We love Peruvian food and will try it wherever we can find it. BUT, in all our tastings, nowhere compares to "Restaurante La Cueva Del Pitufo Boquete". Rodolfo, the chef owner is a wizard in the kitchen! His flavors, textures and presentation are just — magic! We told him we could taste the love of his craft in his creations, he totally agreed, that each dish he presents, comes from the heart.
So hard to make choices when you know that everything will be delicious - but there are a couple of dishes that tell you just how good a Peruvian restaurant is. 1. Cause! 2. anticuchos de corazón. 3. Suspiro Limeño (sadly, for this visit, we had eaten far too much to consider eating this feather light delicacy during this visit - BUT let us tell you that this is the BEST Suspiro we've ever had).
We had the Causa Limeña de Camarón (of course!) - with shrimp - it was a feast for both the eyes and the palate - the potato was so fine - so lemony - silky smooth and the shrimp were beautifully presented, as juicy as they could be, as only perfectly cooked shrimp can be. Delicious, rich perfection.
Anticucho TÃpico Peruano - sizzling on a platter, two skewers of flavor bomb! Cooked as we ordered (medium rare), slight chew, slight char ... mmmmm!!!
Octopus with Olive - we thought we ordered the GRILLED octopus and were very sad when his octopus in PINK sauce arrived at our table... BUT BUT .... first bite and heaven! This is cold marinated octopus in a black olive sauce, we'd never had it before - we will be having it again. The acidity of the olives in this creamy sauce with the chew of the octopus .. this was an experience in flavor and texture...
Steak - normally we would not order steak - but it sounded so delicious and sadly I cannot find the name of the steak we had!!! But it was large, tender and bursting with flavor and prawns - I cannot think about it without my mouth watering - just describe it to the waitress, she'll ask Rodolfo!!! If you like steak, try this stuffed with prawns - your mouth will thank you.
Corvina Bajareque - Grilled Corvina fillet with prawns and clams in yellow chili sauce, mushrooms. There are no words to describe the flavors - the textures - the sauce was beautiful and silky, with a mild warmth - I would not call it a chili sauce - I would just say delicious!!!
One additional thing to consider - Patacones!!!!!!! This Peruvian chef, Rodolfo, makes the very best Patacones ever - they are soft and tender on the inside and have a crisp, bite worthy exterior that crunches .. mmmm......
So - sadly, we were too enthused and ate too much to get the Suspiro Limeño - but we will be back!!! Many, many thanks Rodolfo!!!!
