A note on the words: a pisco sour is pisco brandy shaken with lime and egg white, which is why it arrives under a thick collar of foam. Ceviche is raw fish cured in citrus juice. Causa is a cold terrine of seasoned mashed potato with something layered on top. Pulpo al olivo is sliced octopus under a sauce of purple olives. An anticucho is a skewer grilled over charcoal, classically beef heart. Aji de gallina is shredded chicken in a thick, mildly spiced yellow sauce, and seco de res is a slow-simmered beef stew. Huacatay is a herb sometimes called black mint, whose scent sits close to mugwort.
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bepocah on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. So this time, Peruvian food. Last time, DESTINO51 (in Japanese) was really good, so I went looking for more Peruvian places and found one tucked way back behind Omotesando — roughly the midpoint between Gaienmae, Omotesando, Harajuku and Kitasando stations, I guess? lol. A spot you wouldn’t easily stumble onto on foot. I went and tried it. The visit ended up being a bit of a letdown, but the food itself wasn’t bad at all, so here’s the write-up.
The exterior looks stylish. Inside, the mood is on the dim side.
Dinner Course — 4 dishes, 6,800 yen
Degustación / Tasting Course — 8 dishes, 11,000 yen
I had high hopes for the Peruvian cooking, so this time I picked the 11,000-yen tasting course.
The pisco sour I had at DESTINO51 (in Japanese), the place on Kottodori, was delicious, so I started with a pisco sour here too. It doesn’t come in a cocktail glass — it’s poured deep into a tumbler. If anything, there might be quite a lot of foam.
It’s a fairly strong drink, so if you order this first it’ll easily carry you to the middle of the meal.
An amuse-bouche turns up before the course proper starts — is that the Peruvian way?
This one might be a Peruvian staple too. Ceviche, which also showed up at the last Peruvian place (in Japanese).
The sauce is tightened up with key lime — a lime with real punch, or rather a sharp acidity — and it goes well with the sashimi of splendid alfonsino (kinmedai). It’s a bit like a carpaccio, but if anything this version is better: the acidity is stronger and more clearly defined.
Mashed potato and a cucumber jelly. On top of that, snow crab dressed with beets.
Octopus with a purple olive sauce. They really do eat a lot of octopus over there.
Looks like charcoal-grilled beef heart. Maybe charcoal grilling is a common thing here too. It comes covered in huacatay sauce, made with an herb that smells a bit like mugwort. This one was delicious!
Chicken thigh simmered with milk and pecans, I think.
I thought it was good, but there was a hair in it, which was a shame! I put my chopsticks down ^^
It was a long, wavy, blondish hair, so I’m guessing a woman was cooking, lol.
The rice that comes with it is packed right up to the rim of the little pot, lol.
A shame that it’s cracked, lol.
So — I’d have liked to run all the way to the finish, but the hair partway through knocked my mood down, which was really unfortunate. It was a dinner with others, and I didn’t want to make anyone else uncomfortable, so I couldn’t say anything. A shame of a mishap! I do think each dish tastes good, so it’s genuinely not a bad place at all! I know nothing is ever perfect, so part of me thinks it can’t be helped — but this is an 11,000-yen course, so I did wish they were more careful about that sort of thing. And the plating could have been a little more precise, which would have made it better still!
If you’re going for Peruvian food, this place is closer to a station and I’d recommend it more (in Japanese)!
bepocah (Peruvian / Meiji-jingumae Station, Harajuku Station, Gaienmae Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
