** quick note – this meal was from November but recent posts regarding people’s experiences with Central and other Peruvian restaurants motivated me to share**
My girlfriend and I visited Peru last year to do the Salkantay Trek and decided to have a celebratory meal in Lima before heading back to the US. While acclimating to the altitude in Cusco, every meal we had was exceptional in both food quality and service especially for the price. (Kusykay, Morena, Ceviche were all fabulous). We couldn’t wait for our meal at Maido after our five day trek.
Maido is described as Japanese with seasonal Peruvian flavors.
THE MEAL
We arrived and were immediately greeted at the door and taken to our table. Very cool interior and even though the restaurant floor was small and the tables were close together, it was set up in a way that you didn’t feel like you were on top of other tables. Lots of staff moving around the floor, very lively too for 5:30pm.
It took about five minutes until we were greeted with menus. We ordered a cocktail each and waited…while our cocktails were being made (and possibly sitting at the end of the bar waiting to the ran) they dropped our first bites. They had at least two staff members who spoke English and after the first couple courses, the explanations became hard to follow and seemed rushed.
Our cocktails were almost identical with totally different liquors/flavors listed and while my girlfriend and I planned on getting a bottle of sparkling and white during the tasting, we were unable to find anyone to get a beverage plan or check in on our empty cocktail glasses. We finally got a bottle of white which they kept off the table and only poured two ounces at a time which lasted us through til desserts.
As for the food, there were some parts that were great and I could see how they received such a high ranking from San Pellegrino but overall it was very disappointing.
The Sinvinche and crab dishes were totally ruined in my opinion by staff pouring way too much of some unknown ingredients onto the plate. The sinvinche got covered in a frozen almost stale graham cracker like mixture and the crab got covered in a cheese fondue…
The sauces and broths were all salt bombs and all the delicate flavors of things like crab and shrimp were totally hidden.
The winners were the two nigiris which were Prepared table-side and the black cod.
I would have rated the duck dumpling as a winner but as I tried to take it from the spoon, it ripped and I lost all the broth on the table. I told someone as they were clearing them I spilled it on the table but they didn’t seem to understand as they just whisked our things away and disappeared.
CONCLUSION
The experience definitely felt disappointing after paying less for an incredible 5 day hike. These posts definitely have me second guessing whether the top lists really match up with what people are experiencing.
legionpichon
The W50 isn’t a good reference at all, I guess most of us learn that the hard way. There’s a huge énfasis on restaurants that promote their business/brand.
2 Comments
** quick note – this meal was from November but recent posts regarding people’s experiences with Central and other Peruvian restaurants motivated me to share**
My girlfriend and I visited Peru last year to do the Salkantay Trek and decided to have a celebratory meal in Lima before heading back to the US. While acclimating to the altitude in Cusco, every meal we had was exceptional in both food quality and service especially for the price. (Kusykay, Morena, Ceviche were all fabulous). We couldn’t wait for our meal at Maido after our five day trek.
Maido is described as Japanese with seasonal Peruvian flavors.
THE MEAL
We arrived and were immediately greeted at the door and taken to our table. Very cool interior and even though the restaurant floor was small and the tables were close together, it was set up in a way that you didn’t feel like you were on top of other tables. Lots of staff moving around the floor, very lively too for 5:30pm.
It took about five minutes until we were greeted with menus. We ordered a cocktail each and waited…while our cocktails were being made (and possibly sitting at the end of the bar waiting to the ran) they dropped our first bites. They had at least two staff members who spoke English and after the first couple courses, the explanations became hard to follow and seemed rushed.
Our cocktails were almost identical with totally different liquors/flavors listed and while my girlfriend and I planned on getting a bottle of sparkling and white during the tasting, we were unable to find anyone to get a beverage plan or check in on our empty cocktail glasses. We finally got a bottle of white which they kept off the table and only poured two ounces at a time which lasted us through til desserts.
As for the food, there were some parts that were great and I could see how they received such a high ranking from San Pellegrino but overall it was very disappointing.
The Sinvinche and crab dishes were totally ruined in my opinion by staff pouring way too much of some unknown ingredients onto the plate. The sinvinche got covered in a frozen almost stale graham cracker like mixture and the crab got covered in a cheese fondue…
The sauces and broths were all salt bombs and all the delicate flavors of things like crab and shrimp were totally hidden.
The winners were the two nigiris which were
Prepared table-side and the black cod.
I would have rated the duck dumpling as a winner but as I tried to take it from the spoon, it ripped and I lost all the broth on the table. I told someone as they were clearing them I spilled it on the table but they didn’t seem to understand as they just whisked our things away and disappeared.
CONCLUSION
The experience definitely felt disappointing after paying less for an incredible 5 day hike. These posts definitely have me second guessing whether the top lists really match up with what people are experiencing.
The W50 isn’t a good reference at all, I guess most of us learn that the hard way. There’s a huge énfasis on restaurants that promote their business/brand.