The place

Amoramar is another gem tucked away in an urban environment. On an otherwise unremarkable back street in Barranco, you go through a door and into an oasis. A tree lined patio with tables under a screened roof. You walk past the big wood fired brick oven where the parrillero is roasting a cochinillo lechal (suckling piglet.)

The food

The menu is modern Peruvian with sections for Entradas, Wok, Pesca, Granja, and “Para Endulzar” We decided to have two entrees, a fish, and a dessert.

They started by bringing us an abreboca (amuse/appetiser) of pork and plantain crisp with an asian salsa. It was tasty and helped make up for our decision to not have the roast piglet.

Cheese tiradito?!

We had seen Tiradito Grana Padano on the menu and had been bemused and intrigued. A tiradito of cheese? Probably not. A tiradito with cheese? That almost as strange. How can you pair raw fish with cheese? Ok, we had to try it. It was a tiradito of seared scallop and white fish dressed with a leche de tigre (“tiger’s milk” juice for ceviche) emulsion, garnished with radish, avocado puree, and grana padano crisps. It actually worked pretty well.

Grilled scallops

We tried their Conchas al Fuego (grilled scallops). They were served in the shell very hot on a bed of rock salt. The seasoning was asian lemon butter and crispy garlic. It was a bit sweet, nice but not extraordinary, but grilled scallops are always a treat.

Paiche

We’ve been seeing paiche on menus a lot in Lima. It’s the second largest fresh water fish in the world. Mature paiche can be over 3 metres long, and over 250 kg. Native to the Amazon river they are under pressure in the wild, but have been successfully farmed in Brazil. I think of it a little like the barramundi of South America only a lot bigger. This was grilled paiche over asparagus and potato puree. The paiche was delicious, firm and tasty, asparagus was fresh, sweet, and not overcooked.

Dessert

Finally we shared a Isla de Frutos del Bosque “Island of fruits of the forest.” Is “fruits of the forest” some sort of code for strawberries and blueberries? Every time I see “fruits of the forest” it ends up being strawberries (not from the forest) and blueberries (also not from the forest.) Besides the fresh fruits the dessert included chocolate soil, and some sort of sweet brown gelatine and a sweet strawberry sauce over the top. The strawberries were underripe, the tan jello was boring, and the strawberry sauce was too sweet. Amoramar needs to raise their dessert game…

In Conclusion

Overall the setting was excellent, the dishes were well done but not particularly innovative. The suckling pig looked great though!