Deepest Peru
Covent Garden - 21 July 2014
Nine years ago, I spent
a few weeks in Peru while backpacking around Latin America, and I left with the impression that the food was pretty
unexciting. Yet it is Peruvian cuisine that is the latest London food-trend with
restaurants popping up left, right and centre. And given the reviews and awards
these places have been receiving, it seems I must have been too hasty in my
judgement. Maybe travelling on a shoestring doesn't always allow you to
experience the best of a country’s cuisine (mainly meat and
potatoes, with a one-time-only meal of spatch-cocked and deep-fried guinea pig
served on a bed of chips). Who knew?
One of the restaurants at the vanguard of this Andean
invasion is the Michelin-starred Lima Fitzrovia. And clearly business is good,
as they've just expanded; opening a branch near Covent Garden and one of the
best parts of new openings are those the magical words ‘soft launch’. One of
the things I love about a half-off launch is the equalising element of
it – it allows you the opportunity to experience places that would otherwise be saved for a special
occasion on a regular Monday night instead, whilst leaving enough change in your wallet for something other than gruel for the rest of the week… And in this case let me reappraise Peruvian cuisine. It turns
out it is good.
First up, the restaurant itself is a lovely space set in an
attractive building at the end of Floral Street (hence the Lima Floral moniker),
which once housed a workshop for a stained-glass window manufacturer. The large floor-to-ceiling gothic windows lend the dining room
(there’s a basement tapas bar too) a light airy feel. The service was of
a good standard – our waitress was friendly and
knowledgeable about the food.
And that food is tasty. The menu is packed with exotic and unknown ingredients. Our stand-out starter was Sea Bream ceviche, with Tiger’s Milk.
Which as it turns out, doesn't involve a brave kitchen-hand risking life and
limb to source (even though cats do have nipples and therefore can be milked). It is the name given to the citrus juice, made cloudy by curing the
fish. This dish was wonderful – light and fresh, with smooth avocado cream and the tiger’s milk
giving it a sharp bite.
The best main was a similar dish – monkfish in green &
red Tiger's Milk. Meaty fish hidden under ribbons of crunchy courgettes,
and a smattering of micro herbs – amongst a warm yellow sauce (the yellow chill pepper I assume) although we were unsure what made it green and red tiger milk?
The sharpness of these dishes did slightly overshadow our other
orders – a marinated raw beef escabeche salad for starters, and lamb rump with
eco dry potato and other pureed stuff for mains. Both of which were very pretty
to look at, and cooked well enough (actually, cooked medium rare), but just a bit bland and washed out
next to the fish dishes. Plus, there was chewy sinew running through the lamb, that even the knife struggled to cut through let alone our molars.
The desserts saw a return to form, that would stand up to a full-on
assault from a whole streak (or, ambush, collective noun fans) of tigers.
The photos don’t do the chocolate dessert justice. The
Peruvian Palo Blanco Cacao was smoother than silk and richer than El Dorado, with the
oat and wood sorrel topping adding tang and texture – this is next level
chocolate pudding.
The Café Peruano also deserves credit, not least for adding purple potato to the list of dessert ingredients. Freeze dried and powdered, it added
an unusual, and not unpleasant feel to the sweetness of the coffee ice
cream. The red kiwicha added crunch and an exotic element, but little in terms of taste. Overall, not as delicious as the chocolate, but worth trying.
One word of warning: the cherimoya is an acquired taste at
best. I would have thought that something variously described as ‘custard
apple’ or ‘ice cream fruit’ should be the most delicious thing ever – and in
fact Mark Twain described it as such. However, it turns out, Mark Twain was
mental. A neighbouring table ordered the Cherimoya Mousse dessert, and promptly stopped after just one mouthful. They offered us a taste, and one spoonful later, we were in complete agreement. It tasted like gone-off milk.
I’d rather try guinea pig again.
But that aside, I would visit Lima Floral again. It was a
lovely meal, and it’s completely sold me on Peruvian food. Next time I want to check out the bar downstairs and
it’s piqueos menu. The ceviches are on there, so I can get more tiger’s milk
coursing through my body. Winning.
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