Editor's Note: The following is a republished article [1] by Alejandro García of Peru Food, who has been involved with Global Voices Online through translation of some Peruvian blog roundups.
A while back, Peru Food wrote this post [2] regarding the food court restaurant called Lima City in Irvine, California. Now, at Monster Munching [3], elmomonster [4]tells us that Lima City is no more, and its stead, there is now a Peruvian Kitchen [5].
Sounds like the food is still good. Describing Peruvian Kitchen's lomo saltado, elmomonster Edwin Goei [6] writes:
I found a seat and flipped open the lid. When I did, a plume of hot steam carrying the aroma of cumin and soy sauce escaped. It smelled exactly right. Then I took a bite and tasted the best saltado I've had since El Pollo Inka in Lawndale.
The beef wasn't just tender, it melted. Everything that surrounded it — the fries, the red onion, the tomato — was wokked and seasoned perfectly. It was flavorful, crisp, and alive.
Even the rice was spot on. Cooked with a hint of chicken broth in a similar manner as Hainan chicken rice, the starch could've functioned as a standalone dish.
Photo: Monster Munching [7]
Sounds like its worth a trip to south Orange County.
Tessa Cruz is a Filipina blogger based in Atlanta who was recently in Peru, and wrote a post titled Pagkaing Peruano (Peruvian Food) [8], with lots of pictures at her blog, Tessa Cruz [9]. We especially liked her photo of alpaca steak, served with a potato terrine, and what looks like a stuffed rocoto:
[10]
Photo: Tess Cruz [11]
Rani [12], writing from Sydney, reviews La Cocina Peruana [13], a Peruvian joint Down Under, at Gastranimy [14], but has mixed feelings about eating anticuchos, the beef heart skewers [15]:
I must confess to having waited for everyone else at the table to take a piece of the beef heart from the skewer before I tried it myself, not being a natural aficionado of offal. The texture is quite firm but not chewy in the way that an overcooked piece of steak would be. Again, it is the accompaniment that lifts this entrée from merely being novel meat on a skewer. In a tiny dish next to the skewers is a bright orange ground salsa that offers a big kick of chilli that fades away without taking out the taste buds.
Writing from Arequipa, monkeyspinner [16] is an avid knitter and wool-spinner currently in Peru to learn new techniques, and blogging about her experiences at Wool in the Flyer [17]. We liked the pictures she put up of the pumpkin fritters called picarones, which we wrote about a while back at this link [18]. We also liked how monkeyspinner [16] described the picarones:
After lunch we went and had a tasty treat and I am grateful to Miguel for it. I think he only tells me about local sweets every few days as he fears I will go into a sugar coma. This was fried yeasted dough ( think similar to a funnel cake but not quite) covered in sugar cane syrup. TASTY. In Lima they make them from pumpkin. Bunuelos? Something like this. I’ll find out. But I had four. There are ladies there who each make them just a tad different so families have their favorite ladies.
There are many people who write blogs while traveling in Peru. One such person is Lisa Patel [19], who is keeping an online journal at Travel Blog [20] and dedicated an entire post to Peruvian food, aptly titled, On Peruvian Food [21]. She also raves about Amazonian desserts and drinks. Writing from one of my favorite Peruvian cities, Iquitos in the Amazon rainforest, she tells us about cebiche:
Cebiche: I was told that it would be a crime, a shameful and unforgivable crime, to leave the country of Peru without having experienced one of the country's most beloved national foods. Cebiche is a dish of raw seafood–fish, shrimp, and stuffed crab in this particular dish–marinated with fresh onion, garlic, cilantro, and lemon juice, all sitting on top of sweet potato, yuca, potato, and my personal favorite: choclos, a type of corn seed that does not pop upon roasting–rather, the inside becomes soft and crunchy, like pop corn, only more savory and a bit saltier.
Finally we came across this post [22], which mentions a Peruvian food blog, at Zuckervati Missing Links [23]:
Very neat blog about a guy who goes to Peru and talks about the food you can get in Lima. Our Sales rep is from Peru and promises me a bottle of pisco and a bottle of their local rum when he goes back:
I am a creature of habit, and I have a culinary tradition when arriving in Lima which I have kept during the last few years of travel here. On this trip, I was able to maintain my tradition. After checking into our hotel in the Miraflores district of Lima, we had a stroll around Miraflores’ main park, Parque Kennedy, and I picked up the Lima daily, El Comercio, and headed to the Café Haiti, one of the grand old-fashioned Lima cafés to have my first Peruvian meal (lomo saltado and a frothy pisco sour) while people-watching. The waiters are definitely old-school and after so many times there, they know who I am. “In Lima again?” one of the waiters asked me, “Are you ready for your lomo saltado?” You have to love that type of service.
Which guy could that be? Oh, it's me! Until the next time, On The Blogs…