Scenes from a street food tour in Lima's centro & barrio chino neighborhoods

I recently spent two weeks touring through Peru, revisiting a few places (Lima, Aguascalientes, Machu Picchu, Cucso) and seeing some for the first time (Ollantaytambo, Puerto Manldonado / Tambopata, Puno / Lake Titicaca, and Arequipa). Like most trips to Peru mine started in Lima. And the agenda for my first full day on the ground was a combo food & history walking tour of Lima's centro (and the barrio chino to an extent). I love a good walking tour and street food, so I was looking forward to this. It did not disappoint.

Since the tour was in the centro and I was staying in Miraflores, I first had to take an uber downtown. The ride took about 45 minutes and my uber cost ~$10 USD. Not unlike what I'd probably be looking at for a ride into the centro area of la CDMX. I arrived with some time to spare before the tour so I did a lap around the blocks adjacent to the meeting point and perhaps unsurprisingly felt that the vibes of the area were familiar. Lot of traffic, lot of people, hole-in-the-wall food joints, and blocks of small businesses selling similar items, making it easier for shoppers to pick up all their lighting products on one street, musical instruments on another, packaging materials on a third, etc. Reminded me of home.

Once our group had assembled the guide kicked us off with some context of what lay ahead. It's a busy area and the atmosphere may not be everyone's comfort zone. If you embrace the chaos and realize that while the surroundings are modest they are not particularly dangerous, then you're on the path to enjoying your experience. Our group was pretty game. It was me and two couples in their early 30s if I had to guess. One from Holland and the other from Canada.

First stop was a classic: Choclo con queso.

It was from a little stand near the intersection of Jirón Cusco & Avenida Abancay that seemed to be doing pretty good business.

This was a simple, tasty way to begin. Describing food is not really my strong suit. If you haven't had Peruvian choclo I'd say it's like regular corn, but meatier. There is a density to it that you don't get with 'standard' corn, or even Mexican pozole corn best I can recall (side note: there was a period here where we binged pozole, as we lived around the corner from Potzocalli, but now it's been a few years since we've had a bowl. Maybe we're due. 'Winter' is starting, so the time is about right.) I did not snap a pic of the salsa picante they offered along with it, which was very nice. Had no problems getting salsas with heat and flavor as I traveled around Peru.

Our guide led us eastward on Cusco toward the next stop, which was for papa rellena.

Strong 1-2 punch to kick things off here, and right in my wheelhouse. The papa was filled with some carne, onions, olives, little huevo duro. Good stuff. And some salsa for extra flavor and moistness. Plus a touch of lettuce to keep things fresh.

With a nice base of choclo y papa in the first 15 minutes, we ventured further east into the market and the Chinatown area. Would have enjoyed some time browsing / shopping everything that was on offer, but had to settle for a few pics and video clips.

Our next destination was Restaurant Cevicheria Renzito. Very much a local place where most of the group enjoyed the ceviche. I chomped a few plantain chips with my chicha morada and let them split my share of the fish & crab.

From there we navigated deeper into Chinatown. First passing through an impressive indoor stretch of hardware, lighting, and other miscellaneous goods ...

... before emerging out on Jirón Paruro, which was lively.

Until we reached Fabrica de Min Pao

Where we tried a ... min pao. Which is a type of dumpling that I think I have previously just referred to as 'dumplings'. I went with the pork option, which was a little dense and not super flavorful. Soy sauce saved it somewhat.

Maybe I ordered poorly and there were better options to be had. But for me this was a miss. Very cool exploring the area and whatnot. But from the food perspective, meh.

Onward to the Mercado Municipal, where we got some background on the mercado itself, the alcoholic chicha drink, and tasted a lucama smoothie before being released on our own to explore for 10-15 minutes. I took a few pics and found a coffee stall where I bought a medio kilo of what was supposedly the closest thing to a robust french roast.

I'm drinking the coffee now and it's a little milder than I expected, but pleasant. I'm happy with it. Those $/56 soles per kilo calculate out to about $280 MXN / kg, which I think is a touch higher than what you'd pay for something like the Cubano roast at El Jarocho, for example. But it was generally in line price-wise and my suitcase smelled of coffee for the rest of my trip. So I consider it a good purchase.

We exited the market out to the intersection of Jirón Huallaga & Jirón Ayacucho, where you'll find a slew of mobile food stands selling anticuchos, picarones, and more. Anticuchos refer broadly to Peru's answer to the kebab. But our tour was going to try the beef heart version specifically, so I passed. Did take a pic of the stand, though.

The picarones -- donut-like treats made from pumpkin and sweet potato dough! -- were more up my alley. Good stuff.

Our last stop was at Bar Cordano, where we enjoyed a fairly standard ham sandwich and some fruit that the guide had picked up back at the mercado.

It was a good stop to sit down, make use of the bathroom, and recap the day, which was overall a great and worthwhile experience. I continued on with the history-focused extension of the walking tour, which I'll probably just leave for a few pics on instagram. But I will include this snapshot of a dog snoozing comfortably in front of a government office.