I had never heard about Ceviche, a typical and special meal of Peru cuisine before I stepped into Lima. I love foods and consider myself a gourmet so I was surprised that I haven’t even heard of this delicious meal. In my daily life in Istanbul, I always search for new restaurants and try to taste new flavors. I didn’t know that Peru cuisine has such great taste. As always I wished to stay longer to taste more Peruvian food but then I thought that in fact now I have a reason come back and taste the rest of Peruvian cuisine.
The Peru cuisine’s root goes to Incas and has European, Asian and West African influence. I never thought that there is also a big Chinese food influence on Peru cuisine. You may see many Chifa restaurants that use Peruvian and Chinese ingredients in Cantonese culinary tradition.
My favorite dish in Peru was Ceviche. It is a marinated raw fish. I bet some of you are saying that I don’t like to eat raw fish. In my opinion, you should not be biased and definitely taste this meal and judge for yourself. In the coastal areas of South America, you may see Ceviche that is originated from Moorish women in Granada, Spain. Every country has its own touch on Ceviche. It is marinated with lime or lemon juice and is seasoned with hot pepper, chopped onion, salt, and coriander. It is served with sweet potato, lettuce, corn, avocado and green banana. It is not cooked in heat and that is a reason why it should be made of fresh fish.
Thanks to my Peruvian friend who lives in Lima, he took us the Bam Bam where you can eat the best Ceviche in Lima and in fact in all Peru. It is actually not like a restaurant but more likely an open restaurant. Customers sit and eat around the stall of the chef who became recently a finalist of a famous TV cooking program. There are many fans and customers so people sit on the small tables and footstool. Because of his latest fame and delicious seafood we waited one hour just to find a table and another one hour for our meals. The Sunday lunches in Lima are equivalent to the Sunday breakfasts in Turkey in the sense that many people go to restaurants for lunch. Because you don’t feel good to wait almost two hour with an empty stomach in a hot sunny Sunday outside. Fortunately they served us some side dishes like banana chips and corn while we were waiting.
The portions of dishes were big enough and satisfying. Three women who were sitting next to us were surprised when they received their big portion of fish meal. We wished to be on that table and eat the big fish while we were dreaming about our Ceviches 🙂 Finally our meals arrived and we were happy. It was definitely worth the wait. The portion and the taste was great. I suggest you drink Chicha morada. It is a drink that is originated from Incas and it’s made of purple corn. Pineapple and purple corn is boiled together. After cooling off, sugar, cinnamon and clove is added. I really like this cold drink because I like cinnamon and clove a lot. It is quite refreshing
Bam Bam y Sus Conchas Negras
Address: Jr. Huáscar & Pj. Santa Rita, Surquillo
The most recommend meal is “Ceviche con Conchas Negras”. They don’t have a website but you can reach them through their Facebook page.
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