00:00Oh my goodness, that might be one of the best things I've tasted.
00:11Lima is the culinary capital of South America, so in this video, we're sharing our favorite Peruvian foods that we
00:17ate while in Lima, Peru.
00:18The first stop on our food tour is an amazing restaurant in Lima's Barranco District.
00:22This is the perfect spot to pick up one of Peru's most famous dishes, ceviche.
00:26We're at Cantarena right now, and it seems like for every table, they bring out unlimited
00:31French corn, which is actually really, really good. It kind of just tastes like popcorn that's not pop,
00:37so it's a little bit heavier. Definitely a bit more of a crunch to it, but it's really addicting.
00:41So here we have some traditional Lima ceviche, which we're really excited to try.
00:45We tried ceviche in Chile already, but this is a little bit different.
00:49So in Chile, we had it with salmon, and here we have it with fish.
00:53Ceviche is essentially raw fish with lime juice to keep it preserved, as well as corn and I think sweet
01:00potato here, and some red onion.
01:02It's kind of funny, we got this recommendation based off a Lima vlog, and as we were driving an Uber
01:07over,
01:08our Uber driver said that this was his favorite place to go, so we know that it's a local favorite,
01:13and we're excited to try it. So I'm going in for the first bite.
01:17I'm not going to lie, it's a little scary just eating raw fish.
01:20We'll see.
01:25Really good.
01:27And the fish is really soft. It's delicious.
01:30So one of the things we found incredibly interesting as we've been traveling some of these countries
01:34and having ceviche, is the corn it comes with is typically gigantic.
01:38I don't know if you can see this, but each kernel is massive.
01:41It's been a really good, great texture. We actually asked from our friends who's Chilean, and they said that that's
01:45just the corn that comes with ceviche.
01:47We'll see how this one is.
01:49Yeah, it almost hops in your mouth when you eat it. Really nice texture on there. I actually like it.
01:54More bang, beer bite, if you will.
01:56Alright, I'm going for a fish bite. They're definitely big sized chunks.
02:04I see why everyone loves this. It's delightfully acidic with that lime flavor in there. And the texture of the
02:09raw fish, it's so light and delicate.
02:11That's really good food. And I guess when I compare it to the ceviche we had in Chile, which was
02:16made with salmon,
02:16I think I like the salmon bites better because the salmon just gave that little extra punch of flavor.
02:21But from a broth and a brine perspective, the limes and the onions on this one, absolutely top-notch.
02:27This is grade A ceviche. Our next stop on the food tour takes us to Barrio Chino, Lima's Chinatown.
02:32This is a busy cultural district in Lima with some fantastic restaurants serving classic Peruvian meals.
02:37We stopped in to try a classic Peruvian dish, chofa.
02:40So we are in Chinatown in Lima right now, and it's actually really interesting.
02:45There is a lot of Chinese influence on the food culture here because there were a lot of Chinese immigrants
02:50that came over starting in the 1850s.
02:53What we have here is chofa, which is a fried rice dish.
02:57It's typically fried up with some meat, but we went with the veggies just to be a little safe.
03:01And then we also have some delicious fried wontons, which has been easing our hunger a little bit
03:06because we've been walking around all day with nothing in our bellies.
03:09So we're really excited to try this.
03:11Chofa is a fried rice dish, and it has some Peruvian influence as well as Chinese influence.
03:17So it's kind of cool to see the two cultures next year.
03:20The restaurant we're at is called Chifa Luwak.
03:23It's in the middle of Chinatown, and I've had pretty good reviews.
03:26So we're looking forward to this.
03:27So we're having the first bites of chofa here.
03:30Never had this before.
03:35That's really nice.
03:35I feel like a lot of times fried rice is overpowered with soy sauce.
03:39I don't know if there's any soy sauce in here.
03:40It's got a different spice palette.
03:42I don't know if I can tell you where it comes from, but it's really nice.
03:44Let me get a mushroom bite here.
03:47They're soft, but really hearty.
03:49Almost gives it like a meatiness to it.
03:50I like it a lot.
03:51I can see the Chinese influence, but it definitely has that Peruvian twist.
03:54And we have mountains of food.
03:56We actually ordered just one plate of chofa and then a small side of wontons,
04:00and both of them came out double the size we were expecting.
04:03So we have a lot of eating to do here.
04:06Somehow we finish it all.
04:15Next, we're heading over to Lima's popular Miraflores district to check out the Mercados that this area is known for.
04:21For this first Mercado, we're trying the iconic purple drink that is served everywhere in Peru, Chicha Mirada.
04:26We are in the San Ramon Mercado, and this place is so lively.
04:30There's a zillion different restaurants, so many choices.
04:33We ended up going with a drink we've been seeing everywhere during our stay in Peru.
04:36We've seen tons of locals drinking this.
04:38It's called Chicha Mirada, and it's made of the purple corn grown right here in Peru.
04:42So we haven't tried this yet.
04:43I have no idea what it's going to taste like.
04:45Here we go.
04:52That's interesting.
04:53It almost has like a cinnamony taste.
04:55Definitely doesn't taste like corn, but yeah, it's flat.
04:57It's non-carbonated.
04:59It's pretty good.
04:59All right, I'm going to go in for my first sip.
05:02Wow.
05:03Yeah, it is cinnamony.
05:04It's sweet, but it's not like a bunch of sugar was dumped in there.
05:09It's almost like a cinnamony, spicy sweet.
05:13It's really interesting.
05:15I guess I was kind of expecting grape juice, but it's much different than that.
05:20Interesting.
05:21I don't know if it would pair well with the things we've seen it sold with.
05:25Like yesterday, we saw everybody was drinking it with their Chinese food whenever we were out to eat, eating choba.
05:30I don't think this would pair well together, but got to do what the locals do, I guess.
05:34We're sitting in the park, and we can see across the way another place selling the purple drink, and we've
05:40learned that we've misspelled that and most likely mispronounced it.
05:42We think it's chicha morada.
05:44If we're still butchering that, please let us know in the comments below.
05:47The next stop on our food tour is also in Miraflores, and in addition to having a great atmosphere, might
05:52have had the most historic Peruvian food we've tried in Lima.
05:55We're at the Mercado San Martin right now.
05:58We went to the Mercado San Ramen earlier today, and I will say some of the food here is actually
06:03appealing to me way more than the food there.
06:05That's probably just a personal preference, but every stall here looks amazing, and honestly, I wish I could try it
06:11all.
06:16We are in Mercado.
06:17We are in Mercado.
06:18Mercado?
06:19Mercado.
06:19You say potato, I say Mercado.
06:21We are in Mercado San Martin, and we ordered an authentic Peruvian dish.
06:25It's actually from before the Spaniards even showed up.
06:28So this is an ancient Peruvian dish.
06:29It's called Casa Vegetariano, and it looks unbelievable.
06:34The base layer we think is made out of potato salad.
06:36They actually smush into potato patties, and sandwiched between that is avocado and a spicy mayonnaise, and then it's actually
06:43filled with an assortment of vegetables.
06:45It looks like we've got peppers here, tomato, peas, cucumber, and there's a couple other in here that I actually
06:50have no idea what they are, but it looks absolutely amazing, and I can't wait to dive into this.
06:55So I'm going for the first bite. I barely even know where to start with this thing, but we're going
06:59to go for a side layer.
07:04Holy cow, that sauce.
07:06It's almost like a spicy mayonnaise you might find on a sushi, but it's so smooth.
07:11The texture of the potato with the avocado is so creamy.
07:15Oh my goodness, that might be one of the best things I've tasted.
07:18So the forctions at all the stalls here seem pretty darn massive, and you know it's a good time when
07:22they give you two forks for a single entree?
07:24Yeah, we usually share food anyway, so it's always nice whenever we actually have two forks to use.
07:33Alright, so we grabbed some coffee off the streets of Lima.
07:37It's kind of cool because we were told this coffee was from the Amazon, which is very appropriate being in
07:41Peru, and we've been really enjoying South American coffee so far.
07:45This is about 850 soles, I believe, which is a pretty good deal for a cup of coffee.
07:49And we just got the Americano to keep it simple and cheap.
07:56Mmm.
07:58It's really smooth.
08:00Normally in general, we tend to drink our coffee with cream, but we found in South America, we're not actually
08:05craving cream just because everything is so smooth and less bitter.
08:09Much more so than American coffee.
08:10It's really good.
08:13While we were walking, we also found a small little shop that was selling fresh baked croissants.
08:18We could see them baking in the back for about 150 soles, which when you see a buttery warm croissant
08:23sitting there in the window for 150, you have to take it.
08:26So we're excited to pair these with the coffee as well.
08:29Mmm.
08:31Very buttery and actually a little bit of sweetness to it.
08:34It's a good croissant.
08:35Another spot we loved while in Lima was Bezos Creperia.
08:39Being located on the beautiful Miraflores walkway, this restaurant had some of the best views and enjoyable atmospheres we've ever
08:45seen.
08:54So we just got ourselves a crepe from Bezos Francis Creperia, and they're pretty interesting.
08:58I've never seen a crepe rolled into a cone before, but this seems like a pretty effective way to eat
09:02it.
09:03And it's really cute because Bezos means kiss in Spanish.
09:06It even comes with a cute little kiss on there.
09:08We went with a vanilla ice cream, brownie, and mancar flavor in there.
09:13So mancar we first had when we were in Chile.
09:14It's almost like a smoother, creamier caramel.
09:17So I'm going to first bite here.
09:21Oh, that's delightful.
09:23You can already tell the caramel in this, so the mancar is mixed with the vanilla on there.
09:26Mmm.
09:26That's delicious.
09:27I'm going to go for a little crepe pinch.
09:32Mmm.
09:33It's not an overly sweet crepe.
09:35It's actually a really buttery crepe, I'd say.
09:37Not overly sweet.
09:37So the sweetness comes from the ice cream itself and the toppings.
09:41That's delicious.
09:42And the view makes it taste that much better.
09:47Alright, I'm trying the kiss here.
09:50I'm a little scared it's all wax.
09:57It's pretty waxy.
09:59I don't know if you're supposed to eat that.
10:09Look like an animal.
10:11I know.
10:12I know.
10:14I know.
10:15I know.
10:30I know.
10:32I'm in Kennedy Park right now.
10:33This place is famous for all of the cats that run around and just live here.
10:37And they're all really nice and sweet.
10:39But another thing that's sweet here is the churros.
10:42So we got a churro with mankar, which is our new favorite caramel.
10:46It's not overly sweet, but it's just super smooth and delicious.
10:50One of our Chilean friends actually introduced us to it.
10:53And we've been seeing churros everywhere and we've been craving them ever since.
10:56So we're excited to try this out.
11:00Mmm.
11:03It's really good.
11:04The mankar is hot.
11:07And I don't think we've had hot mankar before.
11:09It's so smooth.
11:11Delicious fried goodness.
11:12And actually chewier than I expected here.
11:14It's really good.
11:16I don't think you can put a price on how cute this is, Courtney.
11:19Dinner and a show, huh?
11:22And the last spot on our Lima food tour is another scenic spot in the Miraflores district
11:26and also sports some fantastic views.
11:29So to end our Lima food tour, we're at the Larcomar Mall.
11:34And this mall is really cool because it's actually built into a cliff.
11:37And we got something that is not necessarily Peruvian, but it is delicious.
11:41And that's just ice cream.
11:42And we're taking in the sunset on our last day in Peru and just enjoying it.
11:47So in addition to the natural beauty being absolutely gorgeous,
11:50it's really cool because you can actually see the people surfing down below.
11:53And occasionally you'll get people flying through the sky on giant wind kites.
11:56They take off down the road at Miraflores by the lighthouse and actually fly over the mall itself.
12:01So I can't think of a better spot to enjoy this ice cream.
12:04We got coffee and we got brownie macchiato.
12:07Gotta say I'm pretty happy with our choice.
12:08Let us know in the comments below if there are any other amazing Peruvian foods we missed.
12:12And be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you want to see more travel content
12:16from us.
12:17Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next one.
12:20Thank you so much.
12:20Want another one?
12:21Mm-hmm.
12:22Come in, Han.
12:28That's pretty cool.
12:33It's good though.
12:35Want another bite?
12:35Want me to go get to another one?
12:36Crack.
12:37I'll have another bite.
12:38Come in, Han.
12:39Big bite.
12:40I'll scare Megan.
12:44No, no, no, no, no, no.
