Ceviche Peruvian Pop-Up in London

I ‘popped’ along to a Peruvian pop-up on Thursday with my foodie friends @HungryBecs and @PaulFrmTheNorth.

Ceviche Pop-Up, What’s The Deal?:Martin Morales is opening Peruvian restaurant Ceviche later this year in Soho (venue TBC). This pop-up is a chance for the team to experiment with menus and get word out about the restaurant ahead of the opening.

Ceviche Pop-Up, So How Was It?: A bevy of tanned South American waiters served up tasty cocktails to guests on arrival and the communal tables were topped with strings of bright pink faux flowers.

Peru’s official national drink Pisco Sour = YUM! Good enough a reason for me to visit the restaurant when it opens alone. Pisco Sour is made with Payet Acholado Pisco blended with fresh lime-juice, sugar and egg white and topped with cinnamon.

Ceviche Pop-Up, The Food: Things started well. Our appetiser of aji de gallina tequenos (deep fried dumplings filled with chicken stew with milk, peanuts and yellow Peruvian chilli) was served with a beautiful rocoto spicy mayonnaise and the starter of trio de causas (three potato puree terrines – coriander with tuna, tuna with salmon and sweet potato with asparagus) was a pretty and light summery starter.

The seabass ceviche that followed was fresh and punchy and I loved the addition of the large Andean corn-husks.

Things fell down a bit at the main course. The rice, which was supposed to accompany the lomo saltado (Peruvian sautéed beef with chillies, onions and tomatoes) didn’t arrive due to “an incident” in the kitchen and the dish was not particularly stand out.

Dessert was Guanaja chocolate sponge and lucuma mousse with glazed blackberries – a great combo to finish with.

Ceviche Pop-Up, Toilet Watch: The framed religious paintings in each cubicle were a nice Peruvian touch.

Ceviche Pop-Up, The Final Word: A thoroughly good evening and I’m looking forward to visiting the real deal Ceviche when it opens. Thanks to Martin and the lovely staff. Check out the website for more Ceviche pop-ups this summer: http://martinceviche.com/