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Peruvian haute cuisine - we try out Lima

Peruvian haute cuisine - we try out LimaWhat can you tell me about Lima   

It's the second big restaurant to take advantage of the current trend in Peruvian Cuisine and its signature dish, ceviche. Lima also comes with a pretty good pedigree, as its Executive Chef Virgilio Martinez  has previously headed the kitchen at top restaurant Astrid y Gaston in Lima (currently 35 in World's 50 Best Restaurants List) as well as the city's Lima's restaurant.

Where is Lima?

Assuming you don't mean the city in Peru, it's on Rathbone Place, just north of Oxford Street (the Tottenham Court Road end). So you're just on the edges of Fitzrovia territory.

Who's it suitable for?

Anyone looking for an bit of a splurge on interesting food. The place was packed on the night we went, a mixture of foodies and locals. It's not a quick-stop dinner, though, and the menu's verging on the pricey side (for the food, at least).

Where should I meet for a drink first?

As Lima's on Rathbone place, you could always try Bourne and Hollingsworth's cocktail bar on the same street. Or head round the corner to Charlotte Street which has loads of spots for pre-dinner boozing. There's also the soon-to-open Draft House on Goodge Street. Alternatively, if you want something a bit more upmarket, Hakkasan is just around the corner in Hanway Place. There are also stools at the front of Lima or you can sit at the bar area downstairs, so it's easy to meet at the restaurant before eating too. We were impressed by the cocktails and would certainly recommend trying one before you sit down (space permitting).

And where should we sit?

The best feature of Lima is the frosted glass roof over the main dining area. Even on a day when the rain was lashing down outside it brought a summery, bright feel to the dining room - so you should definitely eat upstairs if you can. If there are two of you, we definitely recommend the corner table at the back of the restaurant, where you can survey the room (and do a spot of people-watching). Downstairs has a slightly more clubby/bar vibe if that's your thing.

And what should we order?

Lima's food hovers around the haute cuisine end of Peruvian cuisine, which isn't something we've seen much of (OK at all) in London before.

The menu is divided into starters (crudo), two main sections (mar and tierra) and desserts. We ordered a selection from all sections bar "mar", and would recommend doing the same if your budget will stretch to it. Lima's food is on the pricier end of things, with mains around the £20 mark and starters £8-£9, so do keep an eye on what how much you're ordering.

The reason you'll need to be careful is that the food at Lima is very good indeed and it's tempting to order as much as you can (or, as the table next to us did - everything on the menu). Of those dishes we chose, a few things really stood out. We'd only recently sampled ceviche for the first time (yes, we know we're a bit behind the curve on that one) but our initial sample left us wondering what the fuss was about. However, we were mightily impressed by the ceviche on offer at Lima. It was delicate in flavour, the fish was excellent and it came matched with some brillian crunchy Andean cacha corn. The salmon dish with rocota aji pepper, radish, celery and samphire was also another winner, a perfect starter with a subtle kick to get things moving.

We tried three main courses - duck, suckling pig and lamb shoulder. We were warned that the duck with foie gras might not be enough for a main - so had it as an intermediate course. It was good - although priced at £14 it was the one dish that we felt was particularly on the small side (so were glad of the warning).

The other two mains were excellent - both the suckling pig and the lamb shoulder falling away at a touch. 4000 meter potatoes were good, but not outstanding.

Desserts were good - the star being an off-menu dish of bananas, cream and caramelised sugar - one that's ought to be given pride of place on the menu all the time.

Is bread included?

Indeed it is, along with some of the best salted butter we've had in an age (flavoured with annatto) and an uchucutta dip, a "sort of Peruvian guacamole with goat's cheese" that was very, very good. Combined with excellent bread, Lima scores very high on Hot Dinners' all-important bread scale.

What about drinks?

Obviously we tried the pisco sour (or more accurately a few of them) and at £6 a go they were almost too good. There are more pisco-based drinks on the menu, our favourite being the cuento del diablo (chilli-infused pisco with cointreau, lemon and strawberry. Basically, all the cocktails were great and well priced.

The wine list impressed too. We went for the Kremslat Gruner Veltliner at £33, but bottles of white start at £18 moving up very gradually to the £100 mark with 125ml glasses at £3.75.

All in all?

We really enjoyed Lima. It's got a great main dining area - its frosted glass roof meant that we actually forgot that it was pouring from the heavens outside until we left, so it really has an almost microclimate feel. The food itself was excellent. The menu may verge on the expensive side but we thought the drinks list was very reasonably priced so that helps to even things out. The place was already buzzing a mere two days in, the front-of-house staff were uniformly lovely throughout the meal and, importantly for us, the bread was damned good. We'd highly recommend giving it a go.

Lima, 31 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1JH

Find out more about Lima

Hot Dinners were invited to eat at Lima. Prices were correct at time of writing.

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