Astrid y Gaston

The premier restaurant in Lima, we had to make this one of our stops. They were really busy but had a table available for us in the bar area. They had an extensive drink list, focusing on cocktails made with pisco. I had one made with passionfruit and strawberry that was sweet and delicious, Derik had one with pisco, vermouth and bitters. We were served a complimentary plate of cheese and olives to start, they were great. For food, we wanted to sample some different dishes so we decided to go with two appetizers and one main dish to share.

Sorry in advance for the pics.. it's always hard to take good pictures in a darkly lit restaurant. First was the cabrito criollo, which was little chops of goat with potatoes in a mild savory cream sauce. The meat was wonderfully tender. Next was the pulpo dish (octopus). Derik loved this one declaring it tender with a wonderful charred flavor, but I didn't like it so much.. I'm still super duper picky with my seafood.. My loss I guess. At this point we also got a glass of Malbec in preparation for our main dish. For our main dish we went with their fancy-restaurant-rendition of the super traditional lomo saltado, which they nicely spilt into two plates for us! The beef was amazing, so tender and cooked perfectly, and all the veggies were great too. I loved it. Our desserts were amazing pieces of art - Derik got the canalon coqueto, which was a complicated thing made with aramanth seeds, Peruvian peanuts and yellow chili ice cream, and I had an equally complicated platanos dish with banana bread, fruit, and tapioca trapped in a cage/tower constructed of sugar. In the end they brought us a nice plate of little desserts which included a chocolate truffle with lemongrass and a jelly made with chicha morada, among other things..

Astrid y Gaston was a wonderful experience and I highly recommended to any visitor to Lima! The price was really good too considering all we got to eat and drink. Loved it!