MANILA -- Peruvian cuisine has found a home in Bonifacio Global City at the new restaurant Cocina Peruvia, which officially opened on Sunday.
While many Filipinos equate Peruvian food to roast chicken, thanks to several South American restaurants in the metro that specialize in this dish, Cocina Peruvia has a more diverse menu.
For instance, during a preview dinner for select food writers prepared by Peruvian culinary consultant Andres Higa and local consulting chef Him Uy de Baron of Nomama fame, two kinds of ceviche were served.
This South American staple was given the Peruvian spin in the Ceviche Mixto, a lemon-marinated mix of seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid, octopus), sweet potato, and dry corn, with the addition of the pepper, aji Amarillo, a small medium-to-hot pepper that has a fruity component to it and is ever-present in Peruvian cuisine.)
Ceviche Nikkei, on the other hand, showed the diversity of Peruvian cuisine and how it has been influenced by Japanese cuisine. Fresh salmon and jack fish (talakitok) were marinated in a leche con tigre (marinating liquid in a ceviche) of lemon, coconut milk and soy sauce.
Creamy would be the best description for the Avocado and Tofu Salad, which was like a deconstructed Peruvian guacamole with raw tofu, creamy avocado slices, fried garlic chips, sesame oil and lemon. This dish was light and refreshing, had a nice balance of acid and salt, and the fried garlic gave some bites contrast.
The quinoa salad, meanwhile, comes in a large serving and would surely please any health buff with all its healthy trimmings of greens, tomatoes, olives, and arugula, tossed with a spicy and tangy aji amarillo dressing.
Aji amarilllo again flavored the Arroz con Mariscos, a seafood rice dish reminiscent of a paella but with spicy undertones from the pepper. Eat the rice with any of the “anticuchos” or Peruvian-style barbecue – from lomo (beef), pollo (chicken), gindara (fish), and even corazon de vaca (beef hearts). Each skewer of meat had a rub-crusted exterior with spicy and almost Middle Eastern undertones.
Eating the lomo felt similar to eating a kebab, but the similarity ends with the sauces. Two sauces come with all your antichuchos, the first is the aji amarillo sauce, and the second is the ubiquitous Peruvian classic, the chimichurri, an oil-based sauce with roughly chopped parsley and garlic had some heat in the end, and was enjoyable to eat, especially with the pollo and fish.
Uy de Baron called the Corazon de Vaca one of his favorites and declared it a must-try. I agree: the Corazon de Vaca was cooked properly and was neither chewy nor sinewy. Nor did it taste anything like liver as it was rather tender, and eating it felt similar to enjoying rib-eye. It was also very delightful with a glass of red wine.
We were also given a preview of the “plato principales” or the main dishes. Bistec ala Plancha is a Kitayama flank steak grilled on a metal plate and topped with aji panca and chimicurri in. Aji panca is another type of dried pepper from Peru which has a fruity taste but with “smokier” undertones that went well with the tender beef flank steak.
One of the owner’s favorites is the Pescado Al Ajillo and this dish has everything going for it: beautifully gindara cooked ala plancha, topped with shrimps and bathed in a generous serving of lemon garlic butter sauce.
The last were two beef dishes that would delight any Peruvian cowboy. Lomo Saltado, a traditional Peruvian dish with Chinese influences, was stir-fried beef tenderloin with onions and tomatoes, served with fried potatoes. The fried potatoes nicely sopped up the juices from the stir-fry, and one could imagine eating this with a cup or two of rice.
Save the best for last with the Lomo Seco, which is a meal in itself. The beef was slow-cooked and braised until it created its own thick gravy. This was accompanied by cilantro, blanched green beans for crunch, and Cocina Peruvia’s version of arancini using rice and beans.
Dessert was a crepe filled with dulce de leche, topped with strawberries, a dash of salt and vanilla ice cream, created by Uy de Baron.
Cocina Peruvia
G/F Bonifacio One Technology Tower
Rizal Drive corner 31st Street
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
