We’ve had some experience of Peruvian food before this, having eaten at the excellent Lima and its sister restaurant Lima Floral. I really love the flavours, so I was looking forward to lunch.
As we were a bit early, we stopped for a quick drink in a bar just around the corner. It turns out this was a little gem in itself, but more on that here.
Casita Andina is set across two floors, with a bar serving ceviche and drinks occupying a large part of the ground floor. The lady who greeted us at the door seated us in the upstairs dining room, which was small but cosy, although the tables were quite close together. A waitress brought our menus and explained that they were operating their brunch menu today, which included some breakfasty bits as well as a smaller version of the standard menu. She recommended between four and six dishes for us to share, but since Mr M isn’t a huge fan of fish and I don’t eat pork, not much sharing actually happened!
The food arrived as it was prepared, and was all really tasty and packed with flavour. The Crunchy Corn was delicious, with just the right amount of salt, and the Papas Ocopa (crispy potatoes) came with the most beautiful nutty dip.
The Classic Ceviche was probably my standout dish – the seabass had a very satisfying texture – while the Salmon Tiradito was also excellent and full of flavour. The Aji de Gallina (chicken with amarillo chilli, rice, olive sauce and quail egg), although delicious, was practically forgettable compared to the ceviche. Mr M enjoyed both his dishes – Pudin de Maiz (corn soufflé, bacon, poached egg, coriander and hollandaise) and Tamal (pork in a corn dumpling with coriander, onion and tomato), and said the corn dumpling was especially good.
The cocktails were reasonably priced (for London) at between £8 and £9 each and were both great (we had a Pisco Sour and a Gallo Negro each) – the Gallo Negro reminded me a little of an old fashioned, not that that is something to complain about!
For dessert, there were two possible options on the menu – Humita de Choclo (steamed purple corn with physalis jam) and Flan de Quinoa (quinoa-egg custard, pisco-infused dry fruit and cereal), so we got one of each. The Humita de Choclo came with a pot of sauce that tasted and smelt like sambucca, which wasn’t quite to my taste. Although I gave the sauce a swerve, the purple corn was delicious, not too sweet or heavy. The Flan de Quinoa was also really tasty and we both finished our meal feeling satisfied but not stuffed or bloated (as can sometimes be the case with us).
Throughout our lunch the staff were excellent, attentive without hovering around too much, friendly and knowledgeable. As we finished off and got the bill, the dining room had cleared out a bit and there was only us and one other table left, as they close for an hour in the afternoon before re-opening for their evening service.
The bill came to £102 including 12.5% service charge. When I asked, the waitress confirmed that service charge is split between all staff in the restaurant, which was good to hear given that this doesn’t seem to happen in all restaurants. Overall, we had a really tasty and satisfying lunch at a reasonable price. If I’m honest, I probably would’ve cancelled the reservation if I had realised they were only doing their brunch menu, but at least now I have an excuse to go back to sample their dinner menu!
Albatine x
