More Traditional Peruvian Food (updated)

 

#1: If you've had Peruvian chicken, you know how good it is!

The chicken was tender and juicy, the fries pretty good. ($7.80 with an Inca Kola)

#2: My splurge so far was Tanta, a mid-range restaurant:

My first Pisco Sour!  I liked it, but the strong alcohol taste put me a bit off.  I think my body has developed a dislike for strong liquor.

From left to right: giant corn with ocopa sauce (delicious), chicken with green rice (delicious), potatoes with huancaína sauce (delicious), fried banana (okay).  The chicken was even better than the previous one.  This was a great meal, definitely the best of my travels.  Also the priciest (so far):  $13.50 for the food, $9.40 for the pisco sour,  $3 for a bottle of water.  Still, given the quality of the food, a bargain.

#3: I went to Quinta 91, which is a little odd -- it's like a smallish food court with multiple restaurants, but you order at the table.  My first 'causa', which is basically mashed potatoes with stuff on top, served cold.

I decided to give ceviche another try, so ordered mine with octopus ceviche.  This was another delicious dish, the potatoes (mixed with avocado) creamy; and this time the lime in the ceviche wasn't as strong, and you could taste the octopus.  Yum!  ($10.60 with an Inca Kola)

#4: Time for lomo saltado, *the* classic Peruvian dish, and a prime example of 'chifa' (Chinese-Peruvian) food, since it's basically a beef and vegetable stir fry. 

This was really good, although a couple of the pieces of beef were pretty chewy, and the mega-fries were good too. $15.60 but enough for two meals.

#5: Rotisserie chicken again!  This time I got 1/2, which you can just glimpse under the mountain of fries.  Delicious, of course, and at $6.70 cheaper than the quarter I got before.

#6: On to las Manos Criollas ("Creole Hands," where "creole" means traditional Peruvian food).

Canchitas as a starter snack.

And on to the famous "ají de gallina" (yellow pepper sauce with hen).  Always with half an egg, a solitary olive, and rice.  The sauce was delicious (I seem to use that word a lot!) and the shredded chicken breast surprisingly tender.  Maybe because (supposedly) it came from a hen and not a rooster?

Anyways this was delic . . . excellent.  S/35 ($10.30) with, of course, an Inca Kola.

#7: Finally, anticuchos (grilled beef heart)!  I had almost given up finding these at a street stall, and was considering ordering them from a restaurant, but tonight I got lucky.

Mmmm! Slightly chewy, beefy, salty, grilly (you know what I mean) -- as good as I had been led to believe.  Best of all was the price, S/ 10 ($3) whereas in a restaurant, they're at least twice that.

#8: I had to go all the way to Chile to try another typical Peruvian dish, at the awkwardly named Norky's, a sort of upscale chain in Peru, and maybe here in Santiago too.

"Tacu tacu" is just cooked beans and rice, fried until it gets crispy.  But it's what accompanies it that counts, and in this case I had lomo saltado (see above).

The tacu tacu itself was about as good as rice and beans could be, and the lomo saltado better than my previous one (no chewy bits).  At $19 with a bottle of water this was more than I expected, so that's my treat for the week!

#9: Nikkei (Japanese/Peruvian cuisine) is popular in Lima, but I had to find a Peruvian restaurant in Medellín to try it!

This was very good, the shrimp tempura crunchy and the avocado and cream cheese, well, creamy, contrasting nicely and the sauce had a bit of a kick.  Even better was the coconut lemonade, absolutely delicious. At $16 this was a nice treat!