Fiesta / Northern Cuisine / Miraflores

[RT Gooch]

Fiesta
Av. Reducto 1276
Miraflores - 447-3312
(also locations in Chiclayo and Tacna)
www.restaurantfiestagourmet.com
Open for both Lunch & Dinner. Open for Breakfast on the weekends

One of my friends gave me a Lima Dining Guide as a gift, so I took the opportunity to try out a lot of new places on my last trip.

Fiesta offers "northern" Peruvian food, whatever that is. The restaurant was fairly upscale and well-appointed. The service was excellent, the prices reasonable, and the food: top-notch.

The menu is extensive, with choices from all the food groups. They specialize in duck, and the waiter recommended the arroz con pato (rice with duck), but I had eaten that the previous night, so I went the duck route for my appetizer and ordered a duck omelet.

In my travels, I have discovered that Peruvian chefs like to use the omelet as a food delivery device, so I went with the flow. The omelet was huge, and would have been enough as a main dish all on its own. I ate half the omelet and picked the duck meat out of the other half. Delicious.

My main dish was the Lomo de Lenugado en Salsa Gourmet (Sole sirloin in a gourmet sauce). It was four medallions of sole with mushrooms and asparagus in a tasty sauce. It was good, but did not compare to the duck dish. Many of the other dishes that came out of the kitchen looked to be very good, and they did make a big production out of the rice with duck at the next table.

I declined coffee and dessert, and the tab came to around 80 Soles for the dinner, including a couple of soft drinks. I would not hesitate to return here again.

 

[Homo_Lo_Gato]

"Comida Norteña" (Northern Food) deserves a note appart within the peruvian cuisine. Not because it is particularly good, that it is, but because of their particularly different approach to several well known peruvian dishes. There are, however, a few items worthy of a few extra lines.

One, as RT discovered, is Duck. "Arroz con Pato a la norteña" is not like any other arroz con pato. It looks the same, but it tastes quite different. And you should try "Cebiche de Pato", a real must. And no, it is not raw duck; in fact, I still don't know why is it called "cebiche" at all, but never mind try it, it is superb.

Another specialty of all northern cuisine is "cabrito" (baby goat). If you don't like even the worst "seco de cabrito a la norteña" I'll eat my shoes.

The traditional "Cebiche" is also a different experience. It is still raw fish marinated in lemon juice but the dressing is somewhat different, it comes with sweet potato, sweet corn and sarandaja. Oh, and the "leche de tigre" in the north of the country is something else.

A dish I haven't found anywhere else but in Paita (Piura region, very north) is the "Mariscala de Mero" What makes a "sudado" (steamed fish) become a "Mariscala"? Well, you have to try it to find out. It is the very best steamed fish in the world, the mero is the best fish for that purpose and it comes with crab and all kinds of seafood. Believe me, it tastes a whole lot better than it sounds.

I'll try this restaurant and report... as soon as I have the time.

 

[RT Gooch]

Thanks, HLG. You've just forced me to re-visit Fiesta every night on my next trip!

...although that probably won't be a bad thing!


By the way, Fiesta is the place that I couldn't remember the night of our last restaurant search...

 

[RT Gooch]

From a visit last week, the special Causa (don't remember the name), and the House Specialty, Rice with Duck.

 

[Don_Bakunin]

It looks like "Causa Ferreñafana" (from the city of Ferreñafe in the Region of Lambayeque) wich is very different of the "Causa Limeña" (from Lima). Both are traditional.

 

[Sergio Armani]

That Causa looks more like Escabeche tu me, I just dont see the fish anywhere

 

[RT Gooch]

Look closer, Dorian. The fish is fried and right on top. The Potatoes are hidden. But they're there.

 

[Sergio Armani]

So it is escabeche, yummy! .....no wonder as I was looking at the picture I was saying; that stuff on top looks a little stiff to be mashed potato

 

[Jack Jericho]

I agree with Dorian Gray, it looks like escabeche, but... it seems that Don Bakunin knows better:

A quick Google search for "Causa Ferreñafana" yielded pictures that support RT Gooch's description. It is Causa, after all, just not Causa Limeña.

It's been said before, right here in this thread, Northern cuissine is not 0nly particularly good, it also brings a particularly different approach to several well known peruvian dishes... Causa included, as it turns out.
.

 

[RT Gooch]

I know this much about Northern Peruvian food:

1. It's good.

 

[Don_Bakunin]

Yes, Causa Ferreñafana is a filet of fish in a marinated onions sauce all this over smash yellow potatoes. Here in Lima is more common served it with a escabeche sauce (with aji, olive) but it's the comercial version, the original one has a marinated onions sauce, a family jewel dish of peruvian northern families.

 

[sierrabenz]

If I'm not mistaken, Fiesta started in Chiclayo -- at least I have been eating at their Chiclayo location for many many years. Great food. I can also recommend Mar Caliente if you're ever in Trujillo (much better than the tourist traps in Huanchaco).

 

[Jack Jericho]

If I'm not mistaken, Fiesta started in Chiclayo -- at least I have been eating at their Chiclayo location for many many years. Great food. I can also recommend Mar Caliente if you're ever in Trujillo (much better than the tourist traps in Huanchaco).

Mar Caliente is in Trujillo or in Huanchaco? I go frequently to Trujillo on work trips and I'd like to try it.
.

 

[sierrabenz]

Jack:

Trujillo -- on the north side of Hussares de Junin, a block or two after it splits off from Larco (past the ICPNA building). Try the chicarron mixto....

 

[sierrabenz]

Jack:

and I think I remembered the name incorrectly -- "Mar Picante" is the correct name.

 

[RT Gooch]

From a visit in March, 2015: Cream of Asparagus Soup, Chinguerito, Lomo Saltado, and A Duck Omelet.


And just last week, in December 2015: An Omelet with Scallops and Clams (much more delicious than the photos indicate) and Rice with Duck.

Fiesta's food is always top-notch, and they usually can handle you without a reservation. It's expensive, but pretty much worth it.