On Nov 3, 2007 I decided to go to this restaurant because I was attracted by all the good quality food advertised in their website.
We arrived early and our table was ready and we order chicha morada which is a drink made of boiled purple corn and fruit. It is usually very refreshing but Mochicas chicha was a bit acidic, which made us order water instead of more chicha.
For appetizers we ordered ceviche de pescado, anticuchos, choclo peruano, and causa de pollo.
The ceviche de pescado is such a popular dish in Peru and in other places in latin America that I was going to be surprised if they did not got it right.
I would have loved to see the choclo peruano in the cob, but we saw less of the choclo and more of the beet which was part of this appetizer.
The causa de pollo is a dish made of a top and bottom layer of mashed potato mixed with aji and with center mix of vegetables and meat, which is sometimes added a bit of mayonnaise. Mochica Restaurants causa was a bit spicy. I believe that one of the reasons why it was too spicy is because they used a lot of aji (which I doubt because the potato had the characteristic yellow color), and the other is because they did use the seed of the aji. This was a suspicion at this moment until we saw the anticucho. Also the causa abused of the mayonnaise, which only enhanced the bad oily flavor of the dish.
An anticucho is a grilled marinated beef heart. The only places were I ate such a thin anticucho before were in some fast food stands in Lima were you can buy it for 1 Nuevo sol (which is 40 cents of a dollar), and the flavor in those places is much better. I found that they forgot to take the seed of the aji (could this have been on purpose to make it really spicy or because of the lack of knowledge?) I could not feel the flavor of the meat but only a bite to my tongue which I had to calm with a few glasses of water.
After deciding that the flavor in this restaurant was too spicy for our taste we decided to order the following dishes making sure the cook is careful enough not to put too much spiciness: Aji de Gallina, Jalea de Mariscos, Carapulcra, Lomo al jugo, Seco de carne, Lomo saltado. However the waitress warned us that the Aji de Gallina, and the Carapulcra and also the Cau cau was too spicy (as per the waitress words: Tiene chile y esta muy picoso), so we ordered a second Lomo saltado and a Tacu tacu.
The seco de carne was the most similar to a Peruvian dish from what we could tell, even tough the beans had too much water.
The Jalea de Mariscos had non-fresh choros nevertheless the taste was ok for a Mexican Jalea (not a Peruvian Jalea).
We could not distinguish between the Lomo al jugo and the Lomo saltado. They were made of the same hard to chew beef, with huge pieces of over fried potatoes on top and a sauce that was made from what seemed to be Mexican chiles, which were red and spicy too.
The tacu tacu is a dish that consists of yellow canary beans, rice and meat. When I received the tacu tacu the waitress put a dish that was not too different from the Lomo saltado or Lomo al jugo. And I asked the waitress, that there must be a mistake, I order tacu tacu. She said that what I had in front of me was tacu tacu. Wow!!! I thought to myself that I have been too long out of Peru and I cannot distinguish a this plate from a tacu tacu!!! She explained that the rest of the dish (basically the rice and beans) were coming out soon. While the rest of the entrees were served I still waited for the rice and beans until they finally arrived. Unfortunately they were not rice and canary beans but rice and lima beans and again they were spicy.
Peruvian cuisine is not too spicy as this restaurant is making people from San Francisco believe. Peruvian aji gives the food a characteristic flavor, yes a tiny bit of spicy but it does not hide the flavor of the dish, aji enhances its flavor. The amount of spiciness can be adjusted by the amount of veins left with the aji but not with the seeds, which makes it impossible to taste the food.
We had enough with this restaurant. We did not stay for the dessert. We were afraid that if we asked for the beer Cuzquena they would bring us a Corona or a yellow mazamorra morada instead of the characteristic purple one.
They really mock the Peruvian flavor and dishes. I would have loved them to call the restaurant anything but Mochica or any other Peruvian name, I did not feel like I was in a little Peru.
I would also suggest the restaurant to put their own names to their dishes Antipicoso for Anticucho, Lomo Aguado for Lomo Saltado or Palla palla instead of Tacu tacu because they were nothing compared to a peruvian dish.
The visit to this restaurant made me really long for my next trip to Peru.
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Mochica
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