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<\/a>The flavors and dishes were spot on \u2013 from the appetizer of spiced olives, to the langostino to the pig. I wish we had gotten to do the tasting menu here, I\u2019m certain it would have been out of this world!<\/p>\nAnother day we went to another of Gaston Acurio\u2019s restaurants, La Mar Cebicheria, and it may be our favorite restaurant in Lima! It\u2019s not in the awards list, and is much more casual, but completely surpassed our expectations. Starting from the variety of native potato chips with three sauces, and Cancha Salada (it\u2019s a special kind of Peruvian corn that has really large kernels, they roast and salt it. You can squeeze lime over it, or dip it in hot sauce, or just eat it by the handful) the flavors were awesome!<\/p>\n
We decided on the ceviche tasting and Causa tasting. Each ceviche was completely different, but super fresh and interesting. The Causas were my favorite though. I really shouldn\u2019t be sharing this on the blog, because I have a secret plan to start a restaurant in the states that\u2019s all about Causas \u2013 it\u2019s gonna be the next big thing!<\/p>\n\n
Causas are these amazing little appetizer dishes made of layers of mashed potatoes, and in between the layers it\u2019s filled with things like avocado, onions, chicken, tuna, crab\u2026 you name it.. then topped off with a sauce that compliments. There are hundreds of varieties, but they all taste amazing. It\u2019s like a super fancy potato salad sculptured and filled with the best ingredients. Ours at La Mar included one with crab and langostino, avocado, a savory\/sweet passionfruit sauce and another with tuna and salmon tartar, wasabi and a crispy nori topping.<\/p>\n
To finish it off at La Mar, we had octopus two ways. It was remarkably tender, and I just couldn\u2019t stop eating the version with an olive sauce.<\/p>\n
Bummer is, we didn\u2019t even bring the camera to this most extraordinary meal, so no pictures\u2026 unless we go back again before we leave Lima, which is a very real possibility.<\/p>\n
Anyway\u2026 on to the next stop in our foodie tour\u2026 we went to Maido, another restaurant on the Top 50 restaurants in the world list.<\/p>\n
Maido features the signature Lima fusion of Peruvian and Japanese, “Nikkei” \u2013 so lots of raw fish was on order. Every single piece was delicious! The sushi was incredibly fresh and well prepared \u2013 we particularly liked the octopus and the tuna.\u00a0 We also tried out the 48-hour braised short ribs and they were everything you could hope for! The meat fell apart, but wasn\u2019t greasy, just buttery. We almost ordered it again for another course, it was so good! Oh sweet\u00a0meat perfection!!<\/p>\n I typically wouldn\u2019t order ramen at a place like Maido, but it was on the tasting menu, so we went for it. And it was truly excellent. And we finished it off with a clever little dessert they called \u201cCeviche\u201d, you can see the resemblance. It was a variety of tropical fruits, both fresh and crispy freeze dried, ice cream and a citrus sauce. Again, delicious!<\/p>\n<\/a>We actually got a reservation for this one through our hotel \u2013 Score! We\u2019re big time now! …or so we thought. We arrived to learn that we did get a reservation, but not for the tasting menu, that had ended 15 minutes before we arrived. But never fear, I\u2019m a determined foodie, and they made the mistake of putting the tasting menu list of dishes in the a la carte menu\u2026 so we proceeded to recreate it ourselves (our server was less than thrilled with this, but obliged)<\/p>\n\n<\/a>My favorite dish of our experience there was the Nuevo Ceviche, it was beautiful cuts of raw fish, but instead of being marinated in a lime juice sauce, it came dry then\u00a0tableside had a powder added to it and stirred in that gave it a wonderful smoked yellow pepper and light citrus flavor. It was much less sweet than the typical ceviche (which I\u2019ve found to be really quite sweet here in Peru). It was crazy delicious and truly innovative\u2026 sadly, the picture does not do it justice at all!\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n