The place

El Mercado is a fancy fish oriented restaurant by Rafael Osterling (the chef/owner of Rafael.) It has a reputation as the best cevicheria in Lima and it regularly makes the lists of the best restaurants in Peru. Sounded like our kind of place.

I don’t know if it’s called “El Mercado” because it has the ambience of a market, or because it’s across the street from the Miraflores mercado, but either way it’s a breezy open space, green and relaxing. The space itself feels very much like you’re in an indoor/outdoor patio set in a tropical forest. An amazing accomplishment given that it’s actually set in a rather ordinary neighborhood of concrete high rise apartments and small mechanic’s shops.

Ceviche

The ceviche may be the best we’ve had. We had both a ceviche “Pucusana” and a tiradito “Nikkei.” Pucusana is a fishing village south of Lima, we plan to stop there on our way south, and the Pucusana ceviche had pejerrey (Argentine Silverside), erizo (sea urchin - uni), and conchita (scallops) in a mild sauce and including ripe avocado. The pejerrey is a mild silvery fish and the light ceviche was perfect for it. Anything stronger would have overpowered it. We love erizo and order it every chance we get, but it’s similarly delicate. The avocado nicely rounded out the flavors with the sweet scallops. All together it was well balanced, and the subtle flavors were a reminder that ceviche does not have to hit you on the head.

Tiradito

Tiradito is based on sashimi. The fish is sliced into thin rectangular slices rather than cubes, is not “cooked” in an acidic marinade, and doesn’t have onions. Instead the sauce is poured over just before serving.

I didn’t realize that Nobu Matsuhisa (that Nobu) first went to Peru after leaving Japan 45 years ago. While here, the story goes, he invented tiradito when a guest asked for ceviche without onions. So all tiradito is in some sense “nikkei.” The “nikkei” tiradito at El Mercado was yellowfin tuna with a mild sweet soy and sesame oil sauce garnished with an avocado fan. Not flashy, just delicious.

Empanadas

Empanadas Porteñas (“port” empanadas) are presumably called that because they’re filled with shrimp and squid rather than the traditional beef. These should probably be called empanaditos because they’re small and cute. Lima loves its empanadas, every street vendor and food stall will sell you an empanada of chicken or meat of uncertain provenance, but these seafood empanadas were just fine.

Scallops

While we had quickly decided on ceviche and tiradito, I strained my limited Spanish and asked our waiter for a recommendation for a third dish. He suggested grilled conchas (scallops). I had earlier seen the impressive wood fired grill so we were set. We had a combo of three style griego (“greek”) with pisco butter, yellow ají pepper, and oregano; “reggiana” with brown butter, parmesan, and garlic; and “aztec” with jalapeño butter and mezcal. The scallops were perfectly grilled, still juicy and tender with the roe still soft but with nice browned grill flavors. The flavors of the scallops dominated, with the sauces providing just an accent. There was a bit of menu writing license, I’m pretty sure greeks don’t use ají amarillo sauce on scallops.

Dessert

We hadn’t yet tried the classic Limeña suspira (Lima sigh) so we had it “three ways” for dessert. Classic manjar blanco (aka dulce de leche), lucuma, and chirimoya. The name “manjar blanco” comes from blancmange, but in reality is a hundred times better. It’s milk and sugar cooked down until it becomes thick and brown and caramelly. It’s called dulce de leche in other parts of South America and in Mexico. For limeña suspira it has added egg yolk and vanilla to make a pudding, and is topped with a soft sticky meringue. A lucuma version makes sense. Lucuma, Peru’s favorite dessert fruit, tastes of rich butterscotch, maple, and sweet potato. The chirimoya version adds a bit of contrast with fruity strawberry, banana, and pear notes. The meringue was not my favorite, it reminds me of marshmallow fluff, but I’m not going to argue with a 100 year old tradition.

In conclusion

Great fresh fish treated with respect, airy green outdoorsy space, upscale but not fussy or pretentious.

• Lima
• Peru
• Rafael-Osterling