Remember the time I had a epic food safari with the Carnaby Street girls we went to 7 restaurants in one night sampling all the great food in Kingly Court. I also ate at The Rum Kitchen, Stax Diner, and Wright Brothers. Many more restaurants opened up in the recent year, and Zomato invited me along to their food meetups at Senor Ceviche.
Senor Ceviche is the brainchild by Harry Edmeades, getting his inspiration to bring Peruvian food back to London from his travels. It’s my second time tasting Peruvian food my first time would be at Chotto Matte. The restaurant is beaming with bright and colourful neon coloured art, big posters on the walls, mismatch furniture.
We began the night with lemongrass pisa sours with a first hand demonstration by the barman. This cocktail is seriously punchy with a tinge of lemongrass. The first dish that came out was the bite size Aubergine Picarones tiny doughnut cubes of both sweet potato and aubergine. The outside had a lovely crunch biting into a interior of soft mushy vegetables it comes with a dip of satay style sauce.
The following dish is quite common in restaurants Chicaronnes, a fistful of strips of belly pork covered up in a jet-black Asian soy sauce, mixed with a certain sweetness.
Inca trail cocktails were brought to us, similar to a mojito but tasting more tropical. Mr miyagi is like your Japanese sashimi, drizzled with pomegranates, and miso. I love salmon dishes, however the salmon didn’t taste as fresh and juicy as other places I’ve been. Next up is Senor Ceviche signature dish, a colourful playful dish loaded with tons of fresh raw seafood, sea beam, octopus, bathed in the bottom of the bowl tiger’s milk. No not the real kind, but a Peruvian name for a citrus-based marinade.
The next three dishes were more of the BBQ meats, anticucho de corazon (beef heart) popular in Brazalian restuarants, supper pollo was a favourite of mine, although grilled the chicken was so moist and tender, accompanied with a pepper salsa. Although this may sound strange to applaud a dish of vegetables but the Nikkei greens was beautifully done. Boiled until soft then charred for that caramalised flavouring. Perfection. Quinoa was a bit bog standard, beetroot, edamame beans, baby gem but complimented the BBQ meats well.
Now saving the best until last, DESSERTS. Oh my god! Since the first choice couldn’t be made up in time we were treated to a deconstructed passion fruit and white chocolate cheesecake with chicha morada syrup. Each bite delights with the tart and sweet taste senstion. It will please even the most discriminating palate
So what I have to say about trying Peruvian food properly. It’s a fantastic flavour combination of different cultures rolled into one. Local ingredients with cooking and influences from Japanese, Spanish, Europe and West Africa. Senor Ceviche is a small plates dining experience.