Birú Cocina Peruana

I got seats at Peruvian Supper Club to celebrate a friend's birthday, but I screwed up and told everyone the wrong time. Chef Julio very generously let us come late and experience our four-course Peruvian meal. All of the dishes were fantastic, unique, and we loved hearing his explanations of all the dishes and ingredients.

I knew this spot for great Peruvian take out but I recently attended a group dinner with some friends. Totally worth it!! Really excellent food . Great flavors. Creative chef. Impeccable service. Get your friends together and book the patio for a little ceviche party !!

I wish I could leave 10 stars! Julio catered our wedding with a special curated menu, and it was the most memorable part of the entire night. I had friends tell me it was most delicious food they’ve ever had, and it really was! Everything he made was divine. The ceviche, empanadas, lomo, oh my goodness the lomo! Truly A+++ service, from set up to clean up, I could not recommend them enough. I will definitely be using them again! Thank you guys for being a part of our special day!

I’ve tried all the Peruvian restaurants in Austin and this one is hands down the best! I am from Peru and grew up eating Peruvian food, so I have high standards and Chef Julio exceeds all of them. Their lomo saltado is a dream, the ceviche has all the right flavors, textures, and ingredients. I have not had anything that I haven’t loved. Go check it out, you will not regret it! It’s absolutely delicious!

Delicious dinner! Chef came out and introduced each course, explained how and why each specialty Peruvian ingredient was used — even pointing out regions in Peru on his very handy forearm Peru tattoo! Everything was fantastic, well seasoned, tasty and unique.

The Biru Chef’s dinner is an awesome experience! Whether you already love Peruvian food or you are exploring new foods, you will love this. Each dinner is unique so you can definitely enjoy this experience multiple times. We will be going back for sure!

I’ve been following chef Julio Cesar at multiple restaurants around Austin for many years. He is a superstar. If you’ve never tried his Peruvian food you are missing out! Aji de gallina , Lomo Saltado, Peruvian roasted chicken (he sometimes takes orders for) and of course Ceviche. I’ve eaten at Biru, gotten delivery and done a private dinner with a group of friends. The flavors and experience are outstanding!

I am Peruvian, born and raised, and very picky with my Peruvian food. I have tried all the Peruvian restaurants in San Antonio, Austin and Houston and I can’t say enough good things about BIRU! The meat empanadas are OUTSTANDING, the lomo saltado and aji de gallina are great, their potatoes with the house salsas/ajíes are to die for and the ceviche…well, you must try it! Another great dish is the arroz con mariscos and now they added carapulcra to the menu! Like this is not enough, the chef is such a nice guy and willing to talk to you about his creations! Do yourself a favor and go try this jewel in Austin.

This location is no longer out of his casa.... He is officially a brick and mortar -- in the Springdale Central shopping center @ 1023 Springdale Rd. ***Queues up*** "Started from the Bottom" by Drake Julio worked his way up through the kitchen, and eventually became the head chef at lucky robot. When corona happened -- this guy was trapping Peruvian dishes out of his casa and making a plan. A plan to achieve his dream.... Most people talk about it. Some people do it. He... is one of those people. This guy's life long dream was to become a chef and own his own restaurant... you can tell that when you eat it... it tastes like passion. You should come here. It's right beside a bar too, and the guys in there are pretty cool. Consider this place recommended.

The most beautiful, amazing seafood dishes! I've never had cebiche like this - whole chunks of fresh scallops, juicy shrimp, octapus, soft shelled crab, and mussels mixed in a citrus blend of spices and corn. The addition of purple yam elevated the whole dish. I could have gotten full off of their arroz con marizcos alone, which was eye popping and flavorful. Again, the chef was generous with the seafood here. My partner's favorite was the Lomo Saltado - steak, potatoes, rice, grilled tomatoes and onions. What is in that secret sauce?! It's hard to believe that every plate is only $15. A big bonus is the outdoor dining area! I will be coming back again and soon!

Delicious! We found this hidden gem on instagram and thought we would give it a try. We tried the empanadas, ceviche, porkbelly with waffles, and pulpo anticuchero. Everything was very flavorful and tasty. Probably one of the best Peruvian restaurants i have tried in Austin. We ordered delivery via ubereats and everything was still really good. Will definitely be trying more dishes next time!

TLDR don't waste your time or money. Review written in real time. For $125 pp you should expect quality food and exceptional service. You'll get neither. Hour 1: we are seated and wondering if we are in the right place. Is this a restaurant or is this a common area? This is a co-work space. We assume this is a cool, up and coming experience? We nosh on the Peruvian corn nuts aka Cancha and make friends with the folks sitting at the table. Table is dressed with napkins, flatware, and a carafe of water with glasses for each seated guest. The server comes around to ask for our names. We give her our names. We've been seated for about 35 minutes without service, so one of us purchases wine for the table. The server comes back to check our names again. Our names haven't changed, we give them to her again. We sip our cafe wine. The Cancha are gone. We're best friends with the couple at our table. We ask for more water, but we are told there is no more water. We think this is odd. We are told we are waiting for a few more people to arrive for the seated dinner. Our server comes back to make sure our names haven't changed; they're haven't. Hour 2: One of our party goes back to the cafe to buy more wine, only had corn nuts and rationed water in 90 minutes. While in the cafe, one of the Biru servers enters looking to buy ginger beer from the cafe - no dice since they only have ginger ale. We take note that one of the cocktails includes ginger beer and we anticipate the worst - there's a catastrophic shortage of ginger beer and they'll have to make up for the 4th cocktail on the menu. The chef comes out and shows us his tattoos, serves us ceviche and a side of beans. Like the beans you used to learn math in elementary school. They're good, but so we're the beans from 3rd grade. Everything tastes ok, but like, just okay . Hr 2:45: Sserved a pisco sour (the second cocktail on the menu) without explanation. It's mostly egg foam and tastes slightly of pisco. We were grateful for our offerings. The girl of the couple at the table excuses herself and returns with not one but two bottles of sake. We agree she deserves sainthood. The server does not know our names despite asking three times returns and we are then each presented with a scallop shell and two small bay scallops pieces with melted cheese. We are cautioned by the server that we shouldn't lick the underside of the shells, as they're resting on a pile of sea salt. I think that former patrons were probably so hungry they actually tried to eat a pile of salt. These tiny scallops were over cooked to the point of being bouncy, which I expected since it took over an hour to produce. In 30 seconds it's gone - some of the ladies at my table have had more enjoyable 30 seconds. The couple sitting at our table excuse themselves - we assume they're taking advantage of the glacier-like service to go service each other. We are presented with the third cocktail (really the second since they skipped one on the menu). We are told by some miracle that this is the first cocktail on the menu (minus ginger beer) - the drink is bland and we're positive there is no alcohol in it. We all still have cups of egg foam from our first drink, and some sake, so we get mixing. Hour 3: The wine and sake have now been consumed, we are out of egg foam. Course 3 comes out - oxtail and something like polenta; the chef tells us to mingle and enjoy but it seems that if he can't reference his tattoos for insight, he has little information to offer. It's cold, bland, and inconsistent for our table. 3.5 hours in (2 courses/2 drinks left to go) we call it. Aside from those in our party who have children and dogs at home it's just unconscionable to pay this amount for a dining experience that has so far presented as subpar on the culinary scale and severely subpar on the experience. We ask to pay for what we have experienced so far, which comes to a surprise to the chef who says no one has ever complained (queue our turn to be surprised). He also tries to tell us that a menu with listed items for a prix fixe doesn't mean that you'll get those items (ie 4 listed cocktails but they only intended on serving 3). Like trapped animals trying to gnaw our legs off to be freed, we are able to work out an arrangement to pay a large portion of our tab and leave. Other patrons take note and approach us and confirm that they too are thinking of leaving. We wish them luck and farewell. We go to the bar next door and the bartender gives us a knowing glance - it's Wednesday night after all and he seems to be accustomed to folks coming into the bar complaining about service, timing, and quality. We order beer and cheese bread. The beer is served right away and the cheese bread soon after. The cheese bread consists of stale hamburger buns with melted cheddar cheese. This is the best thing we've eaten all night.

It was an amazing experience trying this menu! I have finally found that perfect tasting cebiche and empanadas. Cebiche was right on with a generous amount of seafood and perfect tartness, loved it! The beef empanadas had a good ratio of the filling to pastry shell and it came with 3 different sauces! The octopus was so tender in octopus anticuchero dish and the paella rice was seasoned well. I could go on and on, but really, order and taste for yourself! Highly recommend if you love cebiche like I do!

Have you ever had Peruvian food before? I recently came to Birú Cocina Peruana and they specialize in elevated Peruvian food, yet still remain true to the roots of the culture. They're not afraid to branch out and put their own twist on some classic dishes. Note: Peruvian food can be more on the brighter, citrusy side due to the constant use of aji (a lil spicier than jalapeño, but a bit more fruity in taste), red onion, and garlic. Anyways, let's see what I got: - Cebiche Nikkei - a Japanese-Peruvian ceviche composed of big eye tuna, aji limo, red onion, yuyo, cucumber, avocado, green onion, mayu (burnt garlic oil), and acebichada leche de tigre (the white liquid base you see, it's light, slightly creamy, and thin in texture) - easily a top 3 ceviche I've had in town! So refreshing. ($16.64) - 4.5/5 - Seco - a braised short rib made with corn cider, cilantro, aji amarillo, Canario beans (a bit softer and buttery than pinto beans), and salsa criolla (what's on top of the short rib, it's like a red onion relish, bright in flavor think kinda like a chimichurri type of taste) - very tender, came easily off the bone! Great array of flavor. Really enjoyed this! ($17.68) - 4.5/5 - Chicharron & Waffles - crispy pork belly, sweet potato waffles, spiced syrup, and aji limo. Damn! What a fun take on waffles. I love the contrast of savory, sweet, spicy, and citrus flavors. Don't miss out on this one. ($12) - 4.25/5 - Arroz con Mariscos: translates into "rice with seafood". This dish is similar to that of a jamabalaya, but more citrusy. This comes with 4 different types of seafood: shrimp, octopus, mussels, and scallops and honestly damn! I am a picky seafood eater and this plate just smacked. Try this! ($16.64) - 4.25/5 All in all, I was highly satisfied with my experience here. All the food was pretty great and given the price you pay per dish, you get your money's worth when you consider the complexity involved with each dish and the high quality of ingredients used. All that said, I give them a 4.5/5 overall. Nicely done! I will be back to try some more dishes!

Julio is an incredible chef. Truthfully, this man has encouraged me to explore my palette on so many occasions, and has never failed me. I got Lomo Saltado tonight just because I love some meat and potatoes. Was amaaazing to say the least, added a little aji Amarillo paste and just... YUM. Pictures don't even do it justice. Also not to mention, the best chicha morada. If I lived closer, would be drinking it everyday lol. Highly recommend this joint to anyone looking to support a local business that prepares fresh, authentic, Peruvian cuisine. It's dang good.

I've been wanting to try Biru's food ever since I heard about their delicious Peruvian dishes cooked out of Chef Julio's home kitchen. The photos looked amazing and I wanted to try his food so badly. Imagine my excitement when I saw that he just opened a little booth at Springdale General in east Austin...right in my neighborhood! The verdict: WOW! The food is SO GOOD. It is EVEN BETTER than the photos. Both dishes that we ordered blew me away and I am confident that the rest of his menu is just as strong. The "arroz con mariscos" dish is like a rich seafood paella. So much good seafood in there. The flavor is insane. This is one of the best dishes I've ever tasted in my life. I highly recommend this dish. Walk all the way to the back of Building 1 in Springdale General (past Uroko, past Cafe Medici) and you'll find Biru. Go check them out and enjoy yourself some great Peruvian food!

I would say this place is highly overrated and the chefs think too highly of themselves. I want to tell you that I did the course meal that was four dishes and one dessert and took over four hours to complete. Food 1) causa de corazon - This was actually quite good the aji limo was a good contrast to brighten up the dish from the beef and potatoes. The beef had a nice chew to contrast the potatoes. I would order this again. 2) cebiche - I have to admit this was not a bad dish for being a ceviche, it had a fresh taste and the fish wasn't over cooked. I have to admit though for only 5 courses I think this is not worth the price and is too simple of a dish. If you're a big eater, you will also be extremely disappointed. 3) Cau Cau - This is probably the worst dish that they served, everything was overly overdone and the octopus was so chewy that I could've given it to my dog as a chew toy. Everything else was so mushy from the mussels to the gnocchi. I think it's an insult to call it gnocchi, it is closer to mashed potatoes. 4) Tamale verde- I found the one thing that is drier than the Sahara dessert and surprise it comes with a side of aji limo. You could not even taste the meat because there was so little and the masa had no flavor. I would say frozen tamales would be less dry. 5) albaricocada - This is literally a funnel cake and state fairs make better ones. Not only is it a simple dessert, they over fried the cake to the point that you could use it for croutons. Service 1) Not only was the food bad, the service was a bigger joke. They miscounted the number of people and kept under serving everybody, so this caused the dishes to come out slower on top of already taking an hour per dish. 2) Sanitation is disgusting. They will reuse spoons and tongs after using it to taste a dish. They say that they dip it in sanitizing solution vs washing it, but when looking at the jar the sanitizing solution was so low that it barely covers have the spoon. 3) During service, instead of focusing on preparation they were talking about how easy it is to do course meals three times a night. Please get your menu up to par before you even do one tasting. 4) I hate to harp on this, but as for waiters and waitresses they literally use their daughters and daughters friends in order to serve people. You are charging a luxury price you need to get luxury waiters and waitresses. I will not be tasting any food from this chef ever. Given his attitude, his work ethic, and the type of service he provides thinking that the price justifies it makes me disgusted that he can call himself a chef.

Best Peruvian Restaurant in Austin, Texas The food is delicious, the presentation is magnificent. Very good!!! I drive from Houston to eat at this amazing restaurant Biru Cocina Peruana. Every single plate is really good and taste delicious!

I hate that this place is so delicious because I keep giving them all my money! We get their food at least once a week and my mouth is watering just thinking about it... don't judge.