One of the great things about Peruvian cuisine is the diversity of regional cooking styles and specialties. One of the most distinctive styles is that of Arequipa, the city of white stone, where you can find such specialties as the roasted cuy, or guinea pig, which is common throughout Peru but cooked a little differently here (roasted whole in a special style). Having only experienced the dining scene in Lima and Cusco, I couldn’t wait to get a taste of Arequipa. Unfortunately, I only had one day in Arequipa before returning to Argentina, and so I had to choose wisely. Luckily, though, I had some help. Whenever I’m in doubt, I like to ask some of the countrymen themselves, especially cab drivers, who tend to give out the best advice when it comes to exploring a new country, at least in my book. The overwhelming consensus was that if I wanted true, authentic Arequipenian cuisine, made like a grandma would make it, I really couldn’t go anywhere but to Tradición Arequipeña. And so I went, driven on by an insatiable appetite that had been whetted by the many respondents.

The restaurant, to tell you the truth, is just a casual, cheap, family-friendly type eatery. And of course, with any really cheap,  casual restaurant there will be problems, and probably the biggest one that Tradición Arequipeña suffers from is service, which is just downright slow. The waiters are great, friendly guys, but it takes them an hour to bring you even a simple request. And that’s only a slight exaggeration—I was the only person sitting in the upstairs seating area when I arrived, and there was almost nobody in the whole restaurant, yet I still couldn’t get a cup of juice until 10 minutes past my order. And there are so few of them around that it takes a few minutes just to find one to ask for something simple, like more drinks.

The other aspects of the restaurant fared better. The ambience, for example, is great for a cheap joint. There are 5 different seating areas, each with a different view and vibe. I had a second floor, semi-open seating area, with a fantastic view of the surrounding area. It’s very nice on a warm sunny day, like the day I went. Other than that, the whole restaurant is very simple, with normal, wooden chairs and tables. There is also some live music at dinnertime, though I didn’t get to hear it. And, finally, there are some nice touches to make you really feel like you’re in an old-fashioned, casual, and—yes—touristy joint. Most notably, whenever you order the famed Chupe de Camarones, a traditional seafood stew and regional specialty, the waiter brings you a bib-like paper napkin that fits over your head and covers your entire upper body to keep off all the splashing soup (and it will splash, since you’re expected to dig in with your hands to eat all the shellfish). The waiter will even offer to take a photo of you. I know what you may be thinking at this point—sounds like this place just oozes “touristy” or “common”—and you’d be right, but that doesn’t prevent this place from serving up some true, authentic Arequipenian cuisine that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

And the food really is the main attraction here. It’s not the best, but it serves true Arequipenian cuisine, with almost all of the regional specialties of Arequipa offered. I know, again, because I asked local Peruvians. Moreover, this is one of the best values of any restaurant I visited. Everything I ate (4 large courses + 3 fruit drinks) cost me about $30, and the portions are so huge that I’d be willing to bet that what I ate would feed two normal people (I was starving that day). And for the most part the food tasted pretty good.

Overall, then, this is a great restaurant/pigout joint. Not only do you get huge portions and a nice ambience for a very low price, but this is one of the few where you can try well-prepared, traditional Arequipenian cuisine. It’s highly recommended if you want authentic a and/or cheap food in Arequipa.

What I had:

1. Piqueo Tradicional, a medley of traditional Peruvian foods, including rocoto relleno (stuffed red pepper), potato pie, boiled potatoes, chili sauce, lamb feet vinaigrette, oven-baked ribs and pork: Wow! This is a GIGANTIC dish and is the perfect way to experience practically the whole of traditional Arequipenian cuisine. Overall: 4.0/5.0 for the variety and quality in general. Hits: rocoto relleno. Misses: boiled potato.
   • The ribs are so crispy you can eat the bone. The pork, in general, is nice, flavorful, and moist enough not to be dry.
   • The potato pie is nice and rich, with a creamy cheese inside and a crunchy top. The potato taste is right on—the Andean potato is just so satisfying, in terms of its starchiness.
   • Lamb foot is interesting. Served cold, kind of like in a ceviche—the vinaigrettegives it a very nice flavor and complements it well. The lamb foot is nice and chewy because it has so much fat, but the texture and flavor are actually good. It’s just way too spicy and has too much pepper on it.
   • The boiled potatoes are the weak link. They are served with mayo and spices, but they’re just so cold that it seems wrong. The creaminess and richness of the mayo, moreover, makes the starchiness just way too fatty and unsatisfying. And the potato flavor is dull.
   • The stuffed red pepper is, hands down, the most delicious part of the dish. It’s spicy as hell, but oh so good! The filling is right. A peanut flavor just jumps out. The meat inside is nice, juicy, and savory, and the mix inside seems a bit creamy.
2. Platter of fried yucca and fried cheese: Rich and fatty. The yucca could use ketchup—it’s in huge, dry chunks. The dryness is a bit odd, since yucca is typically so starchy it’s normally very satisfying even on its own. The taste is, thus, much more like potatoes—not the greatest quality. The cheese is gooey but far too salty and oily. It leaves a disgusting grease all over the plate. It can’t even hold a torch to fried mozzarella. Cheese is a 0.0/5.0. Yucca is a 2.7+/5.0.
3. Chupe de Camarones, a cream stew of crawfish, vegetables, milk, rice, potatoes, corn, and beans (and the regional specialty of Arequipa): Huge mountain of seafood. You must eat this with your hands and it gets really, really messy. The waiters even provide you with a large apron-type covering for your chest and ask if you want a photo—this is quite the annoying tourist experience, like eating at one of those steakhouses with a gimmicky challenge in the US. Still, the stew is of great quality. The crawfish and shrimp are cooked very. The soup is rich and creamy, with lots of starchy thickeners and a great mix of veggies. The quality is unmistakable, but it’s just too messy and too much seafood for my taste. For me, an 3.0, but I could see a seafood lover rating this as highly as a 3.5.
4. Queso Helado/Frozen Cheese: just like ice cream, but much harder and with lots of cinnamon. Way too icy, but with a nice flavor. The cheese just doesn’t come through, though. Seems like an odd flavor combination, and, in reality, it’s somewhat tasteless. 1.0/5.0

Scoring

Ambience: 3.5/5.0
Service: 0.5/5.0
Food: 3.0/5.0
Value: 4.8/5.0. The portions are so large that you probably won’t finish, and the quality doesn’t suffer too much.
Verdict: 3.5/5.0, but 4.0 for a pigout joint.

Lima 517
Puno, Peru

During my trip to Peru, I spent a night in Puno before heading off to Lake Titicaca to spend some time on an island with some of Peru’s indigenous people. That’s great and all, but unfortunately when you’re stranded on an island with no electricity, transportation, or even a supermarket, you’re probably not going to get much to eat. Thus, I knew I needed a large dinner that night. Puno, though, isn’t really one of Peru’s culinary treasures, so I decided to try out some of the traditional Peruvian dishes I hadn’t had a chance to taste yet. I settled on La Casona, a somewhat recommended, traditional Peruvian restaurant (recommended being a loose term, since it’s hard to really recommend much in Puno). Surprisingly, what I got was borderline good, especially for the price I paid.

I can’t really say much about La Casona, except that simplicity runs through in almost every facet, from the ambience to the food. The restaurant interior is really just some small wooden tables and chairs, with a homey, slight log cabin vibe, but it’s really very plain. The service was nothing noticeable, though there were no problems. And the food was just plain Peruvian, with no frills whatsoever. That’s the charm of it, though—this is one of the few places I ate at in Peru where I didn’t see any attempt to infuse a bit of a modern flair to the Peruvian cuisine, and I actually liked that. I was on a quest to taste a whole slew of real Peruvian dishes, but everywhere I went, I always had to taste some modification or modern update—it’s as though typical Peruvian cuisine is taboo among restaurateurs. La Casona, though, does it the old-fashioned way, and I can attest to that, because every single one of the courses I ate was true Peruvian fare.

As for the quality of the food, I can’t say I was highly pleased, but the menu was varied enough for me to find what I had specifically been looking for (Aji de Gallina—chicken stew), and the food was decent enough at the price for me to enjoy it. There were some flavors that really just didn’t work, in my book, but I do know that that’s probably more because of the nature of the dish than the quality of the restaurant’s preparation—I mean, some dishes just aren’t for everyone.

In any case, I normally wouldn’t recommend a place like this, but judging by the fact that it’s in Puno, it’s really quite a good choice to consider if you’re ever nearby.

What I had:

1. Causa (Layers of smashed yellow potato and a dash of lemon, stuffed with meat): Just like chicken salad or a potato sandwich with chicken salad filling. Rich and heavy. Good potato part. Too much mayo, which is rather cloying, but the strong potato presence balance it. Way too heavy, though. 1.5/5.0
2. Anticucho of Alpaca (Meat marinated in red chili seasoning with onions, red peppers, potatoes): Great meat—tastes just like steak but on the leaner, gamier side, like a rabbit. Great mix of veggies, especially of boiled potatoes. The sauce works but it’s underwhelming and too salty. 2.5/5.0
3. Aji de Gallina (Shredded chicken in chili and peanut and sauce with potatoes, lettuce, tomato, hard-boiled egg, and olives): Very good. Like a yellow chicken curry but with a peanut aftertaste (i.e. Thai style),and some of the odd vegetables that are included do help to add a bit more flavor. Rich and creamy with great chunks of meat and a nice base of potatoes. Andean potatoes have a great rich, starchy flavor—even more so than the potatoes Americans are used to—that really helps to thicken the whole stew, which is never mushy, gritty, or inconsistent. Rice would have been better (and rice is the traditional accompaniment to this stew), but potatoes are so common in Peruvian cuisine that they can often be substituted for rice.  3.4/5.0

Ambience: 2.0/5.0
Service: 2.2/5.0
Food: 2.4/5.0
Value: 3.0/5.0
Overall Score: 2.4/5.0. Really simple place, but it’s about as nice as it’s going to get in Puno, which isn’t known for a great culinary scene.

Triunfo 393
Cusco, Peru

When I returned to Cusco from Machu Pichu, I was famished. I had left at around 5:30 a.m. in pitch darkness and had barely eaten some bread on the way there. I had hiked up the actual mountain itself and had then, quite foolishly, refused to eat much of a lunch, knowing full well that I was going to return to a big dinner that day. Unfortunately, my return train had been delayed about an hour and a half, so by the time I got back to Cusco it was around 8 p.m., and I hadn’t had a real meal since the night before. So I was somewhat of a ravenous beast at that point, and I just wanted some real meat and potatoes to dig in to. I got my wish at A Mi Manera, the one place in town that really serves up a mean cuy, or guinea pig, one of the distinctive national dishes of Peru. And when I say guinea pig, I mean a whole roasted pig—yeah, I was that hungry. And I really have to say, A Mi Manera, although not quite as popular as some of the restaurants in town, probably gave me a better meal than I’d gotten anywhere in Cusco other than at MAP Café, which cost over 2x as much.

A Mi Manera is a quaint little restaurant. Located right next to the much more popular Cicciolina, it typically doesn’t have too many guests, so you can find some pretty good seating here. In fact, I was one of the only people in the restaurant at all when I went. And, unlike most restaurants in Peru, it actually doesn’t look half-bad for a very simple joint—it has nice, bright lighting, a full classy bar out in front with racks of glasses hanging from the top and twisting iron designs, and a very clean open kitchen area in the back. Plus, there are some nice decorations on the walls in places, like full-size indigenous masked dolls and bright paintings. The one complaint I really have is that you might feel a bit cramped, just because the restaurant is so small that a full-sized bar in the front really makes its small size noticeable, at least in the front. And it’s not an intimate type of small—it’s more just a bad use of space. Still, it’s nicer than what you typically get.

As for the service, it’s fantastic, not necessarily in professionalism but just in the quality of the staff, which is very friendly and will greatly help you with any questions you may have about Peru. In fact, my waiter just conversed with me for a while about my experiences in the ruins and Machu Picchu, also giving me some recommendation about sightseeing throughout the country. He was much, much more helpful than most of the people I’d talked to before.

And finally, and most importantly, the food actually delivers! This is just a traditional, down-home place, specializing in the traditional Peruvian dishes. That doesn’t sacrifice any of the uniqueness of the dishes, though, as the restaurant also combines Peruvian flavors in distinct ways that you might not find in other places—for example, quinoa pure might be served with the meat, or the dessert might utilize indigenous Peruvian fruits even though it is purely a house creation. Not only do you get authenticity but you get some all-around solid flavor.  Not one dish I had was bad at all, and the portions were large and filling enough that I really came out stuffed. In fact, for about $20, I got an appetizer, a whole roasted guinea pig on a gigantic plate of starches, and a nice dessert to boot. And, again, what I ate is not typical—the guinea pig alone probably was too much for one person alone.

This was thus a fantastic way to end off my trip to Machu Pichu with a feast fit for a king. I went away stuffed, but I didn’t have to sacrifice quality or pay an arm and a leg. Really, if you’re in Cusco and are looking for real Peruvian food, you can’t do any better than A Mi Manera.

What I had:

1. Rostizza (Gratinated potatoes with Andean cheese and bell peppers): Fantastic. Imagine a hash brown pancake covered in cheese and bell peppers. Potatoes are perfectly golden and crispy. They are molded into a cake in thin strips. The cheese and peppers add flavor and variety. Not healthy but worth it. 4.0/5.0
2. Cuy w/ stuffed roasted pepper and golden potatoes: The cuy, or guinea pig, is a Peruvian specialty and is great. Its flavor is rather interesting—not like a pig at all. Very greasy but with a bit of a gamier taste. Still like a roast suckling pig in theory, complete with great crackling. The skin is limp and loose—just falling off. The peanut sauce that is provided blends extremely well with the cuy, though the sauce makes it too salty. Honestly, though, the stuffed pepper steals  the show (filled with raisin, almond, some veggies, and ground beef). Amazing, with a brioche-like base that is the perfect complement. Also, the giant boiled potatoes are perfectly cooked and very flavorful. They are Andean potatoes, which have a completely different taste than what Americans are used to, and they are so rich and flavorful that I could eat them alone with no problem (unlike the American variety). Dish has tons of food, such that you probably won’t even finish. Great variety, great food, and great value—definitely a memorable dish that really gives you a true Peruvian experience and simultaneously tastes great.  4.0/5.0. 4.3/5.0 for people who like cuy meat or who want a taste of Peru.
3. Dessert—Trilogía/Trilogy (Crepe with sauco (elderberry) syrup, served with vanilla and peach. Sauco is an indigenous fruit): Sauco flavor is very interesting—heavy, like maple syrup or a fruity caramel—sweet in a fruity way, and kind of like caramelized berries. Very good with vanilla ice cream, and the ice cream itself is rather good. I loved it. Simple, but great for an ice cream treat. 4.0/5.0

Ambience: 3.0/5.0
Service: 4.0/5.0
Food: 4.0/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score: 3.8/5.0

Portal de Carnes 236, Second Floor
Cusco, Peru

As you should know by now, I’m a lover of dessert, which is my favorite part of the meal, so when I travel to a new country, the first part of the native cuisine that I really want to familiarize myself with is the dessert. So when I went to Cusco, I decided to try some of the old-school, traditional desserts of Peru. That led me on a search for a restaurant where I could find the infamous Masamorra Morada, a gelatin-like concoction made of purple corn, which just about every Peruvian kept on telling me about as some amazing treat (you know how people hype up things). But I couldn’t find it anywhere until I stumbled upon a local Peruvian restaurateur while exploring Cusco, the same guy who owned Incanto (and whom I mentioned in the review of that restaurant). While I was reserved at the start, the restaurateur took the time to really explain the nuances of Peruvian cuisine and then recommended that I check out one of his local restaurants, Limo Cocina Peruano, if I wanted a Masamorra Morada. He even threw in a Pisco Sour on the house, so I felt like I just had to give it a shot.

Limo Cocina Peruano, a semi high-end modern Peruvian restaurant, specializing in innovating in the traditional Peruvian dishes. When I got there, I was quite impressed by the scene. Again, I saw the simple modern design that is so typical of the better restaurants in Peru. Bright reddish-oranges were on the walls, the bar was prominently displayed in the front and very nice, the lighting was good, the seating very comfortable and spacious, and just in general good music. It really felt like a classy. And it just seemed like a hot hangout for people after work—I even ran into my waiter from Map Café the night before and had a nice conversation with him. I sat at the bar, so I can’t say much for service, but the bartenders were pretty friendly, too, striking up casual conversation.

Most important, though, is the food, and I can’t say it impressed me in any way. Like I said, I went for the Masamorra Morada, but I ended up actually sampling quite a few desserts and a ceviche to boot. Obviously, the ceviche was the best thing I tried, but even that didn’t really stand out compared to some of the others I’d had in the nation. Moreover, I was really quite disappointed by the dessert, not so much for the quality present in the restaurant, which prepared everything just fine, but rather because I really don’t understand the Peruvian taste for dessert. The traditional desserts just tend to be overly sweet, oddly textured, or big on clashing flavors—but that’s just my take. I do think the fundamental issue is that American tastes just diverge so greatly from Peruvian ones.

Anyway, I can’t say the restaurant is bad in itself, since the quality seems to be just fine when it comes to regular cuisine like ceviche, but I can say that it might just be better avoiding dessert in Peru at restaurants, especially this one— no point in paying an arm and a leg for something you’re not going to enjoy. Overall, while the restaurant has potential, I just didn’t get to see it.

What I had:

1. Ceviche Tropical (Tuna, shrimp, red onion, bell pepper, garlic, lime, mango, papaya, pineapple, coconut milk, all marinated in lime and pisco): Interesting. Very fruity and sweet, which is very unusual for a ceviche, which typically emphasize citrus tastes. But the sauce is creamy and rich and mixes well with the slightly salty fish to give it some unique flavor. 3.5/5.0
2. Masamorra Morada (Traditional Peruvian dish. Somewhat like a pudding made of purple corn):  It doesn’t taste bad per se, but rather just odd. Only slightly sweet. More like a taste of corn. Like drinking chichi morada, but in an unsatisfying gelatinous form. Can be a bit on the tasteless side. Definitely not the best Peru has to offer. 1.0/5.0
3. Alfajor with toffee (cookie sandwich stuffed with toffee and covered in chocolate): For an alfajor, very good. Much less sweet than the Argentine variety, and I actually prefer. Has a perfectly dry, sugar-coated, gigantic wafer. The toffee is stick, sweet, but not cloying, and, most importantly, the right amount is stuffed into the sandwich (not overstuffed). 3.0/5.0
4. Suspiro a lúcuma (Basically, a lúcuma mousse with meringue): This is an untraditional take on a traditional dessert, substituting the indigenous lúcuma fruit for lime. Use of lúcuma instead of lime makes it too sweet but also gives it a lot more flavor and consistency—in fact, it reminds me of a caramel custard, due to the natural creamy sweetness of the fruit. However, the flavor is more interesting than good. The meringue is very sweet. The lúcuma has a gritty consistency to it, like a cantelope with the seeds, which translates into a rough mousse. The ingredients just clash, and neither really balances the other. It’s cloyingly sweet and rough in the mouth. 0.5/5.0
5. Cocktail of Pisco with strawberry and banana liqueur: Too bitter. Doesn’t really have a refreshing fruitiness to it, because it is overshadowed by the pisco, which is far too strong.

Ambience: 3.9/5.0
Service: N/A
Taste: 2.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0. The desserts are a rip-off, but the prices are pretty standard for a higher-end Peruvian place.
Overall Score: 2.3/5.0. This was supposedly the place to try Peruvian desserts, but I can’t say it impressed in any way.

Av. La Mar 770
Lima, Peru

There is nothing quite so Peruvian as ceviche, a dish that I personally love. So when I was in Peru I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go taste ceviche at some traditional Cebicherías, or ceviche restaurants, which are traditionally only open for lunch. Unfortunately, I only had one day in Lima (where Peruvians say the best ceviche is found), so I had to make it count. I had compiled a list of some of the best ceviche places in town, but I still couldn’t choose—that is, until I started talking to the locals. On my way to my hostal in the cab, I didn’t even mention that I was looking for ceviche specifically, just for some Peruvian food, and my cab driver began to go on and on about ceviche and specifically about one place, Cebichería La Mar, the brainchild of celebrity chef Gaston. With that type of praise, I just couldn’t avoid this place, and I headed over for lunch.

When I entered, I was immediately impressed. It was absolutely hot, with tons of space and seating but still full almost to the brim. It was semi-outdoor dining, with a very hip, modern vibe to it—modern architecture (diagonal lines, etc.), spacious, with a very nice bar area, and just casual. The service, however, didn’t suffer at all. My waiter was perhaps one of the best I’ve had in any restaurant in South America. Not only was he extremely amiable, but, upon seeing that I’m a foreigner, he really took some time to explain the dishes to me clearly and give great recommendations. Upon finding out that I was writing down notes about the restaurant, he even gave me a whole menu to take home with me! And this was a gigantic, hardback menu!

As for the food, just thinking about it makes me hungry. It had a nice beer and liquor selection, with so many cocktails and pisco variations that it’s ridiculous. The tropical juices were also fantastic. The menu had a large variety of food as well, highlighting the majority of traditional Peruvian dishes, including tacu tacu (explained below), ceviche, causa (small bites of meat with potato), and tiraditos (Peruvian sushi, more or less). Moreover, everything was of the highest quality, even what I didn’t particularly like. Topping all that, the portions were humungous and very affordable. I paid about $52 for a cocktail, 2 tropical juices, a shot of pisco, and 3 dishes that were far too much to finish.

And for all you interested foodies out there, this restaurant is actually a chain, though I was the original. One location has recently opened in San Francisco, so if you have the option, you might want to check it out, though I really can’t attest to the quality, never having been to that branch.

Overall, it was a phenomenal experience, from the ambience to the service to the food, and it easily one of the best meals of my life.

What I had:

1. Complementary appetizer in bucket: potato and sweet potato chips (Fantastic and plenty of it) with 3 different levels of spiced sauces and roasted, unpopped corn seeds. Sweet potato and plaintain chips are phenomenal, 2/3 sauces are irresistible, and the corn seeds are even better than popcorn and unforgettably good. I just can’t stop eating these, especially the corn seeds. 5.0/5.0
2. Degustation of 5 Ceviches
   • Clásico/Classic: Great chunks of fish, but spicy as hell, to the point that I almost can’t eat it. Delicious, though. The fish is as tender as sashimi, and the tanginess/citrus is perfect and balances the spice nicely. 4.0/5.0
   • Miraflorino (Classic version leche de tigre with fruits of the sea, i.e. a wide variety of seafood): Phenomenal! Octopus, calamari, and tuna are so fresh and add so much extra flavor and nuance to the traditional ceviche. More rubbery texture of the octopus and calamari is especially nice. Sauce is perfect—mild, tangy, and a little creamy. 4.8/5.0. Best ceviche I’ve had ever!
   • Nikei (leche de tigre “nikei” version + tuna): Refreshingly sweet. You wouldn’t think sweet ceviche works, but it does. Especially interesting is how the citrus and sugar balance each other so nicely. Tuna is perfect, and the sweetness a nice uniqueness to the ceviche. Kind of like of a desert. 4.2-4.4/5.0
   • Potente/Potent: This is powerful stuff. Nice mix of seafood, but the flavors are more bitter, and the spiciness only makes it worse. Seafood is chopped too—so it loses a lot of the texture and even flavor of the big sashimi-type pieces. 2.5/5.0
   • Elegante/Elegant: Nice, big pieces of seafood again. And yet again, the spiciness is off-putting. Sauce, however, is rather creamy and mayonnaise-like, which helps to offset the spice but at the same time makes the dish cloying. Still, the seafood is great. 3.0/5.0
3. Super saltado tacu tacu—This is plain, simple food at it’s finest, and it is a near perfect dish. It’s a gigantic dish of rice with beef and seafood “a la criolla,” or Creole style. Perfectly spiced and cooked. Vegetables have a nice kebab-type, smoky/savory flavor to them. The rice is somewhat mushy and too starchy because it has beans mixed in with it. In conjunction, though, everything has a nice dirty ricefeel to it, and it exudes a nice smokiness. Seafood is perfect as always, and the beef was cooked extremely well, too. The beef could have used some salt and spice, but it was so tender and flavorful that it was comparable to Argentine-quality steak. This dish is pure comfort food at its best, and it would have been near perfect without the mushiness of the rice and bean combo. 4.5
4. Dessert: Picarones (Dough mixed with sweet potatoes and sugar, then deep fried and served in fig honey): Wow! Enough said—just read the ingredients! Takes me back to my grandma’s homemade desserts, with a great combination of doughtiness, sweetness, and fruitiness. The fig honey works extremely well. Only loses points for being monotonous, but, again, this is fantastic comfort food. 4.0

Ambience: 4.5/5.0
Service: 5.0/5.0
Taste: 4.5-4.7/5.0
Value: 4.5/5.0. A bit pricey, but completely justified for the portions, innovation and quality you get.
Overall: 4.7/5.0-4.8/5.0. This was, without a doubt, my favorite restaurant in all of my travels (not just in Peru)!

Santa Catalina Angosta 135
Cusco, Peru

I was traveling through Cusco, looking for some restaurants that I had plotted on my map, when a random Peruvian came up to me and began pitching his restaurant. Typically, I’m not a sucker. I do my research, and if I haven’t heard of it, it’s probably not something I want to eat at, especially while I’m on vacation. As with most South Americans, though, Peruvians are just great people in general—warm, amiable, and just so likable that it’s hard to refuse them. The guy even offered me a free pisco sour, and that just wrapped up the deal (how can you say no to free alcohol?). So, while I managed to get away, I did promise to return for a lunch, and I did return to try out Incanto (literally, “enchantment”).

Incanto really delivers on the traditional Peruvian fare. Whereas most highly rated restaurants try to differentiate themselves with more European flavors, Incanto sticks to the classics, innovating a tad, but sticking to Peruvian flavors. Ironically, the owner has another restaurant, Limo Cocina Peruano, in Cusco on the opposite side of the spectrum, which has as its catch that it takes all the Peruvian classics and infuses them with completely new flavors. I tried both, and I quite frankly prefer the less contrived simplicity of Incanto, which uses traditional dishes, which may not be the best, but which are very authentic.

The restaurant itself isn’t much to talk about. It’s just a medium-sized eatery with a nice bar and some good, open seating, and the service is decent. The tables are very simple and there is almost no decoration on the completely whitewashed walls. Nor does the food really jump out, but like I said, this is one of the decent places in Cusco where you can really try Peruvian cuisine. So all in all, it’s an average/good local place that’s worth a shot if you’ve already been to the better restaurants in Cusco.

1. Suspiro a la limeña (mousse with meringue and cinnamon), with dulce de leche. This is a very traditional Peruvian dessert. Very sweet, and a sharp cinnamon taste. But very good—nice mix of fruitiness, sugar, and cinnamon. Only problem: can be cloyingly sweet, especially with the meringue (though it’s well-made). Mouse also cloying at times—too rich. Still, well-made, with interesting flavors. Use of dulce de leche adds some needed sweetness. 2.5/5.0
2. Mushroom and Artichoke Ceviche: Pretty standard stuff. Tad spicy, very citrusy, but no meat—seems wrong for a ceviche. Without the meat component, very much lighter. Still retains the freshness, but just not enough substance. 1.0/5.0
3. Seco Cordero (Lamb in green pea sauce with tacu tacu, i.e. rice, beans, and/or yellow potatoes): Pretty good. Sauce clashes a tad, but the ingredients are great. Tacu Tacu is a little gritty as usual—odd texture. Lamb is tough (I think on purpose, since the name is literally “dry lamb”), but it’s very well-cooked and is the highlight of the dish. Potato and rice cake adds some much needed rich starch.  3.0/5.0
4. Mousse of Pisco Sour (made with Gran Comodoro Acholado Pisco): Very bold. Mixes a strong alcohol taste with nice sweetness. The sauce is sweet and fruity, but not overpowering. The mousse itself is very well-done. Smooth as gelato but with a nice tanginess to it, combined with the aftertaste of the bitter in a Pisco Sour (drops of bitter herbs they put in the pisco). Not my favorite flavor profile, but the taste is very interesting—refreshingly citrusy, and the lime works to balance the sweetness to a degree. 3.0 (3.5 for the creativity)

Ambience: 2.0/5.0
Service: 2.5/5.0
Taste: 2.5/5.0
Value: 2.5/5.0. Pricey by Peruvian standards.
Overall Score: 2.5/5.0