When a trip to Astrid y Gaston doesn't provide the prettiest plate of the day, that's impressive. Here was Breakfast:
So I was in a cab the other day, and I saw what looked like another of the 7784627603 Coffee Shops. I mentally filed it away and headed over for Breakfast today. I show up, and it turns out that Cafe Rilke is an old house that has been re-purposed. They even left the 'library' the way it was...
They had some nice Desserts to go with my Latte, but the guy talked me into breakfast. It all looked good, so I picked the most expensive one.
There was a Poached Egg, Prosciutto, a big hunk of Cheese, some Salami and three slices of of a Whole Grain Bread that was just full of both Grains and Taste. With the Coffee, it came to $11, but was well worth it. And even more so when I read what they do with their money, according to their Facebook page (I did the translating, so here is kind of what it says):
"Our prime objective is to raise funds for the social projects undertaken by the Jesuits here in Peru. With every coffee and cake you try, and every other delicacy you enjoy, you don't only enhance your life, you also help better the conditions of the children, teens and young & old in horrible situations and extreme poverty."
I liked the place; I will return.
I did some shopping in the afternoon, and stopped at a couple of places for Lunch. My first stop was a random joint, La Cuina de Bonilla, for their Lunch Special.
The first plate was what we would call Tuna Salad, and the second was slow-roasted Pork with Rice and Salad.
A little later in my shopping excursion, I was at the Surquillo Mercado, and stopped at the booth for El Cevichano, where I had a combination Clams & Fish Ceviche, along with a free Bowl of Fish Broth.
I met Fernando for Dinner. We had a reservation at Astrid y Gaston, the centerpiece of Peru's gastronomic surge. It's excellent without being too full of themselves. This restaurant is owned by the same guy who owns Panchita. It is officially 'better,' but for me, it is just, different. I like them both; I prefer Panchita.
Anyway, we started with our Appetizers. Fernando had Octopus, and I had Erizo with Pasta.
Erizo is what we would call a Sea Urchin. They're not terribly rare, but you don't see them every day, and I think that they are really good.
For our Main Course, we shared the Rice with Duck for two.
It was a lot of food. A lot of delicious food. The yellow things are Avocado. I'm not sure what they were doing there, but they worked. And the Rice was absolutely awesome. I'm not sure what you do to Rice to make it that good, but then again, I'm not the face of Peruvian cooking.
There was no way that I was having Dessert. Not so for Fernando, who had 'shots' of four different types of Chocolate. He said that they were great, but he couldn't distinguish one from the other.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
I had a bag of chips while I did stuff in the house in the morning.
I met Bertha for Lunch in Jesus Maria, before she picked up her daughter from school. We went to Cevicheria Maria Pastor, mostly because we both knew where it was.
We started with Leche de Tigre (me) and Leche de Pantera (Bertha). And we shared Pulpo a la Chalaca, which is cut up Octopus, mixed with Onions and Peppers in a Ceviche-like juice.
For our Main Courses, I had Fried Fish Chunks (Chicharon de Pescado), and Bertha had a Fish Filet in a Shrimp Sauce.
I bought a new phone before I left the USA. This one is a Sony, of all things. It has a 23 megapixel camera, and I am still learning how to use it. One cool thing that I noticed today was that it figured out all on its own that I was taking pictures of Food, and it switched to GOURMET setting. lol
Much later that night, Maria and I went to Punto Azul and shared a Mixed Ceviche.
That was it for the day.
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