The City of Kings

Don and I have been obsessed with Peruvian food since we discovered it before the pandemic at a beachside stand on Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY. It has become one of the foods we seek out when we travel. We first search for local foods and restaurants; next we look for our two favorite ethnic foods: Cuban and Peruvian. Never disappointed. Except the one time Don ordered an enchilada at a Cuban restaurant only to discover that it is very different than a Mexican enchilada. I’m reminded to never say never. Anyhoo, my point is that we love Peruvian food and knew we would not go hungry in Lima. What could we learn from this country of amazing food? So, so much. Here’s just a smattering of the statistics and history that we learned:

• Lima has over one third of the population of the entire country of Peru which is the fourth most populous country in South America (Brazil has almost half of the South American population),
• Lima is known as the City of Kings, because it was founded on Epiphany (the holiday when the Three Kings visited baby Jesus) by Francisco Pizarro in 1535,
• Lima is the birthplace of higher education in the Americas with the establishment of National University of San Marcos in 1551,
• Peru is entirely in the tropics, but has many different climates including Pacific coastal desert, the Andes mountain highlands, Amazonian rainforest and more,
• Peru, and Lima specifically, has four of the 50 best restaurants IN THE WORLD. And one of those four is the top rated restaurant. Yep, numero uno!
• Peru is home to the longest histories of civilizations in the world which includes several prior to the arrival of the Incan Empire early in the 13th century.
• Spaniards arrived in the mid-1500s and ruled what is now Peru for almost 300 years, and
• Last but not least, Peru claimed independence from Spain on July 28, 1821, the last of the South American colonies under Spanish rule to do so.

And now on to the details (and photos!) of the trip…

To my surprise, after the six and a half hour flight from Houston to Lima we were in the same time zone. I never realized before that I usually fly east/west rather than north/south. Immigration was relatively quick. It would’ve been quicker had I not stopped at the restroom after we got off the plane which allowed a slew of people to get line in front of us. Tough lesson to learn after flying so long and being so exhausted.

It was midnight by the time we made it through those lines, hired a taxi and were on our way to the hotel. A couple of things I noticed on the ride. First was the traffic. There seemed to be a lot of cars on the major freeway at midnight. Also, I noticed big signs with what seemed to be names of different towns, but we were only in Callao and Lima. I was on to something on both fronts. It seems that traffic is always bad no matter the time of day (think IH 35 thru Austin). The following day our tour guide said, and we witnessed, that the traffic is so bad during the day that there are street vendors on the side of the road. Thank goodness Austin hasn’t thought of this yet! Back to the signs… Lima is divided into 43 different districts, 30 of which are urban districts. Each district has its own elected mayor, levies its own taxes, and announces arrival into and departure out of the district along major roads. Only eight of these districts have public transportation.

Once at the hotel we checked in and Don asked about changing US dollars into Peruvian soles. The hotel does not exchange money, but they recommended the banks a few blocks up the street that opened at 9am the next morning. For some dumb reason as I laid in bed that night I googled “Lima crime rate”. Needless to say, it was not a rosey tale, and I did not sleep well that night. Don did not heed my concern the following morning saying only that he would just throw his wallet to the bad guy. After spending time out and about, I, too was not concerned. We were staying in one of the safest districts in Lima.

We stayed in the district of MiraFlores, but spent a lot of time in the Barranco district which is known for a bohemian culture with great restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and street art. We drove through the ritzy San Isidro district and saw the many different styles of houses and parks full of olive trees from the colonial days. We also toured the Cercado de Lima or the historic district. Of the many districts of Lima, we only saw four.

Our first evening we dined at a highly rated tiny two-story restaurant, Mérito. The food was amazing, but the patrons were the most memorable. We chatted with people at three of the six other tables: a mom and daughter from South Carolina and DC, a couple of expats currently living in Cuenca, Ecuador, and a table of four from Brazil celebrating a birthday with a $1,500 bottle of wine that they shared with Don. What an amazing start to discovering Lima and the people who come here to visit! And I discovered a rum drink they called Flan made with burnt butter and caramel (burnt sugar) served over a large ice cube. Yum!

You might wonder how we got to/from our hotel to the restaurant. Our tour guide earlier that day recommended that we use Uber to get around the city. I was still hesitant. Thank goodness I travel with the much more fearless husband! The Ubers were very quick and inexpensive, much like they were when they started out in the states. Few spoke English, but they got us where we were going without issue. The city driving was much friendlier than I have experienced elsewhere. Horns are always my least favorite part of cities. In Lima there were no ugly long honks, just quick beep beeps to let others know not to step out or try to squeeze in a small space.

Because Don is still working (remotely), we chose to not go to Cusco and Machu Picchu. Next time, though! Instead we stayed around Lima, the Mira Flores and Barranco districts specifically. It wasn’t focused entirely on food, but mostly?? We never had as much fun at a meal as we had on our first night out, but all the food was spectacular! La Mar (ceviche), Central (tasting menu based on foods found at all elevations of Peru) and Panchita (traditional Peruvian food).

La Mar Cevichería Peruana, or La Mar as it’s known, is only open noon – 5:30pm Monday – Saturday. They don’t take reservations and they are regularly on the 50 Best Restaurants in Latin America. A tricky combination. When we asked our tour guide and other people we met how to get a table at the restaurant their common answer was, “it’s complicated”. I guess the complicated part was trying to get in without a wait. We never figured that out, so we just hung out for a while. Quite a long while, but we were finally seated. We ordered the same items the local mom and daughter sitting beside us did. They did not stear us wrong. And it was the same things we were accustomed to from our days in NYC. Ironically enough, the college-aged daughter worked in Jackson, Wyoming one summer and had been to Idaho! Small world.

Don had tried for months to get reservations at Central, a restaurant whose chef uses ingredients from all over Peru in unique ways. After seeing the owner/chef on Season 3 Episode 6 of Chef’s Table on Netflix, Don was intrigued. Maybe full on obsessed. Anyway, he was disappointed that he had tried so hard and failed at the reservation as he wanted it to be a special treat for my 60th birthday trip to South America. Then randomly while we were in our hotel room one day he tried again, and he got us in! We had a lunch reservation for the next day.

I have no idea how to describe it other than it was the most unique dining experience I’ve ever had. There was something like twelve courses. Each with a different set of utensils and a summary of ingredients and preparations. Our table was next to the kitchen so we had a fabulous view of the teamwork it took to get everything on the table. A once in a lifetime event, for sure!

Just as many people recommended Panchita as said it was complicated getting into La Mar (without a wait). Our last night in Lima we finally made it to the restaurant of traditional Peruvian food. It was delicious, but not as familiar to us as the ceviche and Peruvian roasted chicken. There were roasted chicken restaurants in Lima, but sadly we never made it to one. Maybe it’s because we had recently been to our favorite Peruvian wood-fired rotisserie chicken restaurant recently. If you’re ever in Pensacola, be sure to make a stop at Mr. Pollo.

Our room overlooked the Pacific Ocean where we saw many surfers but few boats. The exception was when several times we saw a large sailboat with many smaller sailboats nearby. A training class perhaps? But they were quite far out and were out for hours at a time. We never solved that mystery.

Between our hotel and the Pacific Ocean was a small mall with a grocery store. We browsed a few alpaca clothing stores before heading over to the grocery store. We enjoy perusing grocery stores in different places and compare and contrast them to our local supermarket. We were surprised at the many similarities in the Wong supermarket. It was small and I assume, upscale. My biggest surprise was that they had a hot area with rotisserie chickens. Not sure how these compare with the Peruvian roasted chickens in restaurants, but they looked just like the ones in the states. I’m not sure who started that rotisserie chicken trend, but it has definitely taken off internationally either coming to or going from the US.

All in all, an absolutely wonderful introduction to South America and a fabulous beginning to my 60th birthday extravaganza!