Welcome to the bakery with the best cakes in Lima.
It’s wonderful here. Continue reading
Ana Avellana – My Favourite Bakery in Lima
Favourites
District Edit – Santiago de Surco
Santiago de Surco may not be the top foodie destination on everyone’s list (see Miraflores!), but it’s my local district and I’ve managed to find some great locations to eat, drink, shop and relax.
Surco is a very large district and therefore contains a huge variety of places to visit. It’s honestly a bit of a one stop shop for everything you could ever need! It also has some of the best green spaces in the district (apparently the district has won awards for its parks), and due to its location in the valley it even has the perfect climate to cultivate its own vineyards. Continue reading
Hot Chocolate for Christmas in Lima
District Edit – The Southern Beaches
The beaches south of Lima are the destination over the summer months, and although they have their year round residents, there is a huge influx of Peruvians and tourists from December through to Easter. Some go for the day, others the weekend, and for some children their entire summer holiday.
However, it’s not just the beaches that draw in the crowds, there are plenty of delicious places to eat that will grab your attention too, plus a location or two to dance away until the wee hours. There are obviously more venues than I am putting in this guide, but these are the spots that keep me coming back for more year after year. Plus, I used to live in Punta Hermosa, which means I’ve definitely had time to try a number of locations and really narrow them down to my absolute faves.
The southern beaches are actually made up of many districts, however due to the small number of places I’ve chosen, I decided to group them all together under one umbrella. As always, I’ve put together a handy Google map to help you find them all! Here is the link: https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1K1RDNfbvI3vMlqEXTfI6iZyCIWQ
I’ve gone as far down the coast as Asia, as it is one of the main destinations for holidaymakers during the summer months. I’ve also placed the towns and locations in order as they appear on the map. Continue reading
Dining at the Beach at La Casa de Gloria
La Casa de Gloria is my absolute favourite place to eat when I’m in Punta Hermosa (one of the beach towns south of Lima), and to be honest I crave their food at least once a week. I’ve genuinely been begging my boyfriend for the last couple of weeks to drive us down so I can get my fix. Luckily, the warm weather is here, which means a beach trip is definitely on the horizon… Continue reading
The Lima Edit – Most Visited and Old Favourites
I was inspired by my last post to think of some favourite locations here in Lima that I find myself returning to again and again. Obviously there are so many amazing places to eat here, and some of those I’ve been to a few times, or wish I could visit more often, but these are the places that have remained a constant over the last few years. These are also the places that I continuously take people that come to visit me as I always know I can trust the quality.
District Edit – Barranco Highlights
There are so many places in Barranco that I still need to try, so this is actually a much smaller list than it should be. I have the longest checklist of places to visit but there just isn’t enough time to visit them all. We have some firm favourites here that we keep getting drawn back to time and again, and we forget to try new spots. Probably a good problem to have though! If you have any favourites, please let me know in the comments below.
This following guide partners with my list on Google Maps, ‘District Edit – Barranco’. It explains my choices in more detail and shares any extra information I may have posted before. Links for the different locations are available through the map and I hope this helps give you some inspiration for your next trip to Barranco.
This is the link to the map to check out my recommendations and their location – https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1t_GeyL2BGCKXzHvct38_hPiqF3E
These locations have been added to the map in no particular order…
My Favourite Ice Cream Spots in Lima
Happy January everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that you’re looking forward to a great 2017.
My family back in the UK have had some super cold, frosty days recently, while in contrast we’re experiencing the hottest January for 19 years I believe!! It’s crazy hot and humid and the only thing that makes it bearable is ice cream. A lot of ice cream!
Peruvian Desserts – Torta de Chocolate
This is not technically a specifically Peruvian dessert, however you won’t find a pasteleria here in Lima without their version of chocolate cake. Also, you might have heard that cacao here is a big deal so, you know, it’s only fair to include the cake in my list of Peruvian desserts. Oh, and I love chocolate cake.
Are you, like me, one of those people that always has hope at any parties or weddings that you attend that the cake is going to be a chocolate one? Yeah, thought so.
Chocolate cake here in Peru comes in many forms. From a two or three layer dense and sticky cake to a one layer chocolate packed wonder. From a manjar blanco-y (that is a word btw), fudgy icing, to a simple chocolate ganache. And just about everything in between. Oh yes, everything. On the bad side, I’ve eaten chocolate cake that just tasted of cake….no chocolate, just cake. On the positive, some bakeries like to twist it up a notch adding truffles, liqueurs, and other fancy items, which do not often disappoint.
However, I have decided that for my recommendations I want to focus on the old favourite of chocolate cake + icing. Now in my search for said perfect cake, I have found that there were certain criteria.
2 Years and Counting (My Favourites)
June marked 2 years since I started my blog. Admittedly I haven’t been writing for a solid 2 years, however, I have so enjoyed sharing my experiences of Lima with you all! Hopefully it has encouraged people to come and visit, and that you have had, or will have, a great experience here, whether it’s for one night or 2 weeks.
This blog has never been about reviewing everywhere to determine if it’s good or bad, but in fact finding the hidden, or not so hidden, gems that make Lima great. From an amazing ice cream store, to some fabulous ancient ruins, Lima really does have a variety of things to offer.
In the spirit of this, my June edition of Bookmarked is going to be a bit of a highlights tour of my time here in Lima. My favourite parts.
At the end I will also share a snapshot of greatness from the rest of Peru, but with my limited visits there are only a few places that I feel I’m qualified to judge! However, with some more trips under my belt in this coming year, I hope to shed some more light on the rest of this beautiful country.
So without further ado, here is my list, my top 40….
Peruvian Desserts – Suspiro de Limeña
Suspiro de Limeña (or Limeño, or without the ‘de’, or with ‘a la’ instead of ‘de’, etc …..) literally translates as ‘sigh of a Limeña’, (Limeña meaning a woman from Lima). I’m not sure where the name comes from but I think it’s quite beautiful and original!
The dessert is made up of two parts. The top is a soft meringue (think Italian meringue) flavoured delicately with port, and the bottom is a base of manjar blanco (a caramel made from milk and sugar) mixed with egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.
It is a very sweet dessert. No joke.
I actually really, really love the soft, fluffy meringue that sits on the top. It is definitely my favourite part and I probably could just eat a bowl of that. Isn’t it amazing what egg whites become when they are whisked, with a little sugar, to within an inch of their lives!
The dessert in general is scrumptious, but I am super fussy with the particular ones that I will eat. Although, essentially, this dessert is made from milk, I do not much like the taste of it, and therefore do not like tasting milk in my desserts. In addition to this, a shortcut to make manjar blanco is to boil condensed milk until it becomes manjar, but the taste of condensed milk is a million times worse than regular milk. For me, a good manjar blanco shouldn’t taste like condensed milk, and therefore neither should any dessert with it in. Therefore, I am always super happy when I find a suspiro that fits the bill!
Here is a list of some of the best in the city that I have tasted so far, but I’m sure there are many more yet to be tested!
Where would I recommend in Lima to eat Suspiro de Limeña?
Peruvian Desserts – Lúcuma
Lúcuma.
Some of you might say “That’s not a dessert”, or even “What the hell is lúcuma?”, but I assure you that this is the main ingredient in some of the tastiest desserts here in Peru. So, yes, technically not a dessert in itself, but a major player in the dessert arena, and I could not make a list of Peruvian desserts without it.
Lúcuma is a fruit native to Peru and I have not noticed it to be eaten commonly as a raw fruit. It has quite a burnt taste about it, but when mixed with ingredients for ice creams or mousses, it lends a caramel note to the dish, which is just beautiful. The colour is a deep yellowy-orange, not that far removed from an egg yolk or a sweet potato perhaps. Which is a coincidence because a sweet potato also gives a sweet, caramel flavour to dishes when cooked. When sliced in half, the lúcuma looks like an orange avocado, due to its green skin and large brown seed in the middle.
The fruit is most commonly used mixed with dairy ingredients to make ice cream, smoothies and mousses, and it also partners very well with chocolate.
Where would I recommend in Lima to eat a lúcuma dessert?
The Little Edition 