Travel Food Porn: Peru (Part 2 of 3)

Earlier this week, I wrote about two of the best meals I had while in Lima. I was only in the city for three days, but having great food was definitely one of my major goals in visiting Lima. Hell, that's usually the case for anywhere I travel. So I wanted to make every meal count. This blog serves as a cautionary tale on going by TripAdvisor reviews, but no worries...it has a happy ending.

I had wanted to check out Central, one of the top restaurants in Lima but when inquiring for a reservation, I was informed they were already booked through the end of the month. This comes as no surprise given the prestige of the chef, but I was hopeful that I'd be able to successfully eat there at some point since I was there mid-week. When my friend Dan and I headed out for food, it was a bit early to check out Central so we pulled up TripAdvisor and found fairly solid reviews for a restaurant not far from the hotel. So we went. For some reason, we elected to only order a ceviche and an octopus dish, hoping that we could pop in to Central later. Am I ever glad we didn't elect to eat a large meal at this place. This horrific display of octopus bathed in olive sauce was so unappetizing, I couldn't even bring myself to have a bite. The look on my friend Dan's face after sampling it proved my instincts were right, but not so were the writers on TripAdvisor. I hate to put ugly food on here, but really, it needs to be seen. Food not only needs to taste good, it needs to look remotely appetizing.

So after that debacle, we headed over to Central where we were able to enjoy some cocktails at the bar, chat with some locals (well Dan did, I just pretended to understand with my limited Spanish skills), and I even gained some restaurant recs for my trip to Cusco (which came in handy!). After a solid hour or two at the bar, we were able to get a seat for dinner and the meal far made up for the horror that was our experience earlier that evening.

The food at Central was rich and delightful. We started off with fresh breads, including one that contained coca (just able everything down there does). We followed that up with sweetbreads. I know what sweetbreads are and I willingly ate them here. However it always makes me think of a story (the person who said this shall remain nameless) of a friend who when reading sweetbreads on a menu thought that it meant something like a donut. I can see how someone could make that mistake, but it's pretty funny nonetheless.

I followed up with a suckling pig with potatoes (surprise surprise) and a caramel based sauce (shown above). I don't recall what Dan ordered but I do recall that the facial expressions following this meal were far improved from our last experience.

We finished our meal with a lovely dessert that had a fruit that Dan was a big fan of from his childhood. The dessert was light and fluffy and beautifully presented. The texture of the pinkish substance that resembled ice cream reminded me of the chalky "Astronaut Ice Cream" I tried in elementary school.


So if you find yourself heading to Lima, I can offer this advice. 1) Take the recommendations on TripAdvisor with a grain of salt. 2) Visit Central. And if you can't get a reservation, try your luck and drink at the bar for a bit. You might not remember all the intimate details of the meal, but the mixologist there was an artist.