A white-walled kitchen on a colonial Cuenca street. La María changes with the season — the name, Cocina Libre, is both a statement and a practice. The interior is unhurried: orchids on the windowsill, candlelight, a carved wooden dresser standing in as a drinks station. Slow lunches, careful sourcing, the kind of restaurant the locals book a week in advance and visitors discover too late.
Centro Histórico, Cuenca, Ecuador