Like in Puñta restaurant, I tried out of curiosity but mainly because of the Peruvian on their name. Hmm, let's see how they will fare on the authenticity bit. For fear of sounding obnoxious - which I do think I am not - I want to emphasize that I ate mainly foods sold in the streets when we were in Peru. Like 75% of the time. The remaining 25% were spent in nice and almost fancy restaurants.
Plus, I am such a horrible food critic. My interpretation of gastronomic experiences is limited to amazing, awesome, tasty, delicious, OK, not so bad, starchy, and, like 5 or 6 more adjectives. Hee. Everything here is of my own opinion, therefore should not be taken against Don Andres.
So there we were on a Monday night. Despite being a weekday, a reservation is must do. Especially since we were gonna pay for it with coupons and there really were tons of people dropping by.
First bust of the night: Inca Kola that came from Jersey and not Peru. I understand, Peru is such a faaaar place to be importing these fruity and loved soda. Baka nga naman mas cost-effective if it came from the US. Besides, if they taste the same what's the big deal right?
Liked the sangria I ordered! I felt so, um, mature. I could feel my cheeks burning though after chugging it all down (not in one go).
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| Peruvian Sangria, PhP 150/glass |
Loved the Aji-green sauce and spicy-orange mayonnaise but the chimichurri sauce lacked that fresh herb-y flavour and zest. I hope I'm making sense here. Señor Pollo's chimichurri is still the best for me.
The raw fish has the exact citrus flavour I always associate ceviches (or kinilaw locally) with. The raw talakitok chunks are huge, prepare to share this with someone else! As for the corn, I don't remember seeing corn in Peruvian ceviches, maybe this was a personalized touch from the chef or something? It's funny though how it was sliced hehe.
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| Ceviche de Pescado, PhP 240. |
The canchas or corn nuts brought me memories of our time in Peru. I LOVED munching on these much to JC's annoyance haha. It is made from a special kind of maiz that pops without puffing out.
We chose the half-sized chicken cos we thought a quarter may not be enough for us two. It was, but the ceviche was heavier on the tummy than we originally thought (probably cos only 2 persons shared it!?!).
Chicken tastes good but frankly just like any other grilled chicken I had here in Philippines. They're not exactly the same, but you know, the chicken formulas are similar. Sa sauce and marinate lang talaga nagkakatalo. :) I loved their mashed potato though!
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| Pollos a la Brasa (1/2 Pollo). PhP320. |
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| Tres Leches. PhP165. |
There's still so much dishes to try in Don Andres, gotta come back for their Lomo Saltado (usually ordered this when we were in Peru and Bolivia but decided not to order it in Don Andres)!
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Don Andres Peruvian Kitchen
Courtyard Building, 26 Sergeant Esguerra Street, QC
364-4145
