"Going to Peru is, well, if you ever have an opportunity in your life to go there, you should do it because it is absolutely mind boggling." - Dean Stockwell, actor
It’s been an entire year and a quarter since my last trip to Lima (that’s the quickest return I think I’ve made). This was intended to be a week solo in town, and then Henry coming down from visiting his family in Trujillo and we were off to explore the area around Ayacucho. I had been informed, however, shortly before heading this way, that he, his niece, and her daughter are coming down and we’re staying in Lima rather than going to Ayacucho. There’s a dance festival they want to go to. So I now have sixteen days in Lima, only four of them filled with the family visit. Unless something else gets changed. I know if I go to Ayacucho solo after they leave, I’ll never hear the end of it. But maybe I can figure out some day trips from here to somewhere nearby….
Now, I’m sure there are things I haven’t explored here - it’s a big city - so there will be some of that. And, I’m guessing, a whole lot of eating.
And that’s going to be necessary, because this is the horror that LATAM served up on the flight. Actually stale white bread, stale cheese, and something that vaguely resembles fermented and pressed sawdust, in both texture and taste. The chocolate bar was weird, and I couldn’t eat that either. Good grapes.
After checking in to my AirBnB, I headed to a spot that offers up Peruvian-Asian street-food. On the list, a highly recommended burger on a bao style bun. Sutorito Makketo is in Miraflores, at Av. Mariscal La Mar 830. A burger seems a strange start, but one of the things I want to do on this trip is checkout places that aren’t doing versions of all the usual suspects Peruvian food. I’m also probably not going to hit more than one or two higher end places. And I’ve never had a burger in Peru. Nor visited a pizzeria. So there’s going to be some of those.
Oh, the “list” - mere moments before the pandemic hit us all globally, I’d read this article on the eight best burgers in Lima. They went on my list. I don’t plan to go to all eight this trip.
Definitely got some Asian street-food kitsch vibe going on.
When I went to order the burger, my waitress let me know, in case I didn’t, which I didn’t, that it’s a mini-burger, just a couple of bites. So, I ordered up the crispy pigs’ ears… because… crispy pigs’ ears. Described as “fried pigs’ ears, samurai sauce, pickled daikon, green onion, sesame, and caramelized onion”. Truly delicious. Not to be missed. Comes in at about $6.75.
Beverage of choice, a bottle of Cusqueña Trigo beer, a “hefeweizen” style beer that’s got some fruity notes, and is just smooth and easy drinking. Figured it would pair well with the spicier elements of these two dishes. Uncomplicated would be a good descriptor.
And then the burger… “La Royal: shortrib and kombu burger, caramelized kimchi, tempura onion ring, sriracha mayo, cheddar, fried quail’s egg, and lettuce.” My goodness this was a glorious few bites. One of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time. I want it in full size. Or if I go back, I’m getting two of them. A steal at $4.25.
Another one of those articles listing the best ofs… I don’t know why I pay any attention, 99% of these listicles are probably just paid for advertising, and the person putting them together has no real clue. I know that to be true because I have two friends who pick up freelance gigs doing exactly that. Most of the places they make these lists for, are in countries they’ve never been to. But somehow, I popped half a dozen “best tamales in Lima” places onto my map. And when I was figuring out what to do yesterday, I decided to head for Santiago de Surco, a neighborhood I’d not been to before, about a 6km walk to the east of me.
It’s a hole in the wall, but a clean and shiny one. I found it interesting that Chicharrones del Inca, corner of Av. Caminos del Inca and Jr. los Aguaciles, is known, apparently, more for its tamales amarillas (yellow corn tamales) than it is for its chicharrones.
Having just spent an hour and a half walking to get there, I went for both. I should have gone for neither. No, that’s not fair, they weren’t bad or inedible, they were just mediocre. The tamal itself was fine, but the “filling”, a generous term in this case, consisted of a wisp of chicken, perhaps a centimeter wide and four long, and half of one thick, was encased in the center along with a single red bean. The chicharrón, typically fried pork rind, did not appear to be fried at all, just sort of stewed or something, and perched inside a vaguely stale bun with some withered slices of sweet potato. The hot sauce on offer wasn’t hot. The best thing about the meal was the lúcuma milkshake. Yum! All told, $8 that would have been spent better elsewhere.
The lúcuma, or egg-fruit in English, is a common offering in Peru. To me, it tastes like strawberries in maple syrup. A recent guest at Casa SaltShaker who owns a Peruvian restaurant in Vancouver, described it as butterscotch.
The main touristy thing to do in Santiago de Surco seems to be the Parque del Amistad, or Friendship Park. It seems to be a paean to the idea of international friendship, but beyond the various country flags, and some food stands (all closed on a Monday) that pointed that direction, I didn’t really see anything that seemed international or notedly friendly.
It’s a pretty park, and there were a few dozen people wandering it, but it doesn’t take up a lot of space, or time, being, basically, about 1-1/2 by 1-1/2 blocks in size.
They have a theater and cultural center, and there was a very well curated selection of paintings, most of them “3D” relief style, all done by one or another of 14 neighborhood “older” artists.
And a further wander a few blocks away to the roughly same sized Parque Ecológico Lomo Amarillo, or Yellow Mound Ecological Park. There was, indeed, a prominent mound in the center of it, with some pathways leading up, but I’d had enough walking and didn’t feel like the climb. Plus, based on casual observation, it seemed like most of what was going on in the park was hookups… some leaving the park for, presumably, one person’s apartment, but others heading into the bushes.
Back to the AirBnB…
I found a cozy little two bedroom apartment for a steal of a price on the edge of Miraflores and Surquillo, just two blocks from the Surquillo Mercado No. 1, one of my favorite food markets in the city. I’m sure I’ll visit it several times while here, but the link there will give you a taste of it. I’m on the 20th floor, so I have a “view”, albeit of the buildings of Miraflores.
I was in the mood for a glass of wine, and figured I’d try one of the more touted wine bars, La Esquina Bar de Vinos, C. Berlin 920, in Miraflores, a short 20 minute or so walk. Lots of walking….
It’s nicely arranged, with tables inside with the wines, and a sort of enclosed porch around it. An immediate surprise, a wine bar that doesn’t offer wine by the glass. You have a choice of full bottle or half bottle, and only four of the latter, out of well over a hundred selections, mostly Spanish and Portuguese wines. Well, maybe it’s hard to find half bottles… except they don’t serve you a half bottle, they serve you a half of a bottle, poured into a flask, so they could easily offer many more of the wines that way. They don’t. They’re a bit stiff about everything, there’s no warmth to the service. When my half a bottle is served, I’m not even shown the bottle, and the wine was off - completely oxidized - and the waiter wanted to argue about it, so I made him try it, at which point he offered to replace it. But he didn’t, someone else did, who seemed to be more in charge.
The wine: Paulo Laureano “Dolium” White. I believe this would be the 2019 vintage - it’s a wine that Laureano doesn’t often make, just in particular years, and I think that’s the last year produced that’s been released. It’s a slightly weird wine, with tropical fruit flavors, a sort of caramelized woody character, and some spice. Even the second bottle seemed not 100% fresh, though completely drinkable.
I started with the 8-hour sous vide octopus tentacle with sliced Brazil nuts, fried garlic, and lots of olive oil. The flavors were spot on, but I would have liked to have known that something which has been cooked for eight hours is going to be served ice cold. And for that long of a cooking, the octopus should not have been rubbery.
They have half a dozen montados, sort of overblown bruschettas. And they won’t let you have two different ones - they’re only served in pairs. My unsmiling waiter walked me through the process, explaining that they were prepared in pairs, carefully counted, and laid out in the kitchen in pairs, so there was no way that you could separate them, they had to be served together. Ummm…. yeah, not buying that story. I even offered to pay the freight of whichever of the two, if they mixed them up, was the higher priced one. No go. It can’t be done. The laws of the kitchen universe simply don’t allow for that as a possibility.
Luckily, this was amazingly delicious - it’s a grilled piece of ostrich, wrapped in prosciutto, or, given the Spanish bent of things, probably jamón serrano, and laid atop a garlicky cream cheese. And, it was, at least, served warm.
I had done a significant amount of walking, as noted, and felt I deserved to end the day with a slice of their mixed goat and cow milk cheese tart - “Basque style”. Excellent. Not what I think of as Basque style, which is usually much more intensely baked and browned, but dead on delicious.
So here’s the thing. The food is very good. The wine selection is excellent, unless you’re solo or willing to go in for a full bottle of wine. The service is… adequate, no more. It’s not outrageously pricey or anything, but the $72 including tip spent would be, for me, better spent elsewhere. If I lived here, I doubt I’d go back, I’d be looking for a better wine bar, and somewhere with some by the glass selections, and somewhere where I felt actually welcome.
And let’s call that a wrap for my first day in Lima!
