Sorry for the long wait on the Peru installment!  And now, for the second and final Peruvian food post!

 

Lake Titicaca – Amantani Island

We took a 2D1N tour of Lake Titicaca which includes a homestay on Amantani Island.  This means that we stayed with a local family for a night, lived in their house while they cooked for us.  According to our tour guide, all of the families pretty much cook the same food, so you can expect similar food,  no matter where you stay.  The local families mostly live on potatoes, tomatoes and quinoa, which means there is very little meat in their diet.  We went meatless for a day…

 

Lunch – fries with pan-fried cheese and tomatoes

 

Quinoa soup with vegetables.  This was soooo good!

 

Muña tea – just fresh sprigs of the local mint/peppermint steeped in hot water.  Really helps with altitude sickness!

 

Lake Titicaca – Taquile Island

We also visited Taquile Island on the Lake Titicaca tour.  We were told that this island is special because it is the men who do the knitting!  For lunch, the tour company took us to a local restaurant.

 

Another version of the quinoa soup.  Also really good!

 

Grilled trout – fresh caught that morning from the lake

 

The views and the meal is just unbelievable

 

Sicuani

Sicuani is located in between Puno and Cusco, and is one of the stops on our 9 hour long bus ride aboard the Inca Express.  This is where the bus company stopped for lunch – lunch is included in the bus fare.

 

It looks like a village, but it’s really a restaurant

 

Buffet-style lunch.  Quality of the food is surprisingly great!

 

Cusco

I don’t have the address or the name of this restaurant, but it is directly across from the Museo Inca, close by Plaza de Armas.  It is a small local restaurant, with 2 floors.  3 course lunch (local menu) only costs S/8 per person and the food is great!

 

Lemonade – in Peru it always come with a layer of egg white foam on top.  We were told that this keeps the lemonade fresh.

 

Appetizer/salad – fries with tomatoes and onions.  It’s actually a cold dish

 

Quinoa soup

 

Special of the day – fried fish

 

Inca Grill

Address:  Portal de Panes #115 Plaza de Armas, Cusco

Inca Grill is located in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco.  It is a more upscale restaurant and caters to a lot of tourists.  The menu itself is pretty diverse, ranging from pizzas and pastas to traditional Peruvian dishes.

 

Instead of bread, the restaurant starts with fresh fried potato chips, with a spicy green sauce.  I’m not sure if it’s the variety of potatoes they used but the chips were not that crunchy.

 

After days of eating Peruvian food, I was ready to try some other foods!

French onion soup.  The beef broth wasn’t too overwhelming and the onions were naturally sweet.  Yum!  S/23

 

Goat cheese and spinach stuffed chicken breast with elderberry and port sauce.  This dish was OMG good!  The elderberry and port sauce went perfectly with the juicy chicken and balanced the goat cheese.  The mashed potatoes were nicely whipped and tasted great with the sauce too.  S/39

 

 

Sacred Valley

At the Sunday market in Pisac, I came across this.  Can you guys guess what this is?

This fruit comes in a variety of sizes.  The smallest is like a plum size, while the largest is watermelon sized.  I’m not sure what the fruit is called, but the vendor told me that it tastes like melon.  I was a little doubtful, but decided to try it anyway.  And really, it was like a mini melon!

 

Tunupa Valle

Address:  Kilometro 77 Carretera Pisaq – Ollantaytambo

http://tunuparestaurant.com/tunupa-valle/

Our Sacred Valley tour included lunch in the Sacred Valley.  Since we all signed on with different tour agencies (and therefore paid different prices), even though we were on the same bus, the bus driver dropped us off at 3 separate restaurants for lunch.  The restaurant that we ended up at was really nice – it’s a hotel/restaurant.  Built like a huge Peruvian villa, there is the river running through the back, with llamas and vicunas running wild.  There’s also a live Peruvian band which played some really nice traditional music.

 

The restaurant seating – this is only like a quarter of the restaurant space

 

 

The ceviche station – pick your ingredients

 

The ceviche maker will then whip up fresh ceviche for you!

 

Roasted pork leg

Time to eat!  The green soup is actually a corn chowder.  Overall, I’m really impressed by the Peruvian buffets.  They offer so many varieties and yet can maintain the quality and taste of the food, in almost every dish.  Awesome!

 

Orishas

Address:  Ave Ferrocarrill, no. 119, Ollantaytambo, Peru

This restaurant is located near the Peru-Rail train stop, so for those of you who are catching the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu, it’s a good place to stop for a meal.  There’s free wi-fi and it’s right next to a stream.  It’s really soothing to eat a meal here, while listening to the gentle sounds of the water flowing.

 

Sandwich de chicharron – fried pork leg on top of onions and sweet potato slices.  Interesting combination but it works!  S/11

 

Aji de gallina – this is a traditional Peruvian dish.  Shredded chicken in a spicy cream sauce with raisins.  Yum!  S/23

 

Since I really liked the food at this restaurant, I came here for breakfast too.  Set breakfast which includes all of the below for only S/15.  Breakfast was also outstanding!

Orange juice

 

Breakfast – scrambled eggs with Andean cheese, cooked tomato chunks and toast

 

Hot chocolate.  I noticed that many of the more high-end restaurants make hot chocolate from scratch – meaning that they use the unsweetened Cafe Britt cocoa powder and mix it with steaming milk.  So, you’d have to actually sweeten your own hot chocolate.  🙂

 

And that concludes food in Peru, finally!  In the works are the recent LA and Chicago restaurants that I’ve been to.  Stay tuned!

Tagged: Cusco restaurants, Inca Grill Cusco, Lake Titicaca food, Orishas, Peru, Peruvian food, Sacred Valley restaurants, Tunupa Valle