Exploring

Peru in London // Lima (Fitzrovia)

| Emma Louise

Seeing as the blog is taking a trip across the ocean and back to my homeland of Britain, I thought it only right to make my first post a Peruvian one.

Virgilio Martinez is a well known Peruvian chef and opened an extremely successful restaurant here in Lima called Central, which is currently ranked at number 15 in the world and number 1 in Latin America. Fortunately for the UK, he took his skills to London and opened Lima which has also been a huge success and has even received a highly coveted Michelin Star. Lima has been so successful in London that Virgilio recently opened a second restaurant in Covent Garden called Lima Floral.

I was lucky enough in December last year to be able to visit the original Lima restaurant, just off of Oxford Street in the heart of London (thanks Dad!!)

Continue reading →

Pollo a la Leña in Matambrito

| Emma Louise

It takes a while to get settled into a new house, but I love it.

And in between all that moving and cleaning, a girl has gotta eat, right?

Where better than Matambrito…

This great little place in Punta Hermosa has already become a favourite.

 

They specialise in Pollo a la Leña, which is chicken cooked in a brick oven over a wood fire. There are other items on their menu but this is their number 1 dish.

Continue reading →

Easter Eats Part 2 // COSME

| Emma Louise

And so we continue to the next stop on our journey.

Day 3 (Saturday) – COSME

I love visiting San Isidro on holidays because there is little to no traffic in your way, which never happens on a regular day of the week. I had been wanting to try COSME ever since it opened and the Easter break was a perfect excuse to head to San Isidro and try it out! I also really wanted to see the incredible recycled, multicoloured ceiling that they had!

ceiling

I mean take a look! It’s mesmerising, no?

Continue reading →

El Pan de la Chola

| Emma Louise

El Pan de la Chola is a bakery and café all-in-one and it is one of my favourites.

 

I first visited about 6 months ago, but my friend Vanessa had never been, so I took this opportunity to introduce her to the wonders of the freshly baked bread here.

Jonathan Day, the owner, honed his baking skills whilst living in London after finding breads there that were not like those to be found in Lima. He brought his knowledge back with him to Peru, eventually opening El Pan de la Chola, home to amazing bread, coffee, extracts and sweet treats.

bread

His bread is made just using flour (ground on site), water and a starter. No yeast, just the natural starter to help it rise and it is left to do so for 24 hours.

Continue reading →

La Preferida

| Emma Louise

When I first moved to Peru, aside from one friend (an amazing girl I met on my flight home from Peru on my first trip), my boyfriend, and his family, I didn’t really know anyone. All my English friends existed on Skype & WhatsApp, plus being on a 5/6 hour time difference.

Pretty tricky.

Thank goodness I eventually met Vanessa. She is the sort of person that you just have to find if you move to a new country. We’ve not only become great friends, but also each others language teacher, therapist and food eating partner-in-crime!

This week we decided to catch up over lunch in La Preferida, an amazing hub for seafood dishes in Lima.

La Preferida

Continue reading →

Choco Museo

| Emma Louise

I was an honorary Oompa Loompa for the day, and it was brilliant.

OK, so I didn’t get to make a chocolate river or see geese that lay golden eggs, but I did learn how to make chocolate from ‘bean to bar’ at the Choco Museo.

 

Through the workshop at the Choco Museo in Miraflores, and other locations, you learn about the production of chocolate and what you can do with the final product. You start with the cocoa pod and follow the process all the way through to making your own chocolates to take home.

Plus, you eat & drink an awful lot of chocolate products throughout, which is always a bonus!

Continue reading →

Astrid & Gastón

| Emma Louise

Last week a friend of ours was playing with his band in Astrid & Gastón.

We’ve been lucky enough to have eaten there 3 times before (once in their previous location in Cantuarius), but we couldn’t  pass up another opportunity.

Astrid & Gastón is the brainchild of Gastón Acurio, the super famous Peruvian chef and businessman, and Astrid Gutsche, his wife, partner and a pastry chef in her own right. The restaurant is ranked at number 2 out of all of the restaurants in Latin America and is ranked at number 18 in the world. Peruvian restaurants are being ranked higher and higher on an international scale, which for me is a reflection of how good the cuisine is in Peru. Don’t get me wrong, I believe the cuisine has always been good, but over recent years it has been getting the recognition it surely deserves.

Continue reading →

Midweek Maki & Sake at Hanzo

| Emma Louise

I’ve never tried sake before.

Never.

But last night I did and it was a beautiful thing. It was like a warm, alcoholic, savoury herbal tea.

And after all those maki, it was just what the doctor ordered!

setting

Hanzo is a Peruvian Japanese Restaurant serving up a fusion of both cuisines. Their menu includes – among others – sashimi, sushi, main plates and desserts

But the maki are what I come for.

the meal

Aren’t they just beautiful.

Continue reading →

Sunday Lunch // Tanta

| Emma Louise

Sundays are days for relaxing.

Days for Skype-ing. For eating. For drinking. And then later, for lying in bed with Netflix.

I love Sundays. And I love Tanta.

Tanta sign
tanta entrance

 Tanta is one of Gaston Acurio’s restaurant chains, with a few branches within Lima and Peru, and then the rest dotted across the globe, even as far afield as Barcelona. For those who may not know, Gaston is an ambassador for Peruvian cuisine and has helped to promote it, alongside other chefs, all over the world. He has been a big influence in Peru gaining worldwide accolades for their incredible food scene, both in the restaurants and the raw ingredients that are produced here.

Tanta serves typical, traditional Peruvian (or Peruvian fusion) cuisine, but often in a modern way. However, just because Tanta was started by Gaston and is very fresh and modern, does not mean the restaurant is overly fancy or expensive. The dishes here are not tiny morsels in the middle of large plates, which is obviously perfect for me, and the prices are so reasonable (main dishes are between S/25 and S/50).

tanta inside

Due to the fact that it is summer in Lima, restaurants are normally fairly empty as everyone heads to the nearby beaches. However, arriving at 2pm, we found Tanta its normal, popular, busy self.

Continue reading →

Peruvian Desserts – Pie de Limon

| Emma Louise

Lemon Meringue Pie closeAnd at last we arrive at the dessert namesake of this blog. Pie de Limon, or Lemon Meringue Pie, is a favourite in about a bazillion countries. (Bazillion = a lot x 1000….. approximately…..maybe).

Pie de Limon consists of 3 layers. A base made from crushed biscuits and butter, although pastry is used instead equally as much; a layer of a smooth, sweet, but tangy, lemon curd-y filling; and finally a fluffy meringue topping, usually toasted on top with a blowtorch perhaps or popped briefly in the oven.

I do have to point out briefly that in the UK, and other countries too, they make the pie with lemons (kind of obvious, no?), but here in Peru they make it with limon. Limon is a small citrus fruit with it’s closest comparison being a Key Lime. The taste is slightly different, but to be honest it’s not a giant leap away.

Pie de Limon is super tasty if you make it correctly and that means all 3 layers of equal tastiness. In my pie vision, for example, I hate a crispy meringue or a lemon layer that tastes too much of condensed milk. I’m not sure why condensed milk is often used as an ingredient here in Peru for this part of the pie, I’m pretty sure lemon curd does not include condensed milk. Actually I’m convinced it does not include condensed milk. Please stop this madness.

Also, I would always recommend having a slice cut from a larger pie as opposed to individual tartlets. The filling to base ratio is much better in a slice and you usually get a whole heap more of meringue. I’ve tried a few individual ones here in Lima and none have been as satisfying as a giant slice.

A good Pie de Limon is a happy thing.

Continue reading →

Catch of the Day // Terminal Pesquero

| Emma Louise
IMG_2726
IMG_2769
IMG_2802

Every couple of weeks since our holiday to Punta Sal (in the North of Peru), where we pretty much lived on fresh fish straight from the sea outside our bungalow, we have been going to the Terminal Pesquero in Villa Maria del Triunfo in Lima. It’s a big fish market where anyone can go and buy seafood by the kilo. From chefs buying for their restaurants to home cooks buying for their family, it is most definitely one of the cheapest ways to buy your seafood in Lima. You need to get there early. I believe it is open from about 4am, and normally we arrive around 6am.

You can buy all kinds of goods from the sea, from tuna to scallops. There are tables and boxes full of things like fresh shrimps, small dark fish, huge swordfish, shark, crab or squid. It’s a good idea to get a look around the whole market first, checking out the quality and the prices as you go, and then make a decision at the end.

Continue reading →

Peruvian Desserts – Tres Leches

| Emma Louise

tres leches

Tres Leches literally translates as three milks, and the milks that it refers to is condensed milk, evaporated milk and crema de leche. Don’t worry it’s not some kind of milky, flan-type panacotta monstrosity, the dessert is actually a light sponge cake soaked in the three milks and sometimes topped partly or completely with soft meringue. Now that sounds so much better, don’t you think?! Also, it normally comes served with all the excess sweet milky mixture, so no mouthful should ever be dry at all. This dessert is heavenly and very rich, especially if you like big fat slices like I do. Coming from the person least likely to drink/eat anything milk related, you know this cake must be awesome. Continue reading →