NUEMA — Restaurant in Iñaquito

UPDATE AUGUST 2025, 4 months from last post.

Foodies travel for food…. And Oh what a difference 4 months make: 🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤 DOWNGRADING FROM 5 to 1 stars.

THIS RE-VISIT IS AN UTTER DISAPPOINTMENT.

👎👎👎 They have made wine pairing very complicated. There’s a long list of wines and pairing combinations on offer from AN UNWIELDY LIST FROM AN iPAD…. The list is very poorly presented 🤬🤬🤬.

If one has to choose, PRINT OUT THE LIST instead of just one iPAD for a very busy service….DO NOT RUSH THE DINER.

Given that it is a tasting menu, this is a major Faux Pas!!!

Tasting menu is a Chef’s invitation to a diner to enter the Chef’s creative mind…. To enjoy it…. SO WHY NOT STICK WITH SOMMELIER CHOICE FOR THE TASTING MENU!!!!

Is there even a Sommelier here?????

😖😖😖😖😖 Then there’s the UNCHANGED MENU from 4 months ago!

WHAT HAPPENED TO CREATING??? Has the chef gone blank?

For a “100-ranked” restaurant NEW CREATIONS ARE EXPECTED.

—- one of waitstaff said the menu change ONCE EVERY 8 MONTHS?!??

PLEASE NOTE: many other excellent restaurants WITH CREATIVE CHEFS change menus regularly… We know we travel….

In fact, we re-visited a nearby SMALLER “50-Discovery” restaurant with a VERY CREATIVE CHEF WHO CONTINUES TO CHANGE HIS MENU. They deserve to keep the 5 stars.

BUT NOT NUEMA, one wonders why it is among the “100-ranked”.

🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤 AS A FOODIE, IT IS BORING dinner of the same expensive PASSE TASTING MENU. Having high expectations, there was no burst of enthusiasm of flavors …

In fact, one their trademark food, the LAMB DONUT TASTED BITTER with a starchy dough and very hard sticks of tomato garnish…. BIG BIG BIG ERROR.

🤬🤬🤬🤬 On top of it all, the INVOICE BILL DID NOT DETAIL CHARGES other than the food!!!

It is sheer INCOMPETENCE to not detail everything that is being charged!

ORIGINAL REVIEW

Foodies travel for food… This TOP 100-RANKED BEST RESTAURANTS IN THE WORLD in Quito is A FOODIE’S SPLENDIDLY FULFILLING DINING 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩.

THIS IS CERTAINLY A MATTER OF PRIDE FOR ECUADOR 👏👏👏

• The Menu Course is INTELLIGENTLY CREATED AND STIMULATING TO THE PALATE.

🤩🤩🤩TIPS FOR THE PROSPECTIVE DINER: Lift the plate close to nose, and just breathe in the aromas… Then, Take small piece (teaspoon-size) at a time, let the taste buds and palate be stimulated. Have a sip of the wine pairing AND/OR plain water to cleanse the palate ready for the next course.

This is true fine dining, which is enjoyed by really paying attention to the wait staff during each course. THE MENU SIMPLY LISTS THE MAIN INGREDIENTS (no dish names) SO LET YOUR TASTE BUDS DO THE NAMING🤩🤩🤩.

We enjoyed every dish👍👍👍. The ones we’ll remember most for their uniqueness:

🤩 Sourdough Foam ::: this is not the French bread but a lovely fruit base that wakes up the palate

🤩 Stonecrab Mousse ::: chunky creamy with all the flavor of crab

🤩 Ceviche of Tuna::: it looks deceptively like a dessert BUT boy! the contrasting flavors of ceviche plus the fresh tuna plus the Aji-gingery fragrance of a native leaf… it is wonderful

🤩 Salprietta::: most delightful mix of granules of native peanuts

🤩 Consommé of Lamb::: instead of a cut of meat, it’s the MOST SURPRISING consommé of a meat, both visually and palatably!!!

🤩 Huayalpe::: a heavenly crudo of an Ecuadorian fish

🤩 Paiche ::: having had many a pleasure of this priced Amazonian fish, this the MOST CREATIVE PRESENTATION AND MOST SUBLIME Paiche dish. The broth marries all the ingredients together.

🤩 Cherimoya Tangerine Pastry:::: MOST FRAGRANT AND CREATIVE DESSERT. The dusting of tangerine peel is so pleasing visually, aromatically, and palatably!!!

🤩 Camomile Moringa Pastry :::: yet another very fragrant and very flavorful pastry. The aroma of Moringa is superb!

🍷🍷🥂🥂👍 The wine pairings are surprisingly complementary. The wines are a discovery for us😊😊😊… so kudos to whoever chose them.

SERVICE IS OUTSTANDING.

The restaurant has a minimalist design YET VERY PLEASING ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE TO DINING.

CONGRATULATIONS to Quito for this gastronomic...

I routinely travel with a group of friends to South America and Europe to enjoy the best food and wine that countries have to offer. Nuema is by far the most disappointing dinner I had in South America through the years. 11th in the 50 best? This place is not even in the ballpark of other restaurants in that list. The food was lackluster at best with many of the gimmick molecular gastronomy techniques that dominated Michelin restaurants 15 yrs ago but thankfully are now gone. We had a nonsensical 12 course menu where the prevalent texture was chalk. Proteins never made it to the table, and no, a single prawn and a spoon of crab foam (unclear if the foam ever saw the crab) are not helping the absence of substance. If I want 8 kernels of corn and half a mushroom for dinner I might find a cheaper option then the 125$ you get to pay here. The parade of nuts, seeds and dry tubers that accompany the lengthy explanation of each dish it’s also not helping the cause but quickly becomes overbearing and a tad annoying and just pretentious.But let’s not forget about the desserts, declaring that some raw mushrooms are dessert doesn’t make it so. Again, a forgettable litany of sand, beans and sliced tubers appears to be called dessert in this scam centric restaurant. As a grand finale just a few words on the cellar and the wine list. A really pretty cellar room with roughly less than 70 bottle of wine, not different labels but just 70 bottles. The wine list on an iPad has probably some 20 wines total of the 20 they might have 10 in stock. Isn’t this one of the best restaurants in South America? Asking for high end prices for an unforgettable dining experience ? Do the owners and chef have ever heard of the fact that high end pretentious restaurants have cellars to match? Ever been to any other restaurant in that top 50 or 100 list? And then there’s the ridiculous pricing of the few bottles in stock, some are priced between 400-600% higher than their store price. The quality of some of those bottles is disgraceful , a screw cap Pinot Grigio from northern Italy that should only be used for cooking bad food and usually goes for under 10$ it’s sold to you at 95$. In short it was Saturday night they had a total of 9 clients and I don’t see this place make it to 2026. Good...

I paid 316$ and it was not worth anything even close to being it.

I selected the « 7 » courses service and it was more than disappointing.

The food was barely ok. I have selected similar experiences in other countries and usually, when there is 11 or 7 courses, the 7 courses is the selection of the best. This time, I would like to believe this was the worse of it. Pork as the main main course is an insult.

Food aside, the service is was simply basic. I decided to go with cocktails to start with, then a bottle of wine and both were badly served (although quality was acceptable). The cocktails were brought after the second service. They had nothing to do with flavour matching (which is understandable) but waiters should have ask if we wanted them before starting the seven courses. They didn’t.

We then chose to buy a bottle of wine. It was put aside of the table (again totally understandable) but the service was so low, that I had to get up to serve myself when my glass of wine was left emptied-for the second time. Not the end of the world, but when paying 85$ for a bottle, I prefer it when I want it.

Finally, I was so cold that I was congested and just freezing after 30 minutes in the premises of the restaurant.

Overall, this is the worse experience I have ever had in a restaurant in that only had two menu options.

I tried to express my disappointment at the end of the experience, but the staff didn’t seem to either be receptive or understand.

I hope this helps improve your services as I have never paid so much in the world for such disappointing experience. I really cannot believe it. I would have gotten much better experience at any Michellin star restaurants of Colombia. I cannot believe I paid this amount...