Peru

The Next Big Thing in World Cuisine

I had heard through the grapevine (amongst other sources) that Peruvian food was destined to be the next big thing in world cuisine – a cuisine that embodied fresh seafood, quality meats, unique fruits and grains, jungle cuisine, unique flavour combinations... it certainly got the juices going. So when Brujas de Cachiche (Bolognesi 472) was suggested as a great place for an introduction to Peru’s culinary prowess, I happily obliged.

Seeing the picture above in real, edible form was clearly going to make me a happy man, and indeed it did. Here you’ll see a seafood starter platter demonstrating the best of coastal cuisine; clockwise from bottom left: tiradito – raw slices of sole, marinated in local lime juice with chilli, deep fried prawns with a quinoa coating, anitchuchitas con pescado – fish kebabs, only better, I guess, conchitas  a la parmesana – baby scallops grilled with parmesan cheese, pulpo al olivo – octopus in a smooth olive sauce, and in the centre: causa de pulpa fresco de cangrejo – mashed potato cake stuffed with fresh crab meat (looks and tastes much better than my inadequate description). I could go on all day about each individual dish, but I won’t...

In the background of the picture you’ll see their ‘creole’ hors d’oeuvres, most notable of which was their rocoto relleno, a beef-mince stuffed bell pepper (with a kick), just delish.

Desserts, well, more new delicious things on show here, showcasing the best of Peru’s unique fruits. The yellow one in the bottom left depicts lucuma cream, the fruit responsible for a three week addiction which unfortunately had to end, the dark purple one in the top left depicts a chicha morada (fermented purple corn) dessert which you’ll normally find in drinkable form, and also of note was the chirimoya (aka custard apple, top right) blancmange (another creamy, sugary, moreish postre).

All of this goes well with a pisco sour or three.

I want Ceviche in my life more often

Punto Azul (av. Primavera 2235, Surco) is one of Lima’s best spots for excellent tasting and excellently priced ceviche. In case you were wondering, probably Peru’s second most famous dish (after the infamous cuy), ceviche is comprised of raw fish and/or seafood, marinated in lime juice (partially cooking the fish), with chiili and sliced red onion, accompanied by sweet potato and corn. I went for the ceviche mixto, but in fact the real star was the fish – almost like melt in your mouth sashimi, only, well, different.

The key here was to use stunningly fresh fish, as in caught and cooked on the day fresh. Plus the choice of the fish helped too - Peruvian Grunt, sufficiently meaty to stand up against the sourness of the marinade yet provide a wonderful textural element against the crunch of the onions. Whilst ceviche can sometimes be a tad too sour for some, this was perfectly balanced by the spice of the chilli and kick of the onions.

They do a mean tacu-tacu as well, a spicy rice dish flavoured with chilli, paprika, cumin amongst others, generously laden with prawns and squid.

The food of Mother Earth

 Pachamama. In Quechua, Pacha = earth, and mama = mother. No surprise then that ‘Pachamanca’ involves cooking with mother earth. Much like Hangi’s in New Zealand, this almost ritualistic way of cooking involves digging a hole in the ground, lining the base with charcoal, then dispersing the food of your choice amongst hot stones, followed by grass coverage before finally being capped with soil.

A few hours is normally enough to slow-cook the food with spectacular end results. But before digging in, one must bless the food by blowing coca leaves, and a designated ‘shaman’ is the needed to unearth the delights which lie beneath.

Fortunately for our hungry selves he was pretty efficient at doing this, and the results were rapidly revealed. Highlights included melt in your mouth chicken (with a slightly spicy marinade, perhaps a type of pimenton (paprika)), super sweet sweet potatoes, local cheese, spicy raw onion salsa... basically good, honest, simple food cooked with care. Whilst in Nasca, check it out at Wasipunko (Panamericana sur Km 462, San Luis de Pajonal, Vista Alegre, Nasca).

Making the most of coastal cuisine

Having proceeded south down the coast from Lima, we arrived at Arequipa, Peru’s second city. This was our last chance to savour coastal cuisine before heading into the highlands, so it was imperative that we made the most of it. After a longer-than-necessary taxi journey with a driver who didn’t know where he was going, we arrived at El Tio Dario (Callejon de Cabildo 100, Yanahuara, Arequipa), a quaint little semi-alfresco restaurant with a stunning view of El Misti, a snow-capped volcano which provides the backdrop to this city. Add to this spectacular food and solid service and you have a must-go-to restaurant.

First up was their house special tiradito; melt in your mouth sole marinated in lime juice with a slightly creamy reduction as an accompaniment. Perhaps too sour for some but delectable to my tastebuds.

Second, their house special lomo saltado (a Chinese-Peruvian dish (chifa)) comprising beef tenderloin flambéed in red wine with soy, onions and red peppers. One of those dishes where you can taste the smokey heat of the wok. A must try.

The star of the show was undoubtedly their deep fried chita (a local Peruvian fish), partnered with a white wine, butter and garlic sauce and fried yuca chips (cassava). Crispy skin, moist flesh, rich yet somehow light sauce – no more description is needed – just come here and eat this.

Food of the Andes

Going up through the Andes does a few things. The landscape changes. The people change. Altitude sickness appears in one form or another. Coca leaves start becoming more appealing. But of course this is a food blog, and hence I will talk about the other big change.

I must admit I was a bit apprehensive of going for two weeks without ceviches and tiraditos, but this fear was short lived. At La Casa de Mamayacchi (Pueblo de Coparaque, Valle del Colca) a great resort/restaurant (with hammocks overlooking a valley) is home to two excellent dishes. First up, a quinoa and chicken soup. A light yet flavourful broth, interrupted by soft quinoa grains, moist chicken and almost chewy cassava, this made for undoubtedly one of the best soups I’ve had outside of Asia.

Secondly, their barbeque. In particular, their alpaca barbeque. Like lamb only slightly firmer and more gamey, this meat is just made for cooking over charcoal. Juicy and slightly spicy, it hit the spot after a morning of condor spotting.

When in Cusco...

My blog’s normally about street food so this whole Peru section doesn’t really fit that theme very well. But I don’t really care, since this country has a plethora of top restaurant options, at pretty darn good prices. One such example: Incanto (Santa Catalina Angosta 135, Cusco) just off the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Now fusion ain’t really my thing, but seeing as Peruvian food is already a fusion of many cuisines, I knew this was going to work out just fine.

I went for the squid ink linguine with sautéed prawns in an aji (chilli) sauce – definitely a winner. Spicy yet not overpowering aji, juicy prawns and a strong dose of the sea was evident in the linguine, all components of a quality dish.

Then, my flavour of the month, in the form of lucuma mousse with a pisco and dark chocolate sauce. Rich, earthy and slightly sweet lucuma mousse and the warmth of bitter chocolate = a winning combination.

Inca Trail and 3 course meals

When you think of the Inca Trail, you think a tough, four day, joint aching hike through stunning scenery to arrive at one of the world’s great archaeological wonders, Macchu Picchu. One thing I didn’t expect was to have three course meals served lunch and dinner at each and every eating spot. Considering the circumstances, the food was pretty stellar: trout, chicken with a carrot sauce, and for our final lunch, a cake!

Not quite Michelin stars or Penang street food standard but really scrumptious nonetheless.

I can only hypothesise that they steamed the cake over a pot of boiling water...I certainly hope one of these fellows below did not carry an oven on their backs! (It was already incredible that these guys carried 20kg LPG canisters on their backs, running up the steps at least twice as fast as my legs could carry me).

Guinea Pig aka Cuy

If I had left Peru without trying our little friend the Guinea Pig my reputation as an open-to-try-everything foodie would have come into question. So, probably Peru’s most famous dish, cuy (guinea pig), had to be tasted.

We had it roasted at La Choza de Oscar (www.lachozadeoscar.com), and I must admit, even before trying it, I was wondering where the meat was... Ok so first bite was a lot of skin, but crispy, aromatic skin nonetheless, the type you’d expect on a confit duck. As for the meat, it was quite like chicken thigh, only darker, almost slightly gamey. All in all, worth a try, but para mi, it was nothing to write home about.

Better than cuy... Pollo a la Brasa

Also at La Choza de Oscar we also had the opportunity to try Peru’s famous rotisserie style chicken, pollo a la brasa. Popularised in almost Nando’s like fashion throughout Lima by the chain Pardo’s, pollo a la brasa is something that you just can’t go wrong with.

Marinated in soy, cumin, garlic, oregano, lime and paprika, then succulently rotisserie roasted and finished on the grill, this chicken takes some beating. Crispy, flavourful skin, moist, aromatic meat, this is classic comfort food.

More Cusconian Quality

Cicciolina (www.cicciolinacuzco.com) is widely regarded as one of Cusco’s top restaurants. And rightly so. Let me cut straight to the chase – I went for their special of the day, a fresh tuna steak, chargrilled to perfection on the outside and deliciously rare in the middle, accompanied by a slightly sweet and spicy sauce no doubt infused with some form of aji. Not pictured is a classic ossabucco, also more than worthy of a try.

And for dessert, we had another dish to fuel our lucuma addiction. This time the stars of the dessert show were an intensely rich lucuma cream partnered by a dark chocolate mousse topped with sea salt.  Again, simply sublime, and needs no further description.

Jungle Lunch

I can see Amazonian Peruvian food slowly, but surely attracting more and more followers like myself everyday. Yes it looks simple, but it’s simply damn tasty.

 At the Tambopata eco-lodge (www.tambopatalodge.com), my tastebuds had the pleasure of meeting one of the best lunches on the trip. Firstly, the star was chicken steamed in palm leaf with chilli, a green herb which I will endeavour to find out what it is and onions – immaculately moist and packed tons of flavour. Nicely steamed rice, fresh avocado, fried until crispy on the outside soft in the middle yucca (cassava) and a spicy onion relish, which, like many things on this trip, I got addicted to (just ask for cebolla pikante, the chefs at this lodge will make more at your wish).

Aji de Gallina

This dish is Peruvian comfort food at its very best. It’s basically a Peruvian chicken curry, only with some pretty luxurious ingredients.

Moist, juicy chicken breast is shredded and enveloped in a sauce comprising milk, evaporated milk, parmesan cheese, bread, pecans and aji Amarillo (yellow chilli), served with rice, hard boiled egg and olives. The flavours range from sweet to earthy, spicy to creamy, yet as a dish it somehow tastes so simple, as if it were somehow made of the simplest ingredients around. Inka Grill (www.cuscorestaurants.com on the Plaza de Armas)  in Cusco does a pretty good rendition of it.

Japanese-Peruvian Sushi

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m not normally a ‘fusion’ man. But note the word normally. There are occasions when fusion food is incredible. And Japanese-Peruvian fusion is one of them.

Upon trying some of Edo Sushi Bar’s (http://www.edosushibar.com/, we went to the Miraflores branch, Berlin 601) creations, instead of analysing the food, the very first thing I thought was “damn, I’m gonna need to get this outside of Peru, somehow...”. After pondering that business venture the food thoughts kicked back in again.

My favourite was probably their Edo Maki, a prawn tempura maki roll topped with baby octopus sautéed in butter. Sushi doesn’t normally come with anything dairy related – but this Peruvian touch adds a rich element which, well, is best described as godly. The roll next to it, another winner, ‘Tartare Maki’, a panko-crusted prawn and avocado maki roll topped with a tuna and salmon tartar, laden with with eel and spicy sauces with crispy wonton strips to finish.

The maki roll with conchas (scallops) was also sublime...sweet, creamy, ridiculously fresh...

In the pic below, the roll at the top depicts their acevichado, an avocado and scallop maki, wrapped in tuna slices and topped with their classic ‘ceviche sauce’. Another example of Japanese-Peruvian fusion working its magic.

In short, another place you must eat at.

The Sea

Our last lunch Peru had to be a good one. Actually, it had to be knockout one, so having counted our remaining soles we decided had enough to go to one of Lima’s best cebicherias, La Mar (Avenida La Mar 770, Miraflores, Lima). It wasn’t hard to decide what to get, especially when we could choose their ‘degustacion ceviche’, which takes away that need to decide, allowing you to taste 5 of their ceviche portfolio. 

The clasico was, well, classically good (almost as good as the one at Punto Azul).  But the standout was undoubtedly their nikei ceviche de atun. Fresh tuna pieces marinated in a lime-soy-sesame oil dressing, whose balance of sour-salty-nutty flavours was right on the money. Stunningly good.

For mains, I went for the saltado pacifico, a dish with clear Chinese, Italian and Peruvian influences. Fresh sea bass, juicy prawns and sublimely sweet scallops, stir fried in a tangerine and chilli sauce, lathered generously on top of paper-thin ravioli stuffed with a creamy pumpkin filling. What really made this dish standout was the heat of the wok which imparted an addictive smokey aroma in the sauce. Genius.