Atrapalo is running Lima Restaurant Week again until Sunday the 9th of April and from every set menu sold they will donate a percentage to helping the victims of the floods and landslides here in Peru.

 

Lima Restaurant Week (similar to Lima Food Week) is something run by the booking site Atrapalo, whereby if you book through them you gain access to a special 3 course menu costing s/69. You normally get a choice of starter, main and dessert but drinks and tip are not included.

I’ve been desperate to go to Mayta (owned by the talented Jaime Pesaque) for ages now, but for some reason we never seemed to get around to it. I wanted to go not only for the delicious looking food, but for their huge menu of macerated fruits/herbs etc in pisco. Honestly, they have every ingredient under the sun soaking in pisco ready to make a range of chilcanos and pisco sours. Amazing

The restaurant itself is beautiful. It’s simple and modern but with a rustic edge with pops of greenery and plants all around, which makes for a lovely dining space.

 

We obviously started with a chilcano, with my boyfriend going for one flavoured with Airampo (a fruit from a cactus), which really tasted like raisins, and I went for Mora (blackberry) as I was craving something that I hadn’t had in a while (blackberries are not common here). Both were absolutely delicious and my boyfriend liked mine so much he even ordered one of his own!

The starters arrived looking absolutely stunning. You may have seen my photo of the Tiradito on Instagram, but if you haven’t, it was this work of art below.

Rolled slices of tuna come served in a chirimoya leche de tigre (literally translates as tiger’s milk), which is the juice from the fish mixed with chilli and limón and in this case chirimoya (native fruit – called custard apple in English) too. The chirimoya lent a sweetness to the dish that was just beautiful with the buttery fish. Plus there’s corn, canchita and something brûléed (mmmmm) with a sprinkle of chilli.

The ‘Cereales Silvestres’ (wild cereals/grains) was just as delicious.

A mix of quinoa, trigo (wheat), cañigua, and kiwicha topped with dashes of ricotta, slightly blackened avocado (melt in the mouth creamy), raisins and an asian inspired dressing.

Next up was the main event…..

The ravioli, filled with a kind of creamed or blended corn mixture, were so damn good but there were not enough! I would have loved to have had more as these were some of the nicest ravioli I have ever had. The sauce that came with them was also made from corn but it had huacatay running through it which made for a dish that would have been at home in the British Springtime. Huacatay (apparently also known as Peruvian Black Mint) is just such a fresh tasting herb and it makes everything taste amazing. I love it.

The Chaufa (Chinese fried rice) was a much bigger portion and tasted incredible too. Fried rice is a bit of a naughty favourite of mine and this one came with a huge mushroom tortilla on top, fried fish, roasted plátanos (gorgeously caramelised and sweet) and even some amazonian chorizo mixed through. A true Chinese/Peruvian hybrid.

We had a bit of a disappointment with dessert, as the churros with lúcuma manjar blanco had run out (insert crying emoji here). I had been especially craving those for almost a week, but it was no use, I wasn’t going to be getting any. In the end I went for the Piña y Coco.

Pineapple and cardamom sponge (a little bit like a pineapple upside down cake) with plenty of pineapple inside, topped with coconut ice cream (not overly flavoured – I wouldn’t have known), juicy bites of pineapple and a sprinkle of coconut. This was a delightful little dessert and actually a perfect end to a lovely meal.

I will definitely be returning for those churros though. And some more chilcanos….there are just so many to choose from.

I would highly recommend a visit to Mayta and make sure you order that tiradito. Also, take a taxi so you can try a few of their amazing selection of flavoured piscos whilst you’re there.

Mayta // Av. 28 de Julio 1290, Miraflores, Lima (or if you happen to be in Dubai, there’s one there too!)