Peruvian Feast - Beef hearts, roast pig, patacones

On the way to Cusco, we stopped by the Wayra Ranch for a lunch and horse show.   We ate outdoors, right beside the oven.  The very Peruvian barbequed beef hearts were delicious - I love chicken hearts but have never had beef hearts before.  The high point for us was the discovery of the crispy skin of the roast pork hidden among the other roasted meats.  Most of us were quite full by that time and no one at our table even noticed it or touched it.  We decided to risk indigestion and indulged ourselves with the melt-in-your mouth skin and moist pork pieces.  What a treat!

The roasted meats were served with patacones, deep-fried plantain that is very common in Latin America. There was abundant chicha morada, the very popular Peruvian corn beverage - mildly sweet, a little like grape juice.  It was a memorable feast in a very beautiful setting.

Roasted chicken and potatoes in the open oven

Mini empanadas and salad with chicha morada

Corn - the "food of kings" in Inca times

Trout - moist and tasty 

Beef hearts and tamales

The tamales were very similar to the Chinese ones

Crispy skin of roast pork

Patacones in syrup

Have to end with fruit plate just for relief!   Note the local passion fruit - sweetest ever.

Stunning art glass in the entrance lobby

Peruvian Food 3 - avocado, beef, causitas

Causitas is a popular Peruvian finger food made with mashed potatoes and lime juice with a touch of yellow chili pepper sauce.  It was delicious and was yet another variation of the many foods made with potatoes in the country.   I had this as an appetizer with local avocado and guacomole - an outstanding combination of flavours.   The alpaca confit appetizer, however, was a far cry from the alpaca loin I had as a main at the Aranwa - it tasted a little like beef jerky.

As expected, the beef tenderloin was excellent, as with all the beef we'd tried in Peru.  It was served with chimichurri, a delicious parsley sauce that is very popular in all the South American countries.  It's not uniquely Peruvian but I was glad I had an opportunity to try it.  Apparently it's used like a pesto sauce down there.

We had a variety of desserts over our two nights at the Inkaterra hotel in Machu Picchu - the best was the ricotta cheese cake, better than the chocolate cake or the creme caramel.  Creme caramel seemed to be a very popular dessert in Peru - it's everywhere, even at the supermarket dessert counter in Lima (you can buy it by weight) - but too starchy for my liking.  Both cheese and chocolate are Peruvian - both excellent!   

Avocado with causitas, guacamole and yellow chilli pepper sauce

Alpaca confit 

Beef tenderloin on mashed potatoes with chimichurri and Marsala sauce

Creme caramel - no surprises

La "Bete noire" - exotic name for chocolate cake made with Peruvian chocolate

Ricotta cheesecake - the winner!

Peruvian Food 2 - Quinoa, corn, alpaca

Urubamba in the Sacred Valley is where many tourists come to acclimatize to the high altitude.  It's a few thousand feet below Cuzco and only an hour away.  And since we were supposed to take it easy the first day of arrival at high altitude, we didn't do much other than eat that day - perfectly fine with me.  We had a buffet lunch outdoors in a gazebo in a very nice restaurant with its own llamas, alpacas and some very colourful macaws.  Dinner was at an even nicer restaurant in the Aranwa Sacred Valley hotel.  Here are some of the very Peruvian food we ate.

Quinoa is an important Peruvian staple.  Here it is served cold in a mold with peas, carrots and peppers mixed in.  Delicious!

This looks and tastes like spinach pastry

We were supposed to eat light the first day - this is all I allowed myself for lunch.  You can see the large roasted corn kernels and the sweet potato (almost at every meal).  Avocado is in abundance and in many combinations.  Here (on the right) it is served with tuna between mashed potatoes, in a traditional dish called causa - very tasty.  (I didn't take pictures of the desserts)

Outdoor restaurant

The one in front is the alpaca

Dinner is at the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel

This is the "cream of the day" and unfailingly pumpkin (for the rest of the trip)!   Quite a contrast from "Grandma's pumpkin soup" we had in Lima, with a much more delicate flavour.

This is a Napoleon "crunchy ham tartar alpaca" with avocado and cilantro.  Our guide assured us that it is not raw so I had alpaca for both first and main.  You can't really taste the alpaca in this Napoleon but it was an interesting combination of textures.

And here is my first (and best) alpaca, loin done medium - my favourite Peruvian food.   For me, the texture and taste is a cross between beef and pork tenderloin.  

Peruvian Food 1 - Lima

For a total change in tastes, we head to the cooking of Peru.  I just returned from a 10 day trip to the country and enjoyed a plethora of Peruvian food, with varying degrees of quality but always interesting.  

It started with breakfast at the Swissotel in Lima the morning of our arrival.  We were surprised at the selection of local food made available for breakfast - this included things like tamales, Chinese porridge, Peruvian braised pork, sweet potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes - that is the national staple.  We were subsequently told that there were 3000 types of potatoes in Peru!  Granted, the Swissotel was hardly the place for the real thing, but it gave us a first taste of at least Peruvian style cooking and as I've read in travel guides, the heavy influence of Chinese cooking.

We had our first dinner in Lima at a restaurant called Tanta, within walking distance of our hotel and recommended by our guide - the main reason for our choice.  I found out just now that this is one of several restaurants run by celebrity chef Gaston Acurio.  There were certainly no celebrity presence when we were there, it seemed like a very casual restaurant although as the evening wore on, some serious looking cars pulled up in front.  It was at a chic location.

For firsts, we decided to try Grandma's pumpkin cream soup and an empanada as they seemed freshly made on the counter .  The empanada was very good, but Grandma's soup was likely true to its name - it was very salty, probably right in vogue when Grandma was around! 

I ordered the tuna from the main menu but was disappointed that it was cooked although maybe it was just as well since we were warned not to eat anything uncooked at least for the first few days.  My dinner companion ordered an interesting stuffed fish with Chinese fried rice with asparagus and scallions.  An excellent choice.  The dessert, an ice cream with fruit including lucama, was good but I started to worry as I ate - again because of food warnings.   I was lucky.   We preserved ourselves for another week of Peruvian gastronomic experience.  You can go to my travel blog to read about the rest of my Peruvian travel experience.

Chicken empanada was excellent

Grandma's pumpkin cream soup

The rice tasted as good as it looked, as was the stuffed fish with a crunchy batter

This is the tuna, believe it or not.  I could barely finish one piece, had a taste of the ample mashed potatoes and left the salad in tact.

This speaks for itself - I had half and didn't get sick.

This was the best part - two artistic dudes gave the place a homey touch.   

Japan Has Good Chinese Food

One expects the best Chinese food in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.  Would one be surprised that Japan has excellent Chinese food as well?  

I hope my photographs, taken in some restaurants in the Tokyo and Osaka areas, will convince you that it is indeed the case.  The five dishes, in order, are whole crispy skin chicken 炸子鷄, braised abalone 蚝皇鮑魚, scrambled egg with shark fin and crab meat 蟹肉桂花翅, roasted pork belly 焼腩, and braised suppon (soft shell turtle) 红焼国產山瑞.  

           

 Not all Chinese restaurants in Japan deliver such refined dishes.  Most places serve up Japanese-Chinese cuisine that has been modified to suit the Japanese palate.  Some dishes are particularly popular – shumai 焼売 and shouronpou 小籠包 for dim-sum; banbanji 棒棒鶏 and kurage (海蜇頭 jellyfish) for appetizers; mabo-doufu 麻婆豆腐 for main dish; and of course chahan 炒飯.  Champon ちゃんぽん, a noodle soup topped with stir-fried seafood, pork, vegetable, is also well liked.  Ramen 拉麵, another version of Chinese inspired noodle soup, together with gyoza 餃子, are probably the most popular cheap fast food around Japan.  Yes, Chinese restaurants are everywhere and Japanese likes them.

Family Li Imperial Cuisine (厲家菜 Reikasai)

Our good friend Arufa visited Shanghai.  One of his favorite dinner was at Family Li Imperial Cuisine (Reikasai 厲家菜) in Huangpu Park (上海灘 黄浦公園).  He sent us his dinner menu and a set of photographs.

10 SMALL DISHES 手碟

Stir-fried fresh green bean paste with fresh scallops 翡翠豆腐

Deep-fried bean cake炸咯喳

Sweet and sour rib糖醋排骨

Stir-fried mung bean paste with pork 炒麻豆腐

Crisp-fried prawns wrapped with egg 鼓板大蝦

Beijing smoked pork 北京熏肉

Boiled Chinese cabbage with mustard seed 芥末墩

Fried beef with chili sauce 麻辣牛肉

Deep-fried duck meat and shrimps paste with sesame 芝蔴鴨子

Mixed vegetable (Shredded carrot, pickled vegetable, bamboo shoot, coriander) 炒咸什

6 MAIN DISHES 熱菜

Deep-fried fresh scallops 青松鮮貝

Braised abalone in sesame sauce & Julienned braised abalone and cabbage & Braised abalone soup 麻醬鮑魚 + 鮑魚絲拌白菜 + 鮑魚湯

Steamed snow frog with egg 清蒸蛤什螞

Fried grouper with soy sauce 焌油石班魚

Stir-fried eggplant with soy sauce and minced pork, served with white rice 小炒茄子 + 米飯

Double boiled “fish lip” thick soup 三絲魚唇湯

3 DESSERT 点心

Baked fresh milk 宮廷奶方

Walnut kernel 琥珀桃仁

Fried egg custard 三不粘

                                                                                  

Five small dishes (Clockwise from top):

·         * Deep-fried bean cake炸咯喳 – A traditional Beijing snack.

·         * Stir-fried fresh soy bean paste with fresh scallops 翡翠豆腐 – Minced fresh Australian scallop and green soy bean are mixed together and stir-fried; served with red chili pepper specks.

·         * Sweet and sour rib糖醋排骨 – Tender and fat free, sweet and sour without the neon orange red sauce.

            * Stir-fried mung bean paste with pork 炒麻豆腐 – Another Beijing specialty; it is the left over after separating the “milk” and “juice” from fermented paste of ground mung beans and water.

·         * Crisp-fried prawns wrapped with egg 鼓板大蝦 – Flaky crispy egg pancake wrapping around tender prawns.

The second round of small dishes (Clockwise from top):

·        *  Boiled Chinese cabbage with mustard seed 芥末墩 – Crisp Napa cabbage spread with mustard, rolled up into a cylinder and topped with sesame seeds.

·         * Fried beef with chili sauce 麻辣牛肉

·         * Beijing smoked pork 北京熏肉 – Pork belly braised in special broth, colored with natural vegetable juice and slow smoked with wood of fruit trees.

·         * Deep-fried duck meat and shrimps paste with sesame 芝蔴鴨子 – The white layer between the sesame “skin” and the meat is shrimp, not duck fat.

·         * Mixed vegetable炒咸什 – Shredded carrot, pickled vegetable, bamboo shoot, and coriander.

 

Deep-fried fresh scallops 青松鮮貝 – Australian scallops in a special batter, and pickled green vegetables, are both deep fried.

Braised Japanese abalone in sesame sauce, Julienned braised abalone and cabbage, and Braised abalone soup 麻醬鮑魚 + 鮑魚絲拌白菜 + 鮑魚湯

    

Steamed snow frog with egg 清蒸蛤什螞 – The English name of this dish is misleading as it contains no frog meat.  “Snow frog” refers to the Fallopian tubes of a kind of frog from Manchuria that hibernates under frozen ground, lakes and rivers (thus the name).  It is a Chinese delicacy with a reputation for being  beneficial to women’s beauty.

Fried grouper with soy sauce 焌油石班魚 – Fish cooked in very hot oil.

   

 

Stir-fried eggplant with soy sauce and minced pork, served with white rice 小炒茄子 + 米飯

 

 

Double boiled “fish lip” thick soup三絲魚唇湯

   

Dessert (Clockwise from top right):

·         * Baked fresh milk 宮廷奶方 – Smooth and fragrant sweet and sour yogurt.

·         * Walnut kernel 琥珀桃仁

·        *  Fried egg custard 三不粘 – The ingredients are thoroughly mixed and then whipped over 600 times before it is cooked.  The resultant mass does not stick to the plate, the spoon or the teeth of the diner, thus the Chinese name of “Three Not Sticks”.

                

 

“Petits Fours” 菓品

From Arufa’s photographs, I can see that the service at Family Li is similar to that at high-end Chinese restaurants in Japan.  To those expecting a “family style” Chinese meal with large plates of food serving at the same time, the individual portion size of each dish looks awfully small.  I wrote “looks small” because I think it is a perception issue for people not used to being served Chinese food in this fashion.  You may see my point if you consider how much food one gets if a dish at a Chinese banquet is equally divided among the 10 or 12 people at the table.  Anyway, with the large number of dishes on the menu, even just a few bites per dish should keep most diners well fed yet not uncomfortably stuffed.  Of course for those with the appetite of a sumo wrestler or a growing boy, it would be a different story.  

Most of the dishes look deceptively simple.  One often does not realize how much work is necessary to deliver those simple looking dishes.  The restaurant claims that it does not use artificial coloring and flavor enhancement.  Instead it relies on careful sourcing of quality ingredients, careful blending of seasoning and sauces, painstaking preparation and perfect cooking.  However, delicate and balanced flavors could be interpreted as bland to diners whose palate has been conditioned to liberal use of MSG or strong flavored sauces and spices.  So I suppose Reikasai is not to the liking of everybody.  Our friend Arufa has a refined palate.  He says that the dishes at Reikasai were very good and I accept his verdict.  

An obvious weakness of Reikasai is its presentation of food.  For a restaurant that charges as much as a Japanese ryotei or an haute-cuisine restaurant, putting a slice of meat or a glob of custard on a plate without appropriate garnishes is lackluster.  Plain white plates, bowls and cups do not help either.  It is an area that not only Reikasai, but also most Chinese restaurants, can work on.   

Reikasai is expensive.  As far as value goes, I cannot say since I have not eaten there.  I would like to taste the food first hand one day to judge on that myself.

NOTE:  For the story of Family Li Imperial Cuisine, visit this link www.theworlds50best.com/a-chat-with-chinas-only-grand-chef-ivan-li-of-family-li-imperial-cuisine/12385/