Going Home

My trip home would consist of a nine hour bus ride followed by about 3 hours in Lima then a red-eye from Lima to Miami, a flight fom Miami to Dallas, a flight from Dallas to San Jose Ca. then a 3 1/2 hour drive home to Oakhurst; all-in-all about 36 hours of travelling.

With three hours to kill in Lima at dinner time, the natural thought was to go out to dinner with my friend Yadilitta.  She had introduced me to the food of Peru in the first days of my visit and having dinner with her would be the perfect ending to my trip. We decided to go out to Malabar, who's cuisine is described as international.  The chef is Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America.  He worked in Italy and is the only chef in Lima to use and research Amazonian ingredients. Chef Schiaffino has created an eclectic cuisine that takes inspiration in his Peruvian, Italian, and Cuban heritage.

The bus trip started out with a light snack of a warm empanada filled with beef, onions, and hard boiled egg.  It was pretty good and I wondered why I had not seen breakfast empanadas on any breakfast menus during my trip.  The bus ride went pretty well as I had found a bookstore in Trujillo with books in english and had purchased "One Hundred years of Solitude" by Garcia Marquez and reading it passed a lot of time.  There was not much to see on the ride as the area from Trujillo to Lima is pretty much all dessert except every so often where a river flows out of the mountains to the sea and creates a strip of green where a town springs up.

Mountains with drifted sand along the road to Lima from Trujillo

The bus said the trip was only 8 hours but several other bus lines I had checked said 9 hours, so I figured on nine and to arrive around 6 pm. I was right about the nine hours and my bus arrived to the station at 6:15 pm where Yadilitta was waiting to pick me up. I took a few minutes to freshen up and change into a clean shirt and pants and we were on our way to Malabar.

 

It was nice to see Yadilitta again and we talked about food and some of my adventures in Peru on the way to the restaurant.  Yadilitta was not exactly sure how to get there and after a having to go around a couple blocks because of one-way streets we arrived and got a prime parking spot right next to the restaurant.  We each ordered specialty pisco sours; I got a one with cocona juice and Yadilitta got the Pisco punch which was prepared according to a 1850-recipe.

Yadilitta and I with our Pisco's

We had a hard time choosing courses because everything on the menu looked so good.  Some of my favorite dishes had been tiradito's and fresh seafood sounded great to both of us, so we started with a tiradito.  A tiradito is raw fish sliced very thin and served with a flavorful citrus sauce.  The sauce with the tiradito was incredibly good and I tried to slurp up every drop! 

I was intrigued by the Rockfish Tataki which was not exactly as I had expected but it was very good.  The fish was seared on the outside giving it a smoky flavor and paired with the crispy pork which was smoked pork cooked till crispy then pulverized to a powder.  The two smoky flavors and textures worked very well together and the sauce was citrusy with some acid to add brightness to the fish. 

Seabass Tiradito with Banana Passion Fruit Juice

Rockfish Tataki with Parsley Juice and Crispy Pork

Rocoto Chile Pepper Confit stuffed with Blood Orange Sausage and Rice

The rocoto relleno was really good.  We both agreed there was just the right amount of spice in the dish and all of the flavors were balanced very well. It had some raisins in it for sweetness and the texture was a revelation to me as it was very smooth and melted in my mouth.  

The suckling pig was again, an inspiration of flavors and textures.  The suckling pig was cooked till very tender topped with a piece of chicharon or fried pork rind for crispness.  I liked the idea of pork three diferent ways and the eggplant banana sauce was really good, a combination that I would never normally think of but which was very good.

Crispy Suckling Pig with Watercress Salad and Pork Tenderloin with Eggplant Banana Puree

Yadilitta and I in front of Malabar Bar

Dinner was just a little bit too rushed for me as I had to catch my plane and I wished Yadilitta and I had more time to visit.  Our shared love of food had been an instant bond of friendship between us when I first arrived in Peru and Lima.  She is a self proclaimed "foodie" who loves to cook and explore new flavors and tastes.  We had wonderful times talking about and eating food as well as our exploring the open air market and cooking together. 

As a chef, our shared foodie outings were some of my most memorable Peru experiences.  Thank you Yadilitta for spending your time with me and sharing your knowledge of Peruvian cuisine and passion for all things gustatory!