Planning a trip to Lima, Peru

[chefmd]

My husband and I are going to Lima for a week at the end of November.  This is my first trip to South America.  I am very excited about food scene in Lima.  It does not hurt that they have three restaurants from the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.  There also plenty of less formal places where I am excited to eat.  Street food seems to be plentiful as well.  We rented a condo so I will cook as well.  

Pin preparation for the trip I got two kindle books: Nikkei Cuisine by Luis Hara and Lima by Virgilio Martinez.  I also ordered Martinez's restaurant cookbook Central but it is not here yet.  OMG, I am so culturally ignorant about Peruvian cuisine.  I mean, come on!  I have made ceviche before.  Fish, lime juice, may be red onion.  Right?  Wrong!  First, you make Leche de Tigre base, than you make Leche de Tigre a la minute, than you create all kinds of exciting combinations of fish, vegetables, quinoa etc.. 

I have one word for Peruvian food: complex.  

So I started with a cocktail, Chilcano.  Deliciously refreshing and not too sweet mixture of lime juice, pisco, and ginger ale.  Chef Martinez recommends not to squeeze lime too hard to avoid bitterness.  Who knew!

 

 

[chefmd]

Meals planned so far: 

Malabar 

Astrid and Gaston 

Central

Chez Wong

Maido

 

I would appreciate recommendations from eGullet members.  High end or low end restaurants, markets, what to bring back, etc.. 

We will also have a lovely kitchen to cook in!

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I intend to watch this thread very carefully. My husband and I and 2 other couples are going for 12 days in late April. Most of the time we'll be touring around--Machu Picchu for 2 days, Cusco and the nearby sights, and then Lima for just a day and a half. Please let us all know your dining experiences in Lima. A quick search of restaurants yielded Nanka, IK, Beso Frances (crepes and such, overlooking the Pacific), El Ceviche de Ronald (local favorite) and--incredibly--Aji 555 Real Thai Cuisine, which was rated #1 in Lima on Trip Advisor. But there are many others that were also well thought of but that I didn't feel fit our dining preferences. All very subjective, of course.

 

When we were in Ecuador I was determined to eat cuy--guinea pig--but the sight of their little hairless bodies laid on a styrofoam tray and wrapped in plastic in the supermarket was just too much for me. But I understand it's a significant part of the culinary history of the Andes region. We will all be interested in what you eat, and where, and what you think of it.

 

My friends say--take insect repellent. Depending on the time of year the mosquitoes can be a problem. And they said they were always cold, so pack accordingly. Though you can buy some very nice alpaca sweaters if you need to.

 

Most importantly, eat well and have a wonderful time.

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

 

[chefmd]

Thanks for your suggestions Nancy in Patzcuaro!  I am planning to eat cuy, not that much different from eating rabbits.  And it would not occur to me to bring insect repellent. 

 

Last night DH and I went to Jose Andres restaurant in Washington DC China Chilcano to try his version of Peruvian cuisine.  It has some weird yellow light going so the pictures did not turn out very well.  Also every person in the restaurant looked jaundiced.

 

Food was OK, not memorable, glad we paid happy hour prices and not the full price.  Some dishes were too sweet, fish tasted somewhat fishy, pisco sour was too sweet and not sour enough for my taste.

 

We had lotus bun with pork belly, fried shrimp dumplings, tuna roll with puffed quinoa, yucca fries, chicken wraps.

 

 

 

[gfron1]

My visit was too long ago to be useful, but I will say that gelato in Miraflores was spectacular as was the ceviche. If you're adventurous enough to head north I absolutely loved Huarez which is the gateway to the Huascaran mountains (the purpose of my visit). The scenery is so much more spectacular than down south IMO. This is the mountain I climbed when I was down there. Mate de Coca is very helpful in dealing with high altitude issues if you leave Lima and is readily available even in teabag form at the merdacos.

[chefmd]

 

@gfron1 what a view!  I think we will stay in Lima, may be will have a day trip to Pisco.  I plan to eat my weight worth in ceviche in the high and low end places, at the fish market, in our apartment...  My husband will probably eat just as much gelato!

 

I found this article and it seems to have a lot of exciting places to try.

http://www.theborderlessproject.com/best-local-ceviche-cevicherias-lima-peru/

 

Eater has a current write up too.

http://www.eater.com/maps/best-lima-restaurants

[chefmd]

So my home made pisco sour is too sour.  Which I like better than too sweet.  Still like Chilcano better.

 

 

and Peruvian pork stew from NYT. Way less complex than the dishes from the above mentioned cookbooks. But hey, I need to start my education somewhere.

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12192-peruvian-pork-stew-with-chilies-lime-and-apples

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by chefmd (log)

[chefmd]

Pork ribs from El Puerto in Arlington, VA.  

Training for my trip to Peru.

 

[chefmd]

We flew to Lima on Copa Airline yesterday.  That allowed us acces to Turkish Airlines club. Unfortunately we only had a few minutes there but food spread was lovely.  I managed to eat a lovely kabob and to have a glass of wine to calm my flying jitters.  Food on the plane was really unremarkable and service was even worse.  So no photos of that.  Should have eaten more in the club!

 

 

 

[chefmd]

My Suzy Homemaker assortment of things needed to cook in a rental place.  High carbon skillet is much lighter than cast iron.  Good but not very expensive knives.  Few gadgets.  Diamond crystal kosher salt.  And Peru special addition: lime juicer.

 

 

 

[chefmd]

View from our VRBO rental and crepes for breakfast few blocks away.  Two crepes, two cappuccinos about 10 US dollars.

 

 

 

[chefmd]

Went to grocery store to get a few things.  Peruvian version of fruit loops for my husband.  Six times cheaper than regular fruit loops.  Coffee of coarse.  Sunscreen costs more than Pisco!!!!

 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

So, your luggage contained a skillet, fish spatula, lime press and microplane but no sunscreen?  You are my kind of traveler !

 

I enjoyed your pre-trip training and I'm looking forward to more of Peru - thanks for taking us along!

[chefmd]

Thank you blue_dolphin.  I forgot sunscreen which is very much unusual for me.  I have very pale skin and burn very quickly! 

 

I have aver a feeling that my bag was thoroughly inspected.  Knives were out of there bubble packing and skillet was unwrapped.

[blue_dolphin]

23 minutes ago, chefmd said:

I have a feeling that my bag was thoroughly inspected.  Knives were out of there bubble packing and skillet was unwrapped.

 

Not to mention your little container of powder-y white substance !

[chefmd]

6 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

Not to mention your little container of powder-y white substance !

Need to empty it before coming home from South America!

[chefmd]

Our first fancy meal.  We decided to make lunches the main dining event and to eat a little something at the apartment in the evenings.  Malabar restaurant did not have tasting menu (not sure if it is the lunch thing) but our waiter mentioned that we can order 1/2 portions.  So I ordered almost every appetizer.  

http://malabar.com.pe/carta/

 

Pisco sour was refreshingly citrusy.

 

Corn tacos

 

 

Scallops came with roe attached

 

Bread was made with yuca and other local flours

 

Bonito topped with quail egg

 

Foie gras mousse sandwiched between super thin dried Apple slices.  Can't wait to try making it at home, may be with chicken pate.

 

Clam dish

 

 

Pork tacos in banana shell

 

Seared tuna

 

Fresh hearts of palm salad, so different from canned hearts of palm!  To quote my husband: "if I had to be vegetarian, I would eat this every day".

 

Quiona and various potatoes salad

 

Octopus 

 

 

 

Beet salad

 

There re was no room for dessert.

 

Cost with two drinks and two small water bottles: a little over 100 dollars US

Edited November 19, 2016 by chefmd (log)

[chefmd]

Toasted baguette with Pastel Oliva for breakfast.  Coffee with cream and the view!

 

 

 

[chefmd]

After breakfast we went to the beach.

Little crabs on the rocks

 

Bigger crabs on the rocks

 

Random sea urchin on side walk

 

 

And now we have to go up MANY steps

 

[chefmd]

Today's lunch was at Astrid y Gaston, #30 on World 50 Best Restaurants list.  We opted for tasting menu.  I had a kitchen view and it looked very efficient.  There was one episode of loud yelling when tray with three rabbit dishes came back untouched.

 

Cool upside down plants on the ceiling.

 

Bread served with whipped butter, smoked tomato butter, mashed avocado.  Smoked tomato butter was insanely delicious.

 

 

Scallop amuse served with apple granita.  

Bass ceviche with leche de tigre.  

 

Egg fried in potato tempura with shellfish.

 

And my first time eating cui.  Shockingly, my husband ate it too, may be serving dish of naked mermaid helped.

Tamale with beef sauce

 

Grouper with corn fritter

 

Rabbit with quinoa and peas

 

Corn based pre dessert, description sounded like "corn shampoo" 

 

Rice pudding

Assorted candies

 

Cost of tasting menu about 83 US dollars.

 

 

[chefmd]

Sunset on the balcony drinking Chilcano.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Very interesting dishes.  Thank you for sharing.

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Your photos and descriptions are killing me! We have to wait until late April to experience this level of dining. I know that Peru has a very high reputation and is the current new favorite destination so I'm eager to try it out myself. I'm taking notes!

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

[chefmd]

Went Mercado Número Uno Surquillo. It was early and the place was nearly empty which was nice for taking photos.

[chefmd]

Breakfast at Sanguceria.  Pork sandwich with surprising but very tasty addition of sweet potato.  Bread was shatteringly crisp, similar to bahn me roll.  Purple corn drink and freshly blended juice.