Mochica

Miscellaneous — By DiegoM on January 31, 2010 at 1:32 am

Peruvian food can be found all over Buenos Aires, but especially in Palermo and Abasto. There are good and bad, and cheap and expensive, but very few somewhere in between. In a neighborhood full of cheap and often dirty Peruvian restaurants, Mochica is like a diamond in the rough. Although not a fancy restaurant, it is certainly in a different class than most Peruvian restaurants in Abasto. It has a clean, mildly elegant atmosphere, white tablecloths, nice wine glasses, and nice photographs of Trujillo lining the walls.

Mochica has been rated as one of the top Peruvian restaurants in terms of using real Peruvian ingredients and having dishes with authentic flavor. When we asked the waiter if the chicha (juice made from purple corn) was made with real purple corn (and not made from a powdered mix, as is often the case), he seemed insulted, and assured us that all items in Mochica were made with real Peruvian ingredients. This was a good sign, and confirmed what we had heard. Of course, the real test would be the actual food.

Shortly after ordering, we were given fresh baked bread (still warm) with a homemade mayonnaise and a homemade hotsauce, both of which were slightly better than average. We were served an amuse bouche – a mini causa (pureed potato, with spices), which was very tasty, and certainly amused our taste buds. It was a nice touch, and totally unexpected as they are usually only served in high end restaurants.

For starters, we had a traditional ceviche, and it was spot on, although the fish could have been a tad fresher. In their defense, it was late on Monday night, which is probably the worst possible time for fresh fish. The leche de tigre (marinade) was delicious, perfectly authentic and we were delighted that they gave us as much canchito as we wanted (dried corn kernels, that you eat with salt, and is a perfect match with leche de tigre).

For our main course, we split their criollo tasting platter. It was a plate with 5 traditional Peruvian dishes – causa, anticuchos (cow heart), ají de gallina (chicken with a yellow chili sauce), papa rellena (potato stuffed with meat), and papa a la huancaina (boiled potato with a creamy chili sauce). All of the ítems were good, very authentic in flavor, but nothing was out of the ordinary. We were actually much more impressed with the ceviche.

Our waiter was attentive and prompt, though it was a slow night, so anything less would have been a bad sign. We very much enjoyed our meal at Mochica, and it is a good spot if you are looking for good, authentic Peruvian food,

Bottom Line: Good authentic Peruvian food in a nice setting, that doesn´t break the bank.