Cebichería La Mar

Posted by Edmund in Peru, Peruvian, Restaurants | 0 comments

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)!