Two new spots for creative Peruvian fare have opened, one here in Recoleta, the other in Palermo. Obviously, we had to check them out! Let’s start close to home….

 

Che Perú, Guido 1862, Recoleta – Stumbled across this one simply walking around the ‘hood. I hadn’t, and still haven’t, seen any announcements about the place. It just suddenly appeared, like magic, seemingly overnight. Very modern, sleek, and set-up to be a bit of a bar scene. The place offers, in their own words, “Peruvian flavors with Argentine accents. The magic of Peruvian products challenging Argentines”. A decade or more ago, I’d have gone along with the concept of Peruvian flavors and ingredients being challenging for the average Argentine palate, but things have changed, a lot, over those few years, and local taste buds are far more adventurous than they once were.

In these challenging times of outdoor dining, Che Perú has opted to set up a bar on a small mobile cart right out on the sidewalk. I doubt that complies with local ordinances, but it certainly attracts attention, and customers, as does the flair of the barman, who puts on a good show. He mixed up a quite good pisco sour for Henry, but had no idea what a chilcano was, my favorite Peruvian drink (herb or spice infused pisco mixed with ginger ale), and didn’t quite get the execution right, but came up with an interesting cocktail for me nonetheless. I have no idea what was in it, but it wasn’t ginger ale. 500 pesos each, a bit steep.

The “classic” ceviche was decent, albeit a bit small when offered as a main course, especially at 720 pesos. Cubes of fresh sole in a well balanced leche de tigre, with sweet potato and corn, though the promised jalapeños were notedly absent, and of course, jalapeños aren’t Peruvian, but Mexican. On request, they brought a little dish of their house hot sauce, which was pretty good. But right there, perhaps, you have that “Argentine accent”, i.e., removing the spice. I just don’t think that’s necessary anymore – people here eat spicy food now, not to the level that some of us consider actually spicy, but enough to taste.

Mollejas anticucheras, sweetbreads in anticucho sauce. Hmm… the sweetbreads themselves, delicious. The sauce, while again it could have used more of a kick, was flavored well. Again, maybe slightly smaller than I’d like for the price. The issue on this dish was the rice, which was undercooked to the point it was chewy, and mentioning that to the waitress didn’t get anything handled, so I ate the sweetbreads and left the rice. 690 pesos.

This one was the most intriguing dish. A side dish of grilled corn, brushed with huacatay butter (Amazon black mint), served over a panca chili cream and topped with pickled red onions and grated parmesan. The setup was a little hard to eat, as everything on top sort of fell off, but it was really good. 340 pesos.

Overall, nice ambiance, friendly and lively service, though it’s a misstep not to offer to do something about the rice in my dish. It’s a pet peeve after many years here in Buenos Aires, that most places simply sort of nod and thank you when you tell them something’s wrong, but don’t do anything about it – I’m not sure it even occurs to them to offer to correct it. The food, tasty, and while prices are inline with dining out at a place like this, the portions seemed a bit small, though that could also be because, for example, I didn’t eat the rice on my dish. Add in a couple of bottled waters, and a tip, and we came out at 3300 pesos, or about $35, so not bad for a night out a nicer place. We’d go back.

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On to Palermo….

Amazonia Brasas, Fitz Roy 1818, Palermo. Less new, I think this place has been open for about six months or so, maybe even a bit longer. Offering up “Latin American fusion cuisine”, its focus is on ingredients and ideas from the Peruvian Amazon, perhaps extending a touch into the Brazilian end of the river basin as well. They have both sidewalk seating and a beautiful, spacious rooftop garden (though, at least on a warm sunny day, the garden unfortunately attracted a whole lot of bees). [Closed permanently, I think in late 2022.]

Cocktails again – for Henry a pisco mixed with chicha morada, the semi-sweet purple corn beverage that is a staple of the soft drink world in Peru. And for me, a proper chilcano this time. Infused with a touch of cardamom. 400 and 350 pesos, respectively.

On the advice of our waiter in terms of size of plates, we decided to sample a few of the appetizers rather than jump to main courses (and, they were out of both of the main courses we really wanted to try – Sunday afternoon woes I suppose).

Their ceviche amazonica was excellent, with all the classic flavors of a ceviche plus touches of tropical fruits and plantain chips. Not overly spicy, but they brought a charapita hot sauce, one of our favorite chilies, and a staple of Amazonian cuisine. The second picture is not the hot sauce, just a photo of some charapitas. Pricey at 1200 pesos, albeit enough for two to split as an appetizer or one person as a main course.

Tacacho con cecina – the former is a sort of pounded together ball of roasted plantains with spices, and then the whole thing usually fried, and the latter is a spiced and air dried pork. This was easily the best version of the dish either of us has tried. I’d go back just for this plate, and at 600 pesos, again, enough for two to share as an appetizer or one as a main course.

This time prawns get the anticuchera sauce and grilling treatment. Now for me, if prawns or shrimp are grilled to the point where the shell is completely crispy, I just eat them whole, shell and all. Henry hates the shell, and a lot of people do, and peeling these is a bit messy, plus all the sauce is on the outside of the shell. So for me, it was a great dish, and 900 pesos for four skewers of two really large prawns each wasn’t a bad price, but for someone who doesn’t want the muss and fuss, maybe not so much.

Okay, one disappointment. There’s nothing wrong with the dish, it turned out to be a bowl of french fries, with two pieces of fried yuca, and a few scattered plantain chips, plus a huacatay chili sauce for dipping. But that’s not quite what we expected from the menu description, which was something to the effect of “a sampler plate of potatoes, yuca, and plantains with a huacatay chili sauce”. The term sampler just didn’t bring to mind a bowl of fries, and 95% potato. It’d be really nice as a nibble at the beginning of a meal with beers or cocktails while deciding on the rest of a meal, but as a dish as part of a meal, less than interesting. 550 pesos.

And, we split a dessert – a grilled wedge of brie, candied figs, and a slightly bitter caramel. Nothing Amazonian about it, but loved it! 650 pesos.

Had a nice chat with both the barman and the chef about the place, took a little “tour” of their herb and chili garden (a few pots at the end of the terrace). Great service, great ambiance, great food, we’d happily go back again. Pricier than the previous place, but we also ate better and drank better and more (second cocktail for Henry, and a coffee for me). Total, with bottled waters and a tip, 5900 pesos, or about $63.