Malabar

Ever since I started reading the extraordinarily lavish and complimentary descriptions of Peruvian cuisine and the gastro scene in Lima in the lonely planet (ie on my 12 hour flight here) I got a bee in my bonnet and wanted to try one of the city's celebrated restaurants.

Unfortunately there s one thing I don't like about Limeños' food habits and that's that they generally skip dinner. So getting last minute dinner reservations at the few restaurants that are actually open for dinner can be quite a challenge. My perseverance paid off and my broken Spanish to my astonishment got us a table at one of Lima's most experimental joints: Malabar.

We started with cocktails that were subject to multiple tastings by the ever discerning barman. They were worth the wait. As was the scallop ceviche in cucumber broth - how can cucumber taste so interesting? Cono's corn tamales was like the distant posh cousin of a mexican appetiser, while dessert woke me up with an explosion of passion fruit ice cream hidden underneath a dark chocolate shell that melted away as the waiter poured hot caramel sauce infused with pisco (the local liquor of choice). And the damage? £30 a head.

This is why I've been obsessing about the worthiness of food calories to be consumed. With so many exquisite choices (and I suddenly find myself using that word a lot in the context of food) where should one eat in such limited time?

Postscript: You must be wondering how chocolate or ceviche ended up looking like that. The amazing duck above was actually consumed at the lovely Museo Larco in Lima. Unfortunately I failed to capture the food at Malabar. I blame the taste explosion.