We told our tour guide in Cusco that we really wanted to try pollo a la brasa, or Peruvian style chicken, but every time we asked someone they would send us to a fancy place that didn’t actually serve it. Our guide gave us two recommendations so we went to both places to check them out. We eventually chose the one that looked to be the most crowded, but both were actually pretty busy, and all the food we saw going by looked mighty tasty. What drew us to Los Toldos were the rotisseries right out front with lots of chickens going round and round, dripping glorious juices and fat everywhere.
Our idea to pick the busiest place backfired a bit because the restaurant had run out of regular Cusquena beers. All they had left were the malted version, which Josh and I weren’t big fans of because we thought the flavor was a bit too sweet and syrupy. We decided to go the non-alcoholic route instead (shocking, I know!) and got a pitcher of limonada, which is lemonade blended with egg whites, so that it’s nice and frothy. It’s tangy, sweet but not overly so, and extremely refreshing.
Limonada
Josh and I decided to split an onion soup to start, and a half chicken platter for our entree. The onion soup was lighter than a regular french onion soup, but it was still topped with a nice stringy cheese. It had good flavor and I liked that it wasn’t too rich or heavy. The onions were soft and sweet, and we polished off the bowl quickly.
Onion soup with cheese
We were excited for the piece de resistance, the pollo a la brasa. The rotisserie chicken was tender and juicy, exactly as we had hoped. The chicken flavor was very pronounced, not like the flavorless chicken we get here at home. The skin was well seasoned and really delicious; it was hard not to eat it but we only had a taste and then pulled it aside. We started eating the chicken with knives and forks first, but we eventually abandoned all utensils and dug in with our fingers, making sure to get out all the best little bits from the nooks and crannies.
Pollo a la brasa
The accompanying french fries on the platter had soaked in a lot of the chicken juices so they weren’t as crispy as I had hoped, but they were really flavorful. The juices paired well with the starchiness of the Peruvian potatoes, and I was still happy to munch away on them.
French fries
Overall we were both extremely pleased with the pollo a la brasa at Los Toldos. It was exactly what we had been craving – simple, juicy rotisserie chicken. The onion soup was delicious as well, and we liked the casual, homey atmosphere. It seemed like most of the people eating there were locals, which is always a good sign. The portions were big, and our bill ended up being 52 soles (under US$20). It’s probably not the cheapest pollo a la brasa in the city, but we would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for good chicken in a restaurant setting.
Los Toldos
Calle Almagro 171
Cusco, Peru