Before our city tour of Arequipa, we had time to get lunch. Our guide recommended Chi Cha, a restaurant owned by Gaston Acurio, who is supposedly the best chef in Peru. He owns many different restaurants throughout the country, but this was the only one we tried so we can’t really judge his culinary prowess.
The restaurant was very large and was divided into two rooms, a bright outer room that was more casual looking and a more formal dining room inside. There were no tables for two open, so they seated us at a large round table that could fit eight people, which made us feel a bit weird but at least we had plenty of space. Our meal started off with a basket of mixed breads, including two slices of loaf bread that tasted like corn bread, two breadsticks, and three different flavors of mini baguettes.
Assorted breads
While the bread itself was a little dry, I really liked slathering them with the accompanying soft creamy butter that was mixed with Peruvian chilis. The flavor of the chilis really came through in the butter, and it was an interesting twist on something that’s usually just an afterthought.
Butter mixed with Peruvian chilis
For our lunch, we decided to share a few dishes that we were told were specialties of Arequipa. We knew we had to try rocoto relleno, which is a spicy pepper stuffed with chopped beef and onions and served with potatoes and cheese. The pepper wasn’t super spicy, but it did have a kick to it. The filling reminded me of chili con carne, though the spices were different. There was a potato and cheese gratin on the plate next to the stuffed pepper, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the cheese flavor. I just don’t like cheese in general, and this particular kind tasted very milky to me. Josh didn’t mind it though. I did like the stuffed pepper by itself.
Rocoto relleno
Another dish that I was eager to try was antichuchos de corazon, or grilled brochettes of beef heart. The beef hearts were served with potatoes, corn, and various dipping sauces, including a garlicky sauce and a spicy rocoto sauce. Josh was not as eager to try this dish, and even less so when our request that they cook the hearts to medium turned out more like medium rare. I loved the flavor of the beef heart though, which was nice and smokey from the grill and surprisingly very beefy in taste. Josh couldn’t get past the texture, which was a little chewy and bouncy, but I thought it was pretty tender considering that it was beef heart. I ended up polishing off most of the dish.
Antichuchos de corazon (grilled beef heart brochettes)
Our last dish was ocopa, which is sliced boiled potatoes covered in a thick, creamy yellow sauce that tastes strongly of Andean mint. The sauce is traditionally made with milk and cheese, and is super rich. This version had pieces of fried cheese on top that were nice and salty, as well as pieces of hard boiled egg and olives. It was an interesting combination of flavors and textures, but unfortunately, I took an instant dislike to Andean mint. I don’t know why exactly, since I like regular spearmint and peppermint, but I had a strong aversion to the Andean kind. Whenever I tasted it in any dish during the rest of our trip, I would immediately recoil in disgust and stop eating right away. It made no sense to me, but I really just didn’t like it. Josh, on the other hand, did enjoy the mint, as well as the ocopa. I guess we don’t always have similar tastes!
Ocopa
When they brought our check, they also brought us two marshmallows to finish our meal on a sweet note. I forget what flavor these were, but they were sweet, light, and airy.
Marshmallows
Overall we thought the food at Chi Cha was pretty good. While I just didn’t like the flavor of the ocopa or the potato and cheese gratin with the rocoto relleno, it was just a personal taste, not an issue with the preparation. Josh liked the dishes that I didn’t enjoy, and I absolutely loved the beef hearts while he couldn’t take the texture. We both thought the service was very efficient. In fact, our dishes arrived so quickly that we wondered if they had everything already lined up to go in the kitchen sitting under heat lamps. I don’t think that was the case though, because everything was sizzling hot and not overcooked or dried out. Our three dishes, plus a few beers, came out to S/82, or about US$30. Not bad. It’s definitely a place that I would recommend for some local Arequipan cuisine in a nice atmosphere.
Chi Cha
Santa Catalina, 210 Int. 105
Arequipa, Peru