The Nightmare of Restaurants

"The art of cooking is not merely in the flavor, but in the integrity of its creation where safety and care are the silent ingredients." — DeepSeek (2025).

The food business, which includes restaurants and cafés, has one primary purpose: to give customers a great experience with food while ensuring proper food safety and following good manufacturing practices. However, this doesn’t always happen.

Recently, in Ecuador, the ARCSA (Agencia Nacional de Regulación, Control y Vigilancia Sanitaria) has been conducting many inspections of restaurants and has shut down several of them for failing to comply with health regulations. This institution has become a nightmare for these establishments. But why? Food is sacred; it must be treated properly, especially when it’s part of a business!

Of course, many families eat at restaurants, mine included, and you can’t imagine my face when I saw the headline on the news: “Chifa clausurado en Mucho Lote por presencia de cucarachas!” It turned out to be the Chifa called DINASTÍA, where my family sometimes eats.

To be more specific, when I turned on the TV in the morning, that particular news story was almost over, but I managed to catch the headline. I immediately recognized the tablecloths, those unmistakable manteles from our go-to Chifa restaurant. I quickly grabbed my phone, went straight to Instagram, and there it was. The news was real. Like, what? That restaurant was big, well-decorated, air-conditioned, with beautiful tablecloths and large tables, several waiters, and... cockroaches. Unbelievable!

I was shocked, furious, and disappointed. It felt like the headquarters of emotions in my head were in full crisis mode. Afterwards, I sent screenshots to my mom and sister, and they were just as shocked as I was.

My dad doesn’t know yet. I mean, the man is the most cautious when it comes to choosing where to eat, so I can’t even imagine how he’ll react when we tell him.

So, this is the news of the day, and chifas are officially banned in our family, at least for a long while.

Pdta 1: Las apariencias engañan.

Pdta 2: ¡Ahora hay que pensar cinco veces antes de comer en un restaurante!