Food and drink, it is part of every trip. More and more people are choosing specific destinations because of the restaurants and the local tastes. Culinary journeys where gastronomic highlights are strung together are in demand. I travel to Lima for the Mistura festival, the biggest food festival in South America and the valhalla of the goodies. And for the many top restaurants that the city is rich.
But first I want to know more about pisco and for that I have to be in Ica, which is characterized by endless vineyards and countless wine and pisco farms.
A delightful sensation
The story goes that pisco originated during spanish colonization. The Spanish missed their wine and because it was not to drink peruvian grapes, they separated the juice from the must and fermented it into liqueur. Shipping to the Queen in Spain went from port city Pisco, to which it owes the name. There are eight grape varieties (Moscatel, Quebranta, Mollar, Negra criolla, Uvina, Albilla, Italia and Torontel) that the liqueur must be made of to bear the name pisco.
I visit five pisco plants of which Hacienda La Caravedo and Hacienda Queirolo make the most impression because of the personal approach and the beautiful location. The instructive tours of the production process are followed by tastings. Pisco is compared to grappa but is more pure. The taste is dry-bitter and velvety and the aroma varies by grape variety. The colourless liquid gold with an alcohol content of 42% burns its way down my throat and leaves a delicious sensation.
Once in Lima I do a food tour of the many top restaurants. My top 5, where Peruvian is cooked:
1. Isolina, ‘Mothers love’
An unpretentious living room restaurant in the bohemian Barranco where the chef and owner José del Castillo ‘en personne’ joins. He learned to cook by watching it as a boy from his mother and only serves dishes to her recipe. If you want to eat authentic Limanees in an atmospheric neighbourhood like the people prepare it at home, then you have come to the right place. Try the Seco de asado de tira, his specialty. If you miss something else on the map, you can insert it. It may be on the menu on a return visit. Where he likes to eat when he’s not working? At a Chifa restaurant…
2. Astrid y Gastón
The restaurant of the legendary Acurio, which after his schooling in Madrid and Paris (where he met his Astrid) started french cuisine in 1994 but soon introduced Peruvian cuisine to the general public. Twenty years later, he moves his restaurant to the impressive Casa Moreyra in the upscale San Isidro district where I enjoy the results of his loving devotion to food and accompanying wines for six courses. Scallops with seaweed, authentic ceviche, roast squid, deep-sea fish topped with parihuela nikei and then desserts, ‘Indian drunk’ and lucuma with frozen chocolate. Dizzying flavors that go perfectly together. With the seasons the map changes, reason enough to return soon to the birthplace of Peruvian cuisine.
3. Ámaz
A stylishly decorated slightly mysterious restaurant in Miraflores where exclusively ingredients from the Peruvian Amazon are used. Pedro Miguel Schiaffino opened Amaz in 2013 where he converts his cooking skills in Italy and New York into dishes. Sitting in a booth of jungle lianas, your taste buds among hip audiences are plagued by surprising flavors. The vegetarian ceviche – like all the courses served by a princely waiter – is ungettarically delicious.
4. Amor Amar
An open air restaurant also in Barranco where the service treats you like a celeb. Here, contemporary cuisine is combined with Peruvian classics. Chef Cesar Lozano pulls out all the stops and puts dishes off the menu for me. The grilled squid topped with rocket on a bed of potato slices is not only a feast for the eyes but also for the tongue and the accompanying Chaufa Capon de Quinua turns out to be a symbiotic companion. The next course consists of mini bapaos with breaded chicken burgers, a slightly simpler but no less eye-heavenly enjoyment.
5. Fiesta Gourmet
Light and sleekly decorated with crisp white table linen and a wall full of fine wines known as one of the best Chiclayana food restaurants. Chef Hector Salis serves a spicy ceviche followed by roast duck on Arroz con pato, a particularly flavorful rice seasoned with garlic and coriander. This is accompanied by salsa, a side dish of onion and peppers, and a killer pisco sour. A fantastic culinary experience in Miraflores for the lover of modern cuisine.
Mistura
Here the versatile cuisine of Peru is celebrated, a mouth-watering fusion of dishes from the Incas, the Spanish conquerors, their African slaves and of course the Asians. It is the largest food festival in South America where the biodiversity, tradition and culture of the country are showcased.
The tenth edition takes place for the first time in the traditional District of Rímac, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Here thousands and thousands of people gathered – mainly Peruvians – to enjoy the well-known classics; except for the sweets in ‘Los Dulceros’, there are rows of thick in front of the various stalls and food trucks with ceviches and anticuchos. The local heroine Tía Grimanesa – after 30 years of street sales she opened her own restaurant – is not only with a stall but also present herself. The large market is the heart of Mistura where hundreds of agricultural producers from all regions of Peru collect and the coffee and cocoa industry are well represented. Peruvian chefs give workshops in La Covina del Gran Mercado.
Peru, a gastronomic heaven on earth, with Lima as the absolute highlight!
Na. If you want to learn how to prepare the local dishes yourself, follow a cooking workshop on site. Recipe for a killer ceviche can be found here. For coffee lovers there are tastings so you come home with only the very best beans.
