Zhicao F.
Yelp
A small, delicate, modern-vibe Peruvian restaurant hidden in a residential neighborhood. Reservation only, no walk-ins.
The restaurant operates on a chef's menu system with 5-6 dishes depending on season. BYOB with minor service charge, 20% gratuity for parties of 6 or more. While the website suggests the tasting experience lasts about 1.5-2 hours, our dinner lasted a full 2.5 hours (7:50pm entry, 10:20pm exit). There could be significant gap time between dishes, up to 20-30 minutes. At one time the chef chatted with the table next to ours for about 10-15 minutes, not sure if that contributed to excessive time. Anyway, make sure you have plenty of time to spend.
Review of food and beverage items
Complimentary fried plantain: freshly fried, hot and crispy, a bit on the salty side.
Chicha morada juice (purple coin, pineapple, cinnamon, sugar, lime): very refreshing drink, complex and fruity flavor, a hint of cinnamon residual taste, suitable for summer night.
Antichucho (grilled veal): heavily marinated, salty and gamey, a bit too salty on its own, but went very well with the rich sauce. Grilled potato was very nice.
Causa escabechada (grilled shrimp): Seasoning was much more pleasant than the previous dish. Shrimps tasted fresh, bouncy, briny but not too salty. Love the multifaceted texture created by combination of avocado, crispy sweet potato, and mashed Peruvian potato.
Tamal de Quinoa (tamal with ahi tuna): good idea to have some ceviche-ish thick sauce before the Ceviche dish. Fine grinded quinoa, not coarse at all, passion fruit glaze and pineapple chalaquita adding a refreshing fruity aroma to the bland quinoa. Ahi tuna a bit overdone for my taste.
Ceviche de Rocoto (Ceviche dish): star of the night. Zesty rocoto "Tiger's milk" sauce, lemony and mildly spicy, sweet potato offsetting the sourness of the sauce, fish tasted fresh. Love what they had done to the grilled octopus: many other ceviche restaurants just dice or even chop into big chunks, but they carefully sliced them into thin layers, very bouncy and easy to enjoy.
Cordero and beet salad (lamb chop and beat salad): salad tasted nice, fresh veggies, pleasant balsamic flavor, beets had delicate sweet taste, not grassy at all. The lamb chop was grilled nicely, tender and juicy, but needs a bit more seasoning.
Dulce Final (ice cream and chocolate mousse): Guanabana ice cream tasted nice, had very subtle floral and honey taste. Chocolate mousse was nicely made, light, fluffy, packed with dark chocolate flavor. A nice end note to the dinner.
Overall: 4-4.5 stars. For the sake of Yelp score display, I opted to display 4 stars to emphasize the fact that we spent much longer than expected in the place, and seasoning of dishes need more consistency. Still, most dishes are delicately designed, plating and flavor are solid, and we would love to see the place brought up a level with some improvements.