Comments on: The Stuff that Dreams are Made of

By: More Peruvians!

More Peruvians! — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 14:23:11 +0000

[…] and pricey, is Mamaní, corner of Lavalle & Agüero behind the Abasto shopping center. I reviewed it way back in 2009, and other than price increases, nothing has really changed. One thing we hadn’t done is […]

By: Bite Marks #2

Bite Marks #2 — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 13:25:11 +0000

[…] some of the other neighborhood spots, especially the chifas along Av. Corrientes. Is it as good as Mamaní? No, but even before the discount it’s about 2/3 the price. Is it as good as Chimu? No, but […]

By: dan

dan — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:11:40 +0000

The recent rapid devaluation of the peso has probably contributed to even more raising of prices, it certainly has with our own place, but just to note that they’ve zoomed up again here. An individual ceviche, depending on which fish or shellfish, now costs between 190 and 230 pesos. Most of the more interesting main courses fall in the same range. Even things as basic as a tamál run a whopping 90 pesos – when we first went to Mamaní five years ago they were 7. And the place is now invariably close to empty – you’d think they’d pick up on that. On a visit this last week, the first time in about six months, three different parties came in and sat down, looked at the menu, told their waiters that it was too expensive, and walked out. There are some more classic, basic dishes, that run around the 100 peso mark, but they’re few and far between.

Now, of course, five years ago when lunch for two ran 44 pesos, the exchange rate was 3.56, so that meal cost us $12.40. Now at the official exchange rate of 8, our meal at 285 (and that was ordering just one of the less expensive plates each, as in the original review) was $35 and at the “blue dollar” rate is only about $24, so not quite the stratospheric rise. But had we gone for a couple of our favorites, like a ceviche and pachamanca a la olla it would have been near double that. Still, for visitors, it’s not that pricey and the portions are still enormous. For locals, there are plenty of places that put out good classic Peruivan food at lower (albeit these days not a lot lower) prices.

By: Chan-Chan Redux

Chan-Chan Redux — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:11:06 +0000

[…] 9 blocks further north to Sabor Norteño or even better, the 16 or so over to the Abasto and Mamani – both of which have far better […]

By: The Little Prince

The Little Prince — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:33:47 +0000

[…] a step up from most of the places along, say, Corrientes, though probably not quite as good as Mamani, which used to be our go-to spot for Peruvian home cooking until it got really pricey, though we […]

By: dan

dan — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 01:48:22 +0000

Just an update. Since discovering this place nearly four years ago we’ve been back on an average of once a month. During that time the prices have crept up slowly at first and then more rapidly. It’s now ridiculously expensive given that it’s just basic home cooking Peruvian food. Tasty as it is, prices like 155 pesos for an individual serving of ceviche, or appetizers like the cold potato dish of ocopa, which probably costs a whole 5 pesos to make being served up at 55 pesos (and they were out of it anyway, as they were for numerous items “because no one orders them anymore” – go figure) – for a cold potato with some herb cheese sauce, are nonsense. The meal that we had for 44 pesos less than four years ago would now run nearly 200.

The prices are on the order of some of the top fusion Peruvian restaurants in the city like Astrid & Gaston, Sipan, Francesco and others, that offer truly creative, interesting food in a nice environment. I can still recommend the food, but I have trouble recommending the restaurant at those rates – we vowed after a visit in the last week to stop going – there are too many other good Peruvian restaurants in the area that are half the price.