http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/travel/london-develops-a-peruvian-palate.html 2014-10-28 22:15:44 London Develops a Peruvian Palate A dozen or so high-profile Peruvian restaurants have emerged on the city’s dining scene, with more on the way. === While Peruvian restaurants are now comfortably ensconced in neighborhoods throughout the city, tucked on quiet streets next to pubs in Shoreditch and among the galleries and theaters in the West End. Martin Morales, the Peruvian-born former head of Disney Music and iTunes Pan Europe, began tweeting about Peruvian food, then opened a Peruvian pop-up restaurant, Ceviche. “I was frustrated because no one knew this food or the ingredients, so I started cooking it at home,” Mr. Morales said. “Everything happened organically. A tweet here. A tweet there. Then the pop-ups.” He opened his brick and mortar restaurant No one can say for certain why the city has latched on to this exotic trend, but most agree that it isn’t slowing. “I love and am fascinated that every time I go to London and see how the city wants more of Peru,” said the chef Virgilio Martinez, who owns Central in Lima and is a partner in Lima London. Robert Ortiz, who runs the kitchen at Lima London, focuses on Peru’s unique biodiversity, incorporating exotic flavors like chia seeds, ají amarillo and red amaranth into a soulful sea bream tiradito (£14). Elsewhere on the menu you will see Amazonian cashews, vinegar made from the rich syrup of the algarrobo tree, and an array of multicolored tubers. The restaurant also serves a seven-course tasting menu that changes each month (£48). This July, a second restaurant was added, the 60-seat Lima Floral in Covent Garden. At The extensive menu bounces around from izakaya-inflected anticuchos, like octopus with yuzu and purple potato (£8.95), to a handful of gyozas, including one filled with pork and prawn and served on ají amarillo and butternut squash purée (£5.25). While much of the sushi is quite standard, some hand rolls add touches like Peruvian corn and a leche de tigre-like coriander sauce (plus shrimp, £9.75) or lomo saltado, a beef stir-fry (£8.50). Part of the investor Arjun Waney’s restaurant portfolio of flashy modern Japanese spots like Zuma and Roka, While Peruvian ingredients form the base of the menu, Coya ventures away from straightforward recipes, even avoiding rice and potatoes, staples of many traditional plates, aside from a few dishes. The eclectic background of the New Delhi-born chef, Sanjay Dwivedi, gleaned while cooking at London restaurants like the Michelin-starred Indian spot Zaika, and as a touring chef for the Rolling Stones, comes through in dishes like his quinoa salad (£7), cooked for six hours in palm sugar and tamarind. “We’re all very different,” Mr. Dwivedi said of London’s Peruvian restaurant scene. “It’s not a competition.”