Inside Mi Peru, a Peruvian restaurant in Darmstadt, Germany. It is quite popular, so making reservations is advised. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
We recently took a culinary journey to South America via a restaurant in Darmstadt, Germany.
For some reason, an advertisement for Mi Peru kept popping up in one of my social media feeds. Looking for a new place to eat out at and unfamiliar with Peruvian cuisine, we decided to give it a try.
The restaurant has about 18 tables in two rooms and outdoor seating when the weather is nice. The tables and chairs are made of wood, some photos of Peru hang on the wall and back room, and a big blackboard lists some of the menu highlights.
A large blackboard at Mi Peru, a restaurant in Darmstadt, Germany, shows the tapas it serves. As its name indicates, it is a Peruvian restaurant with Spanish additions of tapas and paella. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Our server brought us our menus and asked if we would like a cocktail or aperitif to start. Luckily, we had peeked at the menu at home on the web and had an idea what to order. I chose the pisco sour and my wife went with the virgin morada.
The pisco sour is like a whiskey sour but made with Peruvian pisco, a grape marc that is similar to grappa. The morada is made with chicha morada, a Peruvian beverage made from purple corn, and mixed with juices from passion fruit, orange, elderberry and lime, with a dash of cinnamon. We found them both delicious and quite refreshing as we studied the menu.
While it is a Peruvian restaurant, Mi Peru also serves Spanish tapas and paella. We contemplated trying a few of the tapas but decided to stick with starters on the menu.
A starter at Mi Peru in Darmstadt, Germany is this causa rellena, a layered potato salad with a chicken-mayonnaise center. Garnished with a small salad, it was quite delicious and rather filling as a starter. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A pisco sour, foreground, and a virgin morada as served at Mi Peru in Darmstadt, Germany. The pico sour, not unlike a whiskey sour, is made with Peruvian pisco, a grape marc similar to grappa. The morada is made with chicha morada, a Peruvian beverage made from purple corn. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
My wife ordered the causa rellena, a layered potato salad with a chicken-mayonnaise center and garnished with a small salad. I selected the ceviche de pescado, a traditional Peruvian dish.
Made with fresh fish marinated in lime juice and refined with coriander, fresh garlic, red onion and peppers, it was served alongside kernels of roasted corn and sweet potatoes.
Other starter choices included vegetarian versions of both dishes, deep-fried yucca or another Peruvian specialty, anticucho, which is grilled spicy marinated beef heart steaks served with potatoes and Peruvian corn. Maybe next time.
There are many variations of ceviche across Central and South America, and the Peruvian version served here was delicious. The right mix of tangy lime, spicy peppers and firm fish was perfect for my inaugural taste.
Ceviche de pescado is a traditional Peruvian dish, made with fresh fish marinated in lime juice and refined with coriander, fresh garlic and peppers. It was served at Mi Peru in Darmstadt with roasted corn and sweet potatoes. It was tangy, slightly hot and delicious. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
My dining companion also found the causa rellena, with its chicken salad-like core, delicious and quite filling.
The indigenous peoples, the conquering Spanish and immigrants from Asia and Africa have all added their ingredients to the Peruvian culinary melting pot. Mi Peru has only 10 entrees on the menu, but these reflect the potpourri of the country’s cuisine.
Take the arroz chaufa, for instance, a Cantonese-influenced rice dish prepared in a wok with vegetables and a homemade ginger-based soy sauce. It can be ordered with vegetables, chicken, beef or seafood.
Or tacu tacu, a traditionally prepared, crispy fried tortilla of rice and beans, with the same choices as above. We chose seco de carne and sudado de pescado as our main courses.
Sudado de Pescado, which translates to sweaty fish, is a tangy Peruvian fish stew. The Mi Peru version is tenderly cooked hake fillet in an onion and tomato sauce, accompanied by mussels, squid and prawns and served with rice. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Sudado de pescado, which translates to sweaty fish, is a tangy Peruvian fish stew. The Mi Peru version is a tenderly cooked hake fillet in an onion-and-tomato sauce accompanied by mussels, squid and prawns and served with rice. The sauce had a silky texture and was exceptionally light and tasty, while the fish and seafood were firm and tender.
Seco de carne is a beef roast braised in a spicy, aromatic beer sauce, flavored with garlic, pepper, cumin and coriander. It came with sides of rice and beans. The meat was tender and tasty, the sauce subtle but full of flavor. We both thought the dishes were delicious.
An entree at Mi Peru in Darmstadt is this seco de carne, a beef roast braised in a spicy, aromatic beer sauce, refined with garlic, pepper, cumin and coriander, and served with rice and juicy beans. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Mi Peru has Spanish and local Darmstädter beer on tap, but I had a bottle of Cusquena, a Peruvian lager. Although a fan of the local brew, I didn’t regret my choice. It was refreshing and went well with the beef. The restaurant also offers Chilean and Spanish wines.
So far, our meal had been satisfying and filling, but we felt that we couldn’t leave without having dessert. Among the choices were alfajores, homemade Peruvian biscuits with a milk cream filling, and tres leches cake, a classic Peruvian milk cake with a cream topping.
For dessert at Mi Peru in Darmstadt, Germany, we split the Peruvian version of tres leches cake, a favorite all over Latin America. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
We split that, and both of us agreed that it was mouth-wateringly delicious.
Others evidently did, too. A trio of Spanish-speaking people came in, just for the cake.
Mi Peru, a restaurant in Darmstadt, Germany, serves Peruvian specialties along with Spanish tapas and paella. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Mi Peru
Address: Heidelberger Strasse 40, Darmstadt, Germany
Hours: 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday and Sunday; 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to midnight on Sundays.
Prices: Starters from 2.90 euros to 19.90 euros; entrees 14.90 euros to 26.90 euros; tapas 6 euros and paella 15.90 euros to 17.90 euros; desserts 6.50 euros to 9.50 euros. Cocktails and aperitifs start at 7.50 euros; beers at 3.90 euro, wines at 4 euros and soft drinks at 3.90 euros.
Information: Online: miperu.de
