LIMA DAY 4: "Leftover Duck" is NOT an Oxymoron

Monday, March 7

I woke up REALLY early, so I had some Leftover Rice and Duck at 5:00 am.

What a luxury to just have extra Duck lying around the house.

Ed came by and we finally got moving at around 11:00. Our first stop was for Coffee and Sandwiches.

Ed had a Ham & Cheese Sandwich, and I had a Shredded Chicken Sandwich.

That kept us going until Lunch. That and the Raspadillas that we had on the street.

Ed's was Strawberry -- mine was Coconut.

NOW we were good until we got to El Marati in Chorrillos. I stumbled upon this place last trip, and I really like it. And they don't get much in the way of tourist traffic lol.

We kept it simple... Ed had Scallops Parmesean, and I just had a Ceviche. A really BIG Ceviche.

Scallops Parmesean are great, as were these, Ed said. My Lunch -- the 'Ceviche Marati' -- consisted of a Mixed Seafood & Fish Ceviche, two skewers of Shrimp On A Stick, a cup of Tiradito (sliced fish) in Salsa de Rocoto, and a bunch of Chifles and both Choclo (Giant Mutant Corn) and Beans. Fernando once explained to me that the Beans are served with Northern Ceviches, so there you go.

It took a while, but I was able to finish it.

For Dinner, we were meeting Sandra after work at Astrid y Gaston -- the 14th best restaurant in the world. On the way, we stopped for Coffee.

So, Astrid y Gaston is owned by, duh, Astrid and Gaston. He is the all-time Celebrity Chef in Peru, and he has all different types of restaurants. All excellent; and most very expensive. But Astrid y Gaston is the Crown Jewel.

Up until recently, Diego Munoz was the Executive Chef there. He started when they moved the restaurant into it's current Mansion location. He left a few months ago, and Gaston took over.

There have been some changes... there is still the Tasting Menu and the 'order off the menu' Menu, but now everyone sits together, and -- at least last night -- there wasn't seating in the open, former 'bar' area. So for me, it was a little too 'fancy.' I liked that the food was high-quality, but you didn't have to act like you were a super-classy kind of person. The dining room last night felt that way for me. Also, there were less choices on the menu, but some of the old classics from when Gaston was the Chef, were back.

But the food was great.

We started with the Bread and Butter. Pretty great.

There were three types of Butter: Tomato Butter, Avocado Butter, And Butter Butter. And the Breads were all different. The waiter told us what they were, but we didn't pay much attention -- we just ate it.

For our Appetizers, we shared the Mushroom Raviolis and the Scallops.

At the risk of sounding like a bad advertisement, they were Awesome. The Scallops were seasoned with *something* that was really, really good, and the Raviolis were just delicious.

For our Main Courses, I had the Carrillera de Res, Ed had Coichinillo, and Sandra had a Fish plate, with spices and stuff from the Jungle area of Peru.

My dish was a Cow Cheek. It's one of the old-time Astrid y Gaston dishes, and the meat is really, really tender. Ed said that it was, "the best Pig he has ever eaten," and Sandra polished off her entire plate. We didn't talk much during the Main Course -- that's always a sign of high-quality food.

Astrid y Gaston is the home of the Chocolate Bomb. It is still on the menu, but here's another change: It is smaller. It used to be bowling ball sized, and now it is about the size of a small Cantaloupe.

OK, I am the first to admit that it was still plenty for the three of us, and it cost a little less than before, but still. Some of the theater is gone from the dish. But for those of us that might eat for enjoyment rather than drama, it was perfectly fine.

With our Coffee, the waiter brought a few Truffles and things. Ed passed, I had two, and Sandra had one.

The tab for all of this, with expensive bottles of water, and a generous additional tip, came to just about US$150 for the three of us. For this quality stuff, not bad at all.

That was it for the day.