Andina,
1 Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DJ
20/07/2014
She
said: We remain in love with Peruvian food since out trek last year. So, Andina
was always going to be a target. Close to what was once little Bangladesh but now
almost fully morphed into Trendland, Andina has a neighbourhood feel with its
corner setting and casual, cramped interior. The menu offered an original,
tempting range of dishes, and with this being a weekend, some interesting
brunch options. We stuck with the regular section of the menu and ordered a
selection of dishes in line with the ever increasing need for restaurants to
encourage you to share their petite offerings rather than make a regular
portion for one regular person. The food was amazing. The Cerviche dishes were
the highlight. The only disappointment was the corn cake which was relatively
bland. We did see giant portions of brunch dishes being escorted to different
tables if you did want something with more bulk but I must say, there was a
real authenticity to Andina which was highly satisfying. On my trip to the loo
downstairs I discovered a larger, more open seating area. I think the brightness
of upstairs makes the squeeze worth it but good to know there are more seats if
cramp if not your thing.
He
said: Someday you will read a bad Peruvian review here, but not today. We came
close a little while ago when, following a recommendation, we checked out the
Peruvian in London Bridge which has been opened much longer that the wave of
recent openings. Lucky for us the Chef was late coming that day, so it wasn’t
fully opened when we walked in, smelled the horror and walked right out.
Peruvian food is all about fresh zingy flavours. So the rank atmosphere of a
pub on a Sunday morning before clean-up is not the way to get in the mood. That
was a close call. So, in my imagination all Peruvian food remains magic. And
Andina was definitely par for the course; lots of delicious ceviche, and things
not called ceviche that look like it. This is the kind of place where you want
to install yourself for a while and try lots of dishes and guzzle lots of
equally interesting mixed drinks. Speaking of which I can’t really recommend
the Bloody Andina, which is made with Pisco, the flavour of which is too
intense for tomato. And now that the negativity genie is out of the bottle, I
will also say that the most expensive thing we ordered was grilled salmon
skewers which were nice, but not a patch on all the more typical things. I’m
definitely looking forward to going back, this is a great hang out spot, but if
I have to pick a favourite Peruvian in London it’s still Ceviche in Soho.
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