Peruvian cuisine is having its moment in Sydney with Barangaroo newcomer, Callao, joining the successful Warike and sister cevicheria, Lima, which relocated to Bondi earlier this year. With considerably less fanfare, Moche joined the fray in Pyrmont about six months ago. This quirky basement setting offers up Peruvian fusion cuisine, predominantly focused on Nikkei (a well established cuisine that employs Peruvian and Japanese techniques and ingredients) but with a spattering of chifa dishes that fuse Cantonese and Peruvian traditions. A pisco sour ($18) should be a given.
The spud - Peru grows 5;000 types of potato - is very well-represented on the succinct menu. Huancaina ($15) is basically a big ball of mash smothered in a traditional Peruvian spicy cheese sauce made with crumbled queso fresco and yellow aji amarillo chillies. It’s served with boiled eggs and kalamata olive crumbs under a dusting of paprika. Smashed potato dough is also the base of the causita ($20) where the same yellow chillis come into play with a creamy shredded chicken and mayo topper. In this cold salad, they’ve turned the olives into a sauce that’s puddled over more boiled eggs, avocado, and cherry tomatoes with a hint of lemon. It suits a Peruvian beer: the Pilsen Callao ($11) is my personal recommendation.
The more substantial crocante mixto ($32) also has a smashed spud base with the same general palette of ingredients, though this one is pitched at pairs of carnivores, adding tender grilled beef and pork under a hat of nicely-washed red onions. This time the sauce is chalaca, which teams chillies, lime, onion, sour cream, and tomatoes. If you need some more acidity to cut through all them tubers, el norteñito ($10) is your go-to. It’s a two-tone bean salad with cancha serrana (crunch corn kernels) and jumbo soft white corn kernels. It’s so good, it’ll make you wonder why we ever agreed to eat Edgell’s rubbish four bean mix.
