A guest post by chef Richard Sandoval of Richard Sandoval Restaurants.

Lima is the ideal hub for foodies with limited time in Peru.  Miraflores, the city’s chic dining and cultural center, should be your home base.  It’s excellent restaurants showcase Peru’s best cuisine and culinary adventures are a day trip away.  Just outside of Miraflores is Chorrillos, known for its massive, open air market.  On a recent visit with my team of chefs, we tasted everything from fish liver to the tiny Pejerrey fish used in Chicharron de Pescado – deep fried fish – that are common in local cevicherias.  Pachacamac is also accessible from Miraflores.  There we toured a goat farm famous for Pachacamac cheeses.  We sampled the fresh milk before production and the cheeses that it produced.  The flavors were very grassy, redolent of the animal’s diet on the farm.

We also visited Don Torcuato, one of the region’s organic farms, and learned about Peru’s unusually fertile soil.  We tasted some of the incredible fruits and vegetables and that thrive in the region alongside Cuy – a traditional dish of guinea pig cooked in pork fat until crispy.  Miraflores’ hip restaurants offer the best of Peruvian cooking.  Don’t miss Pollo a la Brasa – the country’s ubiquitous grilled chicken, often marinated up to 24 hours. We tried the chicken at Don Titos.  Fiesta serves Northern Peruvian cuisine, including their tableside Collar de Hero – a whole roasted collar of sea bass, cooked crispy and smothered in aji sauce.  Truly an amazing experience!

For Anticucho de Corazon – grilled beef heart skewer with criolla sauce – try Gloton, which stays busy well into the night.  It’s an excellent stop after sampling Piscos, which we did at Mayta.  The restaurant offers over 30 pisco infusions, including the daring coca-steeped pisco. Salud!

 

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