisco! Yum!
LikeLike
Marisco is always good and here it is always fresh. We love it, but we have traveled to Canoa for onion rings and to Crucita for Italian food. There is supposed to be an Italian ex-pat who wants to open an Italian place here too. Our little town is growing, but (so far at least) in all of the right ways. We are glad you enjoyed your visit here.
LikeLike
Man cannot live by shrimp alone. (But I’d like to try! Love the stuff!) It’s nice to see you got a little variation for your diet. It all looks so good! Oh and the coffee? That instant would not be something I would ever get use to. UGH!
LikeLike
The coffee situation here in Ecuador is one of the most confusing things since Ecuador grows and markets some of the worlds finest coffee, yet almost all restaurants serve you a cup of hot water or hot water and milk (con leche) with a jar of instant coffee to mix in! Some of it is pretty good, but still not like regular brewed coffee. Anyway, that is a small price to pay when we do have shrimp and other seafood available all year.
LikeLike
True! 🙂
LikeLike
I am thrilled that you posted this article about Ciebo Y Bamboo. It is our favorite restaurant and we want it to be successful so that we can enjoy the food there when we return. Fernado and Elizabeth are delightful hosts who are passionate about what they are doing. It makes the whole experience of dining in their establishment a pleasure, as you are aware. Thanks for promoting them.
LikeLike
You are right about Fernando and Elisbet, they make the experience great, but they also have great food! We are looking forward to trying their pizza.
LikeLike
John and Mary,
Love your blog, we are still looking for a place in San Clemente visited last year met you briefly, but coming back soon, can you post pictures of places being built around town
Eva and John
LikeLike
Thank you – we are glad you like the blog. I do think I will try to post some pictures of on-going construction in town some day. We just need to find the time. We hope to see you again when you come back to town.
LikeLike
OMG! The food looks absoultely wonderful!!!!!!!!!!
LikeLike
I know, Mary and I laugh when people say that we live in a “third world country.” We have all of the comforts of home within minutes of our door and get to live in a warm climate in a beautiful beach community at less than half the price of life in Ohio!
By the way – the food was great and we went back and got pasta and pizza on Friday night! It was great too.
LikeLike
We are vegetarian fish eaters so it wouldn’t be a problem for us 🙂 But it is nice to have different selections to choose from. Is that lettuce in the salad? In some places in the caribbean they mostly serve cabbage. Your breakfast looks yummy!
LikeLike
Yes, that is lettuce. We have several types of lettuce available all year here at the local markets and supermarkets in Portoviejo.
LikeLike