Travel Peru, Peru Blog

I am a real fan of ceviche. In fact, I am a real fan of seafood in general. But my favorite by far is ceviche. Imagine sushi but marinated with Peruvian lemon, and supplied with sweet potato, corn of the cob, stripped onion and chili pepper. A place where ceviche is served is called cevichería here in Peru. As I was told there are also cevicherías in the United States, but most or a few of them don’t use Peruvian lemon but lime so that the flavor is rather different. You should definitely come to Peru to taste the genuine ceviche.

There are also cevicherías here in Qosqo, but I wouldn’t climb up to the highlands to eat a typical coastal dish. I’m not saying that there might not be good cevicherías in Qosqo, but I never thought about trying ceviche when I am aware there is typical Andean food waiting on my yummy list.

I had been living in Qosqo for nearly seven months when I came back to Lima to visit my parents for a week. And, of course, I wasn’t going to lose that chance to indulge myself with a delicious ceviche.
My mom had heard about Punto Azul, but she only remembered it was on Benavides avenue near home. Nearby we all knew there were two cevicherías on the same block one in front of the other.
Getting on the spot, we found out that neither was our choice, but my brother happened to ask inside one of them, and he got the right address. The clerk was with the competition or what?

It was half past two of a sunny Sunday, and the restaurant was crowded. There were people waiting at the lobby and even on the staircase that led to the doorway. That is a good sign, isn’t it?
There was a lady giving vouchers or tickets. She gave us ticket number 62 when she was counting off 29. Nonetheless, we only waited half hour to get a table. People would have been starved!

We usually order the same dish, and that day wasn’t an exception: rice with shellfish for my mom, chicharrón de pescado for my brother, and mixed ceviche for me. My dad wasn’t on the mood to eat seafood so he ordered pasta. Pasta at a cevichería, strange mixture, indeed! To drink we enjoyed chicha morada, a sweet refreshment made from corn or maize.

Enticing desserts came and went on a plate, but we all were more than satisfied when we finished our lunch. No leftover remained, though. “How long will it take for you to have ceviche again?”, my mom asked me. “I hope not too long”. I wonder whether I should try ceviche here in Qosqo or not, because I really miss it.
My camera ran out of battery that day so I couldn’t take any pictures. Sorry!

A Taste From the East
On my way to visit a friend of mine in Lima I spotted “El Bijao”, a small restaurant that served food from the jungle. My parents and all my relatives are from the rainforest so I am accustomed to that kind of meals. And, of course, I like it very much too.
Even though I was in a kind of a hurry, I couldn’t help ordering tacacho (picture above), one of my favorites. My mouth watered while I was seeing the fried bananas turning into a ball.
In the meantime, the owner of the restaurant showed me a box containing “suris”, a cloud forest worm which is served fried. I´d have tried it that day, but I didn’t carry enough money. What a pity since I had never tasted it in my life.

The tacacho with salad made of chopped onion was just delicious. I remembered my good old days when I used to live in Iquitos during my school holidays. They were unforgettable days and nights swimming in rivers and pools, dancing merengue and salsa, and eating not only tacacho but also juane (below picture), cecina, paiche, aguaje (last picture), and other tasteful meals.

No surprise that one of the seven sins comes from food.

Useful Information:
Punto Azul in Lima:
Miraflores:
Av. Benavides 2711 and San Martín 595
San Borja:
Av. Joaquín Madrid 253
San Isidro:
Corner of Javier Prado and Petit Thoaurs avenue
Surco:
Av. Primavera 2235

El Bijao
Av. Ignacio Merino 2051, Lince
www.elbijao.com.pe (only in spanish)