Al Carbón Ilmutoto Restaurante

Ecuadorian cooking in Usera

Since opening in 2009, Al Carbón Ilmutoto has brought Ecuadorian cooking and charcoal-grilled meats together in Madrid’s Usera neighborhood. Its menu moves from empanadas de verde and ceviche to encebollado, the Ecuadorian fish soup, then shifts to the grill for churrasco with chimichurri and mixed meats. That range gives the restaurant a strong regional identity without narrowing the meal to a single format.

From a weekday lunch to a shared grill

The menu is set up for different kinds of visits: a weekday daily menu, individual Ecuadorian dishes or a larger grill order to share. For readers unfamiliar with the cuisine, the contrast between the bright, citrus-led ceviche, the warming broth of encebollado and the smoky char of the grilled meats offers a useful introduction to several sides of Ecuadorian food. It is a neighborhood restaurant with a specific culinary point of view, rather than a generic steakhouse.