LIMA DAY 11: Last Full Day; More Octopus

Sunday, May 17

Eating Dinner on Sunday is not easy in Lima.

I started the day with a trip to the food festival at Surquillo Mercado #1. I had a Causa stuffed with Crabmeat and Shrimp, and an order of Hueveras.

Hueveras are some sort of Fish Roe that's fried up. They're better than they sound, and my friend Cesar loves them.

Later, while walking around, I bought a small bag of Sweet Potato Chips.

Later that night, my (lack of) Dinner adventure began. First stop: Madam Tusan, where they do Dim Sum all day on the weekends. The hostess seats me and tells me to enjoy my meal. I was planning to -- there were all kinds of happy diners, waiters running around, people eating and laughing.

Twenty minutes later, no waiter has approached me. I get up and leave, with the hostess following me out of the restaurant offering to serve me herself. That's unheard of here, much less in one of Gaston's restaurants.

Luckily, there was another Gaston restaurant across the street... Tanta. I walk in, sit down, am greeted right away and handed a menu. Looking good.

I order the Tacu Tacu a lo Pobre, a Peruvian standard.

"I'm sorry, senor, we are all out of Tacu Tacu a lo Pobre." I ask for the menu again, and order a Burger with Fries. The Burgers are really good at Tanta.

Ten minutes later, the waiter returns and tells me that he's really sorry, but they don't have any Hamburgers either. I leave. At least I got a free bottle of water there.

I walk to the $20 all you can eat Sushi place. I'm the only customer, usually a bad sign, but I figure that I've got their attention.

I order three different Rolls to start.

You get to watch the Sushi Chef, so things are looking good. First Roll: done. Second Roll: ready. As he starts on the third one, the Chef's phone rings and he has a (minimally) 6 minute fight with his girlfriend, or whoever. I say 'minimally' because for all I know, he's still fighting with her. I walked out of there, too, after having another free bottle of water.

I go home and make a reservation at Alfresco's. They're always open, and they have lots of food.

Just in case, I stop on the way and get some Gelato for Dessert. They were open, they had Gelato, and I had money.

It turns out that Coconut Gelato is delicious. I don't know why this surprised me.

Alfresco was open, they had my reservation, and a cute hostess. I started with a Pastel de Choclo witch was considerately paired with some Grilled Octopus.

For my Main Dish, I ordered the Seafood Mixed Grill.

There were Scallops, more Octopus, Fried Shrimp, mixed Fried Fish Chunks and Calamari, and confusingly, two brochettes with Steak on them. At this point, I was asking no questions, and just ate.

Next time I am in Lima on a Sunday, I will have a big Lunch, and just get a Sandwich for DInner. Or eat at Alfresco. Or eat at home.

Speaking of home, I had some Chips before bed.

Here's my steps for the day.