Lima, Peru and Quito, Ecuador

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
41

Bump. Looking forward to hearing about the trip, especially the NatGeo Machu Picchu segment.

42

I’m going to Quito and galapagos on a Celebrity cruise this month. Really excited!!

43

Oh my, that’s gonna be one rocky cruise ride up to Quito neener

44

pileon

45

Alan; Just got home…a bit of a followup forthcoming.


Cheers!
Marshall champagne.gif

46

A bit of an update on our adventures with upscale restaurants in Lima. We thoroughly enjoyed both Maido and Central. In both cases we went for the multi course (around 16) experience. Both were fabulous,yet different. The plating was simply exceptional…art on a plate and the ingredients were indigenous and top notch. In addition, the service was exemplary with wonderful descriptions of each dish. Of course, wine lists play a large part in the overall experience. Both lists were excellent, and very fairly priced. We drank South American wines exclusively and have certainly developed an appreciation for Torrontes, Malbec and Carmenere. I would highly recommend both to any Berserker. Astrid Y Gaston, on the other hand, was a bit of a disappointment. Snooty and pretentious are words that come to mind. The food was very good, but a bit uneven and also a bit over salted. The plating was not at the level of the previous two restaurants and might even be called boring. Everything about the vibe reminded me of a stereotypical French restaurant of decades past. It was all very hush hush and nobody, except us, seemed to be having fun. The crowning insult was their ridiculous wine list. Virtually, all French & Italian at silly prices. There were hardly any South American wines to be had. When the “sommelier” came over, I remarked at the dearth of SA wines and asked for a recommendation. His idea of a recommendation was a highly mediocre (at least it was Argentine) chardonnay for well over $300! When I disagreed with him and ordered a nice SB/Semillion blend, we never saw him again! He must have had an easy night since very few of the tables were even drinking wine! At the previously mentioned restaurants virtually every table had bottles of wine throughout the evening.

Overall, the food of Peru, from street markets to the top restaurants was a revelation! The fruits and vegetables were magnificent and the Amazon region holds a bounty of ingredients. A great experience!

Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]