I was lucky enough to spend a month in Peru a few years ago - I loved it - a vibrant, strikingly beautiful and wildly varied country. One of my lasting memories of the food, other than the obligatory guinea pig (don't bother, incidentally) was Ceviche - the name given to raw fish, cured in 'leche de tigre' (so called 'tiger's milk' - a mix of citrus juices and chilli). Ever since that trip, every time I have seen a Ceviche on a restaurant menu, I have ordered it - I find the combination of soft, slippery fish, sharp citrus and chilli kick quite addictive. I've also made it myself a few times - with good results. So, ever since I heard about Martin Morales' plan to open a Peruvian restaurant called Ceviche in Soho, I have been itching to try it out. I am not usually one for rushing to new restaurants in their opening weeks, I prefer to let them settle in, iron out their kinks and hit their stride before I waltz in and issue judgement from atop my high horse.* However, in this case my impatience got the better of me and today, a mere week after the opening, a friend and I went for an early supper.
My 1st impressions of the restaurant were very good - the front of house were very friendly and the ambience was great. Vibrant posters in frames on some walls, black and white portrait photos on others, the latin-american soundtrack was upbeat and the waiters were smiley and helpful - Ceviche, we decided, was a very nice place to be.
The menu was full of interesting things - mainly 'tapas-style' small dishes to share: ceviches, anticuchos (grilled meat skewers), salads and assorted traditional dishes and sides. We were encouraged to choose 3 or 4 dishes per person; this was not hard to do as I would happily have ordered any of the intriguing things listed. However, as we looked at the prices, doubts crept in about how much we would have to spend to fill ourselves up. We ordered fairly conservatively and before long the food began to appear.
1st came our two ceviches. The first, irritatingly named Barranco I Love You, was seabass with a zingy citrus leche de tigre and a few crunchy fried corn kernels for texture. It was a mouthwatering delight - transporting me back 11 years to a bar in Lima where I tried it for the 1st time. The lip smacking juice had a pleasant, fruity, chilli heat but it didn't overpower the sweet fish at all. The second dish was less successful. Pulpo al Olivo consisted of sliced, braised octopus topped with a zig-zag of oddly unattractive mauve sauce and scattered capers. The sauce was too salty, which sadly overwhelmed the well-cooked octopus and the dish cried out for some acidity to lift it. Octopus, done so well by the Spanish, Greeks and Japanese, is one of my favourite things to eat; but neither of us particularly enjoyed this dish.
Next came the Anticuchos de Corazòn; grilled beef heart skewers. This was a pleasant surprise - the heart was tasty and succulent, and the peppy, yellow ajì amarillo dipping sauce complemented it well. Not much of it for £6.25 though, especially given how inexpensive offal is.
A nicely dressed Quinoa salad was refreshing and full of varied textures - the toothsome quinoa grains, soft avocado, floury butter beans etc.
Next to the eponymous Ceviche, the dish I had been most looking forward to trying was the Arroz con Pato, described as Confit duck in coriander and dark beer rice with salsa criolla. The duck was delicious - satisfyingly crispy on the outside with tender flesh within. The rice hiding underneath it, however, let the dish down. Although not unpleasant, it was rather underwhelming: a pallid khaki colour, slightly overcooked, and lacking much interesting flavour despite being adequately seasoned. A little coriander came through, but there was no trace of the beer it had apparently been cooked in - shame. Even if the rice had lived up to the tasty duck, the portion would have fit neatly into my cat's food bowl - a meagre helping for the £10.75 we paid.
Our last savoury dish was a Peruvian Corn Cake, the flavour of this offering was pleasant: sweet Choclo corn piqued by feta-like cheese, but it was overwhelmingly salty and simply too small to share. My friend found it unpleasant (mainly due to the saltiness) and could only eat a little spoonful - I polished off the rest, but found myself gasping for water afterwards.
One pudding in particular aroused my curiosity: Suspiro de Chirimoya Limeña. This was described as a Chirimoya (custard apple) mousse topped with a cinnamon and port wine meringue. Unfortunately, the soft, italian meringue on top of the dessert was extremely sweet and had no port wine flavour whatsoever. This was not helped by the fact that there was altogether too much of it resting on top of the small amount fruit purèe underneath. The custard apple itself would have been lovely on its own - but it is an intrinsically sweet, creamy fruit and had nowhere near the depth or acidity needed to offset the thickly saccharine meringue. The pud was not a success, but mercifully it was truly tiny - a mere 4 spoonfuls and it was gone.
With the exception of a single Peruvain beer, the only alcoholic drinks on offer are based around Pisco - the national spirit of Peru. Calling itself 'Europe's first Pisco Bar', I was rather hoping that Ceviche would give me the chance to sample a variety of different Piscos, (rather like the splendid variety of Tequilas and Mezcals found at Wahaca or the Sakes found at Bincho etc.) On the contrary, I was dismayed to find that there was no such selection on offer. Pisco only came mixed into cocktails or in the form of Macerados - shots of the spirit infused with various fruits or aromatics e.g. Cherry, Physalis, Chilli, Lemongrass. This disappointment aside, the cocktails we had were excellent - well crafted, balanced, interesting and fruity affairs that I could have drunk several more of with ease.
Looking back at the drinks menu online, I have just spotted that there was one example of Pisco available straight-up, I must have overlooked it, skulking as it was at the end of the cocktail list.
My thoughts at the end of my meal were mixed. The restaurant itself is lively and convivial and the service was good (although when we were there, it was near-empty). The food, on the whole was tasty and novel but let down in too many cases by badly misjudged seasoning. My main problem with Ceviche is the value for money. The dishes were, without exception, small and in order to fill hungry stomachs you need a fair few of them. With one cocktail each, one bottle of water and 7 dishes the bill for two people exceeded £70 and we were barely full at the end of it. The fact that less than 3 hours later we could be found stuffing ourselves with a mountain of excellent dim sum (for less than half the price) speaks volumes. If we had eaten as much as we had wanted and had a couple more drinks each, as we normally would, the bill would easily have reached £140. Simply put, this isn't the kind of food people expect to pay that much money for.
Ceviche is in very good company in Soho - surrounded by excellent eateries such as Koya, Polpetto, Pitt Cue Co., Wahaca, Spuntino, Bincho, Mooli's, et al. In my view, all of these places will fill you up with delicious, good value grub. With a little tweaking to the food and a reasonable reduction in price or increase in size of some of the dishes, I think Ceviche could happily compete in this neighbourhood. As it is though, I suspect they will draw in the first-time punters with the promise of the new and exciting but lose out on return trade as people seek better value elsewhere.
Hopefully, the small changes needed will come in due course (they have only been open a week or so, after all) and Ceviche will survive and go on to become another unique and special feature in the colourful and diverse Soho food district.
17, Frith Street,
Soho.
W1D 4RG
*For the 'Bernard Wooley' pedants amongst you: I am fully aware you can't waltz whist on a horse… shut up.
