The Miami-based United States restaurant La Mar constitutes a world-class example of the growing importance of Peru's cuisine in the international scene, Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine has said.
Bloomberg stressed La mar eatery, owned by the acclaimed Peruvian gourmet chef Gaston Acurio, showcase a first-class cooking, has proved how good the gastronomy of the Andean nation can be by delighting the most exigent palates.
"Much has been written about the growing international importance of Peruvian cuisine. La Mar shows how good it can be," the magazine said.
It’s a modern restaurant where Acurio starts with classic dishes and flavor combinations and builds on them. He’s influenced by contemporary cooking in Europe -- especially Spain -- and by Japanese style: clean flavors and uncluttered plates.
La Mar occupies a beautiful location on the waterfront in Miami. It’s a setting that is almost a match for the beauty of the food.
Heading the kitchen at La Mar, in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, is Executive Chef Diego Oka, who has worked alongside Acurio for more than a decade.
Among the finest dishes is Chaufa Aeropuerto ($25), a savory mix of Chinese sausage, roasted pork, pan-fried rice and shrimp omelette. Another winner was a special of red snapper roasted with tamarind sauce.
The Asian influences also show up in dishes such as Lomo Saltado ($31): stir-fried Angus beef, red onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, cilantro, papas fritas and rice. Or you can go for anticucho meat skewers, which here include wagyu beef ($15).
"You could just start with the pisco sours and savor the experience rather than spend too much time analyzing the food. You might face a wait for one and then find several show up together, like buses,"
There’s a range of enjoyable cocktails -- including a guava sour -- before you need even think about the food, when the pleasure ratchets up a few notches.
My solution was to order them in batches, which worked fine until several arrived at once. This was a pleasure blitz of sharp citrus. I drank them before they could warm up, so the evening was a blur.
La Mar's cooking is first class, the ingredients are fine and if you can grab an outdoors seat, the location is world class.
Rating: 8/10.