New horizons, flavours, brands and experiences in Hector’s Bistro in Antigua Guatemala.
In Antigua Guatemala, many things have changed since March 2020 including the culinary scene. Besides being a time of uncertainty, frustration, and change, it was also a time of camaraderie, empathy, an outpouring of community-wide support and lastly opportunity.
In December 2020, Hector’s Bistro left its tiny restaurant facing La Merced and moved to a much larger space in the heart of Antigua together with Cerveceria 14. El Deposito is their tap room is where you can try their craft beers and their selected imported wines.
This collaboration inspired Hector’s Bistro to create the Tap Room Menu to pair both beers and wines. On the menu, you’ll find Hector’s charcuterie board, and their dates, stuffed with artisanal goat’s cheese and wrapped in crispy bacon. If you have not tried them, you are missing out on an explosion of flavours in a single bite.
This new relationship inspired us to make the best pizza in town. To differentiate themselves from the rest, we decided to push ourselves to make ours with SOURDOUGH crust. One of the benefits of sourdough pizza is that it is easier to digest, even for some people who are intolerant to gluten.
The SOURDOUGH technique seemed so fascinating to us that we began to make our baguette bread with the same sourdough, our brioche, and whole wheat/seed bread. This led us to experiment with many other types of baking.
HECTOR’S Deli, Bakery & Sandwiches
This is where the idea of making their own bakery arose… and why not?…. “Perhaps open a Deli?”. A place for people to buy sourdough products, and some of Hector’s sauces. They then came up with the idea of really high quality and affordable sandwiches.
Today we produce our own Roast Beef & Pastrami, a semi-cured meat technique that complements our Mr Bond and New York, New York sandwiches.
“The Melts,” are a line of sandwiches cooked on the grill featuring our homemade bread and a mixture of three delicious kinds of cheese that Hector’s has developed. Hector’s created this line of sandwiches to remember and honour those moments when we all ate homemade melts and which, incidentally, take us back to happy childhood moments.
Hector’s Bistro has acquired another icon of the culinary industry in Antigua, CANELA Antigua.
At the end of the year 2022, Hector’s purchased the recipes and the rights of the brand of the renowned kitchen/bakery CANELA which was originally located on 1st Avenue North. For those who do not know the history of CANELA, it was founded by Dave, a Jewish descendant from New York, who learnt the art of baking delicious bread that the Jewish heritage has gracefully contributed to the culinary industry… the bagels, Challa, Babka’s, etc. The legend says that this baker developed a Whiskey & Rye recipe that was awarded by the Bon Appetit, the famous culinary magazine.
Hector’s team worked closely and trained with ex-bakers of CANELA. “It is not easy to maintain the quality of each and every product, especially when you are not the original creator of the recipe, but we do our best every day to try to keep the recipes as they were originally made.” Hector’s ideal scenario is to honour those artists/bakers of the culinary world, trying to create the recipes just as they were, or at least try to keep them as similar to how they were from their origin.
So in your next visit to this amazing little town, we hope you can come and try our beer or wine pairing menu, described in our menu as “our TapRoom Menu”, a sourdough Pizza made from scratch, or perhaps a cheese melt or a gourmet sandwich made with homemade pastrami and bread. And of course, a whiskey & rye cookie or cinnamon roll to end your day with a sweet note.
Address: 6a Calle Poniente 24 Antigua, Guatemala
Tel: +502 7832-9867
