All larger towns in Peru have a fair choice of
restaurants , most of which offer a varied menu.
Among them there's usually a few chifa ( Chinese
) places, and nowadays a fair number of
vegetarian restaurants too. Most restaurants in
the larger towns stay open seven days a week
from around 11am until 11pm, though in smaller
settlements they may close one day a week,
usually Sunday. Often they will offer a cena, or
set menu , from morning through to lunchtime and
another in the evening. Ranging in price from $1
to $3, these most commonly consist of three
courses: soup, a main dish, and a cup of tea or
coffee to follow. Every town, too, seems now to
have at least one restaurant that specializes in
pollos a la brasa - spit-roasted chickens.
Tipping in budget or average restaurants is
normal, though not obligatory and you should
rarely expect to give more than about $0.5. In
fancier places you may well find a service
charge of ten percent as well as a tax of
eighteen percent added to the bill, and in
restaurants and peñas where there's live music
or performances the cover charge can go up to
$5. Even without performance, cover charges of
around $1 are sometimes levied in the flashier
restaurants in major town centres.
Along the coast, not surprisingly, seafood is
the speciality. The Humboldt Current keeps the
Pacific Ocean off Peru extremely rich in
plankton and other microscopic life forms, which
attract a wide variety of fish. Ceviche is the
classic Peruvian seafood dish and has been eaten
by locals for over two thousand years. It
consists of fish, shrimp, scallops or squid, or
a mixture of all four, marinated in lime juice
and chilli peppers, then served "raw" with corn
and sweet potato and onions. You can find it,
along with fried fish and fish soups, in most
restaurants along the coast for around $2.
Escabeche is another tasty fish-based appetizer,
this time incorporating peppers and finely
chopped onions. The coast is also an excellent
place for eating scallops - known here as
conchitas - which grow particularly well close
to the Peruvian shoreline. Conchitas negras (black
scallops) are a delicacy in the northern tip of
Peru. Excellent salads are also widely available,
such as huevos a la rusa (egg salad), palta
rellena (stuffed avocado), or a straight tomato
salad, while papas a la Huancaina (a cold
appetizer of potatoes covered in a spicy light
cheese sauce) is great too.
Mountain food is more basic - a staple of
potatoes and rice with the meat stretched as far
as it will go. Lomo saltado, or diced prime beef
sautéed with onions and peppers, is served
anywhere at any time, accompanied by rice and a
few french fries. A delicious snack from street
vendors and cafés is papa rellena, a potato
stuffed with vegetables and fried. Trout is also
widely available, as are cheese, ham and egg
sandwiches. Chicha, a corn beer drunk throughout
the sierra region and on the coast in rural
areas, is very cheap with a pleasantly tangy
taste. Another Peruvian speciality is the
Pachamanca , a roast prepared mainly in the
mountains but also on the coast by digging a
large hole, filling it with stones and lighting
a fire over them, then using the hot stones to
cook a wide variety of tasty meats and
vegetables.
In the jungle , the food is different. Bananas
and plantains figure highly, along with yuca (a
manioc rather like a yam), rice and plenty of
fish. There is meat as well, mostly chicken
supplemented occasionally by game - deer, wild
pig, or even monkey. Every settlement big enough
to get on the map has its own bar or café, but
in remote areas it's a matter of eating what's
available and drinking coffee or bottled drinks
if you don't relish the home-made masato (cassava
beer).
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