The Wonderful Foods of Lima, Peru

Peru literally has the pick of the crop when it comes to agriculture and Peruvian cuisine is not only influenced by its own indigenous cultures but also by the cuisines brought in by immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The food is a fusion of cultural techniques and traditions with locally available ingredients. 

Before heading to Peru a quick Google search will show that everyone has food on their minds as page after page comes up with '10 things you have to eat in Peru' or 'Don't miss out on these foods in Peru'. Using these as my guides we ate our ways around the country through Cusco and Lima.

One of these said searches brought Canta Rana restaurant to my attention. The decor looked fun and the food looked good. Located at Genova 101, in Barranco District we arrived to an empty restaurant. Normally I would have misgivings about eating at a seemingly unpopular restaurant, (not always bad reasons to be empty as I had discovered in Vienna) but to be fair it was pretty early for supper and on a random weekday. 

I opted for the ceviche as I had yet to have any during my travels through Peru and Bolivia, which is just a crying shame. Our foodie tour guide told me that actually ceviche is something that Peruvians only really eat for breakfast as that is when the fish is freshest. Totally makes sense, but what can I say? I was a tourist on this one and it was delicious despite being my dinner instead of breakie.

Eimear ordered the Lomo Saltado which is a typical Peruvian dish consisting of marinated beef with stir fried veg, french fries and rice. It was also quite good. (Yes, I tried it! You go to a restaurant with me, you better be sure I'm having a bite of whatever you're having.)

My favourite food spot of Lima was La Lucha Sangucheria Criolla on Av. Sta. Cruz 847 in Miraflores, which I believe to be more or less fast food, but Peruvians are known for fresh ingredients  so even fast, it's quality. Place your order at the counter, pay, take a seat and wait for the food to be brought to you. While standing in line, trying to decipher the Spanish into food items we knew, a very kind, older gentleman overheard us and gave us a hand translating the menu. (I do love travel moments like that!) In the end I went with Pollo con Pina & queso (chicken with pineapple and cheese) with a side of fries and it was divine.

On another day, after a morning of admiring the grand architecture of the old town of Lima we getting hangry for some lunch and just wanted something cheap and cheerful. We found a small sandwich shop with the tiniest upstairs seating area and enjoyed ham and cheese sandwiches and of course an Inca Kola (It is the national drink of Peru after all). As we paid our bill at the counter on our way out, an interesting looking biscuit caught Eimear's eye. We have no clue what it was, but it was the perfect ending to a light lunch. 

Stepping into hole-in-the-wall food places while travelling helps you experience life like the locals. We dined with the regular lunch crowd, away from the tourists and those tourist trap restaurants. 

Of course we also partook in the tradition of libations while travelling. A few Peruvian beers here and a Pisco Sour or two (or three) there. There's some debate over the origin story of the Pisco Sour, but this lime, simple syrup and egg white cocktail has been in the Peruvian tumbler for over 100 years.

Eimear was the photographer of this photo of my cheekbones  

The Trad Pisco Sour on the left

We seemed to be doing pretty well on our own, finding great local digs to eat and even getting to try some cultural foods. But we wanted more.

Eimear and I decided to find a food tour. I don't remember what exactly lead us to want to do it, as neither one of us have ever done one before, but I love food and I love trying new food so really I'm just surprised it's taken me this long to do one.

We did a little online research over our hotel breakfast and booked in with Food Walking Tour Peru for a food tour of the Bohemian Barranco District. Our tour was to start in the early evening and turned out to just be the two of us with our guide. We met at the Plaza de Armas and went to our first stop, Juanito Bodega Bar. 

We were served a plate of Aji de gallina (delicious chicken curry) and told a story about the owner. On the wall is a wooden go kart with a photo of the owner at 12 years old riding in said kart. It's a family run restaurant and you can tell that it's more than just the food that people visit come to this place for.

The owner behind his bar

The next stop was Cevicheria Union. We had a seat on the breezy patio and snacked on Canchita (giant seasoned, un-popped popcorn snack) and I'm addicted to these things. I've never seen the kernels quite so big!

The soup came out which was a Chilcano de Pescado, a fish broth soup that is known as a local hangover cure. Our guide suggested adding aji (chili) hot sauce to the bowl. The options came in 3 colours; red is from the coast, green the south, yellow from the jungle.

We were next taken to the Puente de los Suspiros (Lima's Bridge of Sighs), a wooden bridge which spans the Bajada de Baños. And as all good, small, wooden bridges do there is of course a legend to go along with it. Crossing the bridge for the first time you are granted one wish, but only if you are able to hold your breath while crossing the 30 meter length. 

Eimear forming her wish and preparing to hold her breath for the crossing

On the other side of the bridge is Javier, our next restaurant stop. As we walked to our seat I saw a poster for the infamous Anticucho (beef heart) and I hoped that's what we were there for. I'd been wanting to try this Peruvian street food, but hadn't been brave enough. Sure enough the smoking grilled beef hearts were brought out to us and they were oh so good. 
We mentioned to our guide that we were also interested in trying Picarones which are fried dough circles (like a fried doughnut) served with syrup. The dough is principally made up of squash and sweet potato. It's not sugary sweet, but it is a nice dessert.

Once we finished our food at Javier it was time for second dessert at a small food stand in Federico Villarreal Park. There sat these two beautiful woman who serve up warm cupfuls of Arroz con leche. I'm usually not a fan of rice pudding, but this one lovely.

Now it was time to wash down all our food with some liquids. First up was the Inca Kola from a corner store. People were gathered in the store socializing and drinking. You don't walk away with the glass bottles here in Peru. Drink up and pass the bottle back to the store clerk.

And to finish our 4 hour food tour off we stopped at another street stall, Obdulia Emolientera, that concoct various health drinks, for us they made the thick Peruvian health drink Emoliente that contains no less than 18 ingredients. I couldn't list them all and even a Google search doesn't list that many, but everyone does agree of the health benefits of this warming Peruvian drink.

Aloe Vera being scraped into the drink

Anyone else now hungry?

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How to Tackle Lima

While planning our trip to Peru, I started discovering people I knew that had visited Peru themselves. And there seemed to be a resounding consonance, don't even bother with Lima. There's so much to do in this country that Lima will underwhelm.  After being there myself, I would like to politely disagree.

Lima was originally inhabited by indigenous groups and was incorporated into the Inca Empire in the 15th century. The Spanish then settled there in 1536. Today, the large city is made up of many neighbourhoods; Lima Centro, Miaflores, San Isidro, Barranco, and Chorrillos to name a few of the more commonly visited ones by tourists.

Lima definitely can be overwhelming with it's size, the crowds, and even the traffic. There's no way you're going to see it all and that's normally how I try to see a city--by seeing it all. Lima cannot be conquered this way, instead it must be broken down to smaller bits and tackled on a smaller scale.

After a little research we decided to focus our attentions on 3 of the main districts: Miaflores, Barranco, and Lima Centro. Before arriving, we weren't entirely sure how we were going to get about, but discovering that there was Uber we weren't too concerned.

We booked a hotel in the commercial district, Miaflores. Checking off walks to the ocean, learning about the pre-Inca culture at the Huaca Pucllana, and being close to other exciting neighbourhoods, like Barranco.

Barranco is a bohemian, relaxed district with great restaurants and nightlife. We often found ourselves drawn to this district and did a food tour here.

Lima Centro is the old downtown area where there are large squares and colonial buildings and lots of people. We took the Metropolitano there one afternoon, wandered a bit, grabbed some lunch and felt we had our fill.

Like I said, we didn't see nearly everything there and didn't even step foot into a museum, but having broken Lima down into smaller pieces, exploring a few neighbourhoods as independents, I feel like I now know what Lima is about and I like it very much.

This capital city has been given a bad rep for being so big and different then the rest of the cities in Peru, but it really does have it's own unique charm as it fights to be a modern city in a modern world. Go on, give Lima a shot.

Have you been to Peru or Lima? What did you think of it?

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