One Peruvian dish that everyone here must have tried in Peru is Pollo a la Brasa and this to has an interesting story that surrounds it (the truth of which is debated).
This story is also a tale of two immigrants from Switzerland, Roger Schuler and Franz Ulrich and begins in 1946 when Roger Schuler established a chicken farm in Santa Clara, Ate with hopes of selling the chicken to districts like Miraflores. His products were known as "Productos AvÃcolas de La Granja Azul” (Poultry products of La Granja Azul).
However, 4 years later in 1950 business went sour meaning many chickens were not sold, fearing that he would lose more money he spoke with Franz Ulrich and together they devised a method of cooking chicken over algarrobo charcoal and marinating the chicken in panca, soy sauce, black mint, salt and pepper. Algarrobo comes from the Prosopis pallida tree which can be found throughout Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
To cook this chicken, they built a mechanised rotisserie to cook many chickens at one time, this system of cooking chicken became known as planetario. To gain the attention of the local people they placed a sign in front of the central railway that stated
“Eat all the chicken you can for 5 soles!” and built a small rustic restaurant in his house. This small restaurant became known as
La Granja Azul.
What set La Granja Azul aside from restaurants at the time was that the place was generally cheaper than most restaurants, also at this time restaurant were seen as a place of luxury and prestige but with the introduction of a restaurant like La Granja Azul people were happy eating with their hands and could do so without criticism.
It was not long till another Swiss by the name of Steinmann opened up a restaurant closer to the centre of Lima, he called it El Rancho and it implemented the same mechanised rotisserie that Schuler and Ulrich created.
It was not until the 1970´s that Pollo a la Brasa became popular very soon many other restaurants that served Pollo a la Brasa popped up to keep up with the ever increasing demand. Each restaurant played with the recipe however, the method of cooking it remained the same.
La Granja Azul which is still located in its historical place is still serving people today and to celebrate the creation and popularity of Pollo a la Brasa the 21st July has been named Day of Pollo a la Brasa.
Statistics have shown that every month 12 million Pollo a la Brasa’s are sold nationwide also according to the INEI (The National Institute of Statistics and Informatics) 24.4 kilos of Pollo a la Brasa per a family in Peru was consumed in 2014.
Written by: Gringo Perú
Hello there! Well let me start my story...It was Wednesday and I had the day off but my girlfriend was working so I decided to go out around Miraflores to chase the cats at Kenedy Park ehehehhee ...but then I got super hungry and I didn't know what to eat so I spent most of the days with the cats hoping my girlfriend will finish soon so she could recommend me a place where to eat. Finally *-* it was 5 p.m. and she came....sadly she had stomach-ache x_x so she didn't want to eat. Since we didn't want to go home yet we decided to walk all Arequipa avenue...YES! WE WALKED from Kenedy Park till block 16th ...around 20 blocks ehehheheh :P I guess my idea worked because she felt hungry xD and after she took some medicine she decided to look for something to eat. So that's how we were hanging around Arequipa avenue WHEN WE SAW IT!!!!!
*-* An oasis in the middle of the dessert!!!!!! Guided by our noses we arrived to this fancy food truck! It was burger time! OH YEAH! We've heard about their famous home made burgers so we decided to give a try.
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| HOT BARBIE Q |
The Food truck EL GRINGO is a place I would definitely recommend. It is located on Arequipa Avenue at block 12, they are open only from Monday to Friday from 5 p.m. till 11 p.m. here they sell traditional burgers and chips that are all hand made.
My girlfriend ordered that Kiwicha chicken and I order the HOT BARBIE Q!!!! I have to say these are sooo much better than the commercial burgers you can by, the chips were really nice and the burger I ordered was satisfying. Also, they don't sell soda, they offer you cold tea :) I would like to go again sometime, hehehehe maybe after a long walk!
If you don't like to walk around Arequipa Av. cause of the traffic and new constructions around, now you can find them now in JOCKEY PLAZA next to Sodimac!!!!
And guess what? They are open from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. till 11 p.m. and the best part is you don't need to pay with cash, they accept cash and visa!!!!!! A really nice peruvian company you should give a try!!!!!!!
On the 24th of June I went to the EL Peruanito (Sandwich restaurant) with my friend Zac, this a restaurant located on Av. Angamos Este 391 – Miraflores ( not to far from ICPNA institute)
This restaurant was created 54 years ago by Mr. Luis Sánchez and his wife Rosario Aguilar.
Since it was open in Miraflores surrounded by foreigners and immigrants (Italians, Chinese, Americans) the owner decided to reaffirm his identity by calling his business:
"EL PERUANITO" (The Peruvian)
Well, looking at the variety of the menu I eventually chose the Jamon de Pias with a cup of coffee which only cost me S/.13.00 soles. However, they also sell fruit juices and other sandwiches.
You can also choose what to put on your sandwiches they give you options like lettuce, tomato, onions and a variety of different creams and sauces.
The sandwiches here and really satisfying and at a good price and the service and atmosphere all help to make it a nice place to sit down and enjoy your breakfast.
Do you like chocolate? I LOVE IT! That's why after reading an article on "El Comercio" (peruvian newspaper) I told myself: Hey, Why don´t you write about this fabulous place that you saw last week and didn't bother on enter? (I know, now I wanna kill myself xD ahahahah)
So let's read a bit about CHOCOMUSEO :
"Everybody knows about Belgian, Swiss or French chocolate but have you ever heard about Peruvian, Guatemalan, Dominican or Nicaraguan chocolate?
Sometimes Peru or Dominican Republic might be mentioned on the chocolate wrap but it is often to describe the cacao producing country rather than the chocolate making country.
At ChocoMuseo we decided to make chocolate in countries where cacao grows: We source the best quality cacao beans and then process them artisanally to obtain delicious chocolate.
When you visit us you will be able to see the chocolate making process from the cacao bean to the chocolate bar. If you have time, you should participate in one of our chocolate making workshop and experience the feeling of a chocolate maker."
That's from the author website, also let me mention that this great idea belong to a French couple (Alain Schneider & Clara Isabel DÃas, both Engineers) who fall in love with the idea of creating a Museo of Chocolate in which they could share qith people the experience of making your own chocolate and even better using national cacao.
They both quite their jobs, started with this crazy idea and now they have 4 ChocoMuseum (Perú, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Dominic Republic).
They were also in Mistura (Peruvian biggest gastronomic festival), they offer different workshops in ChocoMuseo, you can learn to prepare ice cream, chocolate and also there's a free interactive museum about cacao and chocolate.
(Images from ChocoMuseo in Cuzco. Credit to: El Comercio)
I think as part of your tour in Lima or if you're in Cuzco, this is a place to add in your list! It's really embarrassing to say I haven't been there yet in my 3 years in Perú.
I'm hopefully going there in my next tour around the great city of Lima ...as I said once, there is always a new place to discover in Lima...just imagine in all Perú.
Opening hours
Sunday to Thursday:
11:00AM to 8:30PM
Friday and Saturday:
11:00AM to 9:30PM
Workshops in Lima:
11:30AM, 2:30PM, 5:30PM
in ChocoMuseo Miraflores
1:30PM, 4:30PM, 7:30PM
in ChocoMuseo Barranco
Contact
Lima@ChocoMuseo.com
tel: (+51) 01 445 97 08
cel: (+51) 983 361 342
El Chinito an awesome place to buy breakfast!! This little piece I shall talk about "El Chinito" a sangucherÃa (sandwich restaurant) here in Lima, this place was set up in 1960 and has gained a good reputation.
Everything started in 1960 when Don Felix opened a Sangucheria in downtown Lima . The quality of his products, friend's meetings and familiar reunion as well as the charisma of Don Felix became his trademark. Over time, that Sangucheria became famous . And everyone called El Chinito .
"El Chinito" was characterized by offering the best traditional sandwiches, with recipes that were gradually perfected by Don Felix. The restaurant created an atmosphere that was pleasant which meant that presidents, ministers, doctors, policemen and taxi drivers felt at home in "El Chinito": all around a delicious and traditional Peruvian "sánguche" (spanish word for sandwich)
So after watching a report about the best places to eat a
"Chicharron", the family here in Peru and I decided to go to check it out.
Now since this place is very popular
(specially the traditional restaurant located in Jr. Chancay 894, downtown Lima) it has a lot of people wanting to eat there,
so be prepared to cue for about thirty minutes or so but it is well worth the wait.
What makes this place sooooooooooo good, well ... here
they serve large pork and even turkey sandwiches they come with sweet potato and an onion salad (sorry I couldn't take pictures of the other sandwiches the family ordered, food was too delicious that they didn't wait for the photo lol )
Although it is a little expensive here I would say go once and I am sure you will enjoy it. ( A face that express more than a thousand words xD)
However, 4 years later in 1950 business went sour meaning many chickens were not sold, fearing that he would lose more money he spoke with Franz Ulrich and together they devised a method of cooking chicken over algarrobo charcoal and marinating the chicken in panca, soy sauce, black mint, salt and pepper. Algarrobo comes from the Prosopis pallida tree which can be found throughout Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
To cook this chicken, they built a mechanised rotisserie to cook many chickens at one time, this system of cooking chicken became known as planetario. To gain the attention of the local people they placed a sign in front of the central railway that stated “Eat all the chicken you can for 5 soles!” and built a small rustic restaurant in his house. This small restaurant became known as La Granja Azul. 
