Some people eat to live, some live to eat. If you are the latter, Lima should be high on your mental list, if not there already. If you are the former, Lima is not for you. Why selective eaters come to Lima is a small mystery. To see the erotic pre Colombian art at the Larco Museum? The homeless cats of Miraflores? There’s just enough to do and see here to merit a stay for more than one or two nights. But this is the one metropolitan city where food is its number one attraction and main reason to come. And that’s what makes this city so unique.
Some of the famed restaurants in Lima like La Mar are experiences in themselves. The La Mar experience starts months prior to the visit when you start reading reviews and studying the menu. You will quickly find out about the lines to get in, and your reaction may be, “f that, I’m not standing on a long line in a city with so many options”. Hit yourself with your bass fishing tournament participation trophy, or whatever closest. You will be in Lima, a city where you’ll pass the same cat colony 5 times. You’ll have plenty of time to stand on line for 30-60 minutes and be on your phone just like at your hotel room.
Your entire itinerary in fact will be centered around food, especially the day you will visit La Mar. Perfect time to skip the eggs and go for that yoghurt at the breakfast buffet, as hard as it is sometimes. And schedule a small museum like Larco in the morning before Ubering to the main event. In our case we arrived 30 minutes before opening (noon), and were the second couple in line. On the door it listed a capacity of 96, so after a quick math I determined we are in!
La Mar is a world renowned Cevicheria by the local legend Gastón Acurio. Like many Cevicherias in Lima, its open for lunch only. Traditionally Cevicherias were only open while the catch is fresh and available. Even with modern refrigeration and advancements today, they continue to keep traditions alive, but I suspect its also a business decision. Acurio and team are trying to mimic this experience all over the world with branches in Miami, SF, Dubai and more. The NYC location didnt last very long.
The Ceviche was indeed top notch. Fresh, delicious fish, well balanced tiger’s milk, different textures of giant corn (fresh and fried), and more spicy dry mix on the side in case we weren’t satisfied with the heat. And when you do go overboard, there’s sweet potatoes to extinguish the heat. In Ollantaytambo we had an incredible fancied Ceviche, but for a traditional this was simply perfect.
Another strong specialty here is the cold octopus smothered with a black olive and caper sauce that penetrated the octopus just enough to elevate. Our waiter recommended the grilled octopus instead which is an entire grilled octopus meant for a group. Tempting but with only two people a bit too much.
Then came the Causa. Causa is made mostly from layered seasoned mashed potatoes, stuffed with a protein and topped with hard boiled eggs and/or other stuff. In this case it was stuffed and topped with tuna tartare, avocado and eggs. Its bigger and heavier than what you see here, and its absolutely sensational. The challenge was to stop eating while getting full, since more is coming.
And as good as everything was, the lone hot dish was perhaps the best one. Arroz Enchichado, a creamy, slightly spicy risotto like, with hefty pieces of Congrio, Cusk eel in English, but not really eel. Texture somewhere between Halibut and Cod. Rich, comforting, complex, and easily best rice dish of the entire Peru trip. One of those meals.
