Restaurant: Tierra Peru
Food: traditional Peruvian cuisine
Location: Islington, London
Address: 164 Essex Rd, N1 8LY
Phone number: 020 7354 5586
Nearest tube stations: Highbury & Islington, Angel and Essex Road train station
This is the first time I’ve eaten Peruvian food and it quite simply blew my mind. This little restaurant may look like nothing that special from the outside, but the food is stunning and they couldn’t have been more helpful regarding gluten and cross contamination. They get a 10 out of 10 from me! In fact we were told that the owner herself is Coeliac and therefore very serious about the food being prepared safely. The staff have obviously been well trained and I felt at ease from the moment I walked in.
As for the food, I enjoyed it so much that Tierra Peru has quite possibly swept the number one spot on my favourite restaurants list. As a Peruvian cuisine newbie, I was amazed by all its diverse and unique dishes. I’ve not had anything quite like it before. It combines a lot of fresh clean flavours that I love, but in a new and interesting way that I’m not used to.
Like this dish for example: ceviche de pescado al olivo – raw sea bass marinated in tiger’s milk (a lime/citrus based marinade), black botija, and olive cream. With fried plantains on the side. My boyfriend and I shared this as a starter and we both found it absolutely delicious. It’s quite possibly our favourite thing out of the whole meal. That purple tint may look a bit weird to some, but don’t let that fool you… it tastes amazing! 😉
For the main meal, I went for a bento box which includes 3 dishes of your choice (marked ‘box it’ on the menu) + rice. There were so many gluten free options that I didn’t feel limited at all and this was a great way to try a few different things. I chose a chicken, peanut and potato stew, sweet potato chips and a dish that involved deep fried pork with sweet potato, cassava and chimichurri.
I loved everything, but my favourite was by far the stew, especially when combined with the chimichurri. 😛
My boyfriend had that same pork dish, but as a main meal.
It’s nice to be able to eat at a ‘normal’ restaurant, especially one so delicious. It’s a refreshing change from the usual gluten free options out there. Sometimes us gluten free people gravitate around safe restaurants that don’t necessarily serve the best food ever, they are just our only options… but Tierra Peru is not one of those. It’s a fantastic restaurant that just happens to be excellent at catering for us. It reminds me of my pre-gluten free days where I could eat wherever I wanted.
Islington is such a brilliant place for gluten free food with Niche, Artisan Gluten Free Bakery, Bird, etc. and Tierra Peru is yet another great discovery to add to the list. 🙂 If you love Peruvian food and/or love trying new cuisines, I definitely recommend this restaurant.
Check out their website for more info –> here
———
Update (28.05.16)
We stopped by Tierra Peru for a take away midway through a long walk with the dogs. We couldn’t resist taking the same dishes as last time (they were just so good!) and again, we were not disappointed. 🙂
Carapulcra (a mild Inka style sundried potato stew with roasted peanuts, panca chilli paste, pork and chicken) and ceviche de pescado al olivo.
We also took some handcut chips which were delicious.
As you can tell, my chihuahua Rocky approves of and highly recommends Tierra Peru too. 😀
