Cambalache Market: what does SJL’s new gastronomic patio offer and what is it like?

San Juan de Lurigancho He brings them to him and today he has Mercado Cambalache, his first gastronomic patio. This space opened its doors to the public in August 2021, the pandemic was not an impediment for this project to go ahead and be successful in the populous district of the capital. Advantage of El Comercio was there. We drive carefully to the 18th block of Gran Chimú Avenue, in Zárate. The sun welcomed us.

“Mercado Cambalache was born because we had two foodtrucks ‘Cambalache Mar y Fuego’ and ‘Tatán’, which were located between Gran Chimú Avenue and Jirón Lanzón, in Zárate, but we were already tired of moving them from one place to another and it occurred to us that the best thing was to rent a place”says Renato Milera, manager of Public Relations of the establishment, to Provecho.

“The idea is that in Mercado Cambalache you can eat everything”he adds.

A swap of flavors

Upon arrival we find four stations, ranging from grilled chicken to alcoholic beverages. And, soon, the food court will have a space dedicated to artisanal pizzas, the oven is already set and only a few details remain to be fine-tuned to inaugurate this area. Meanwhile we went through the others.

We start with “Cambalache, chickens and grills”, where the king of the menu is the “Camba Monster”, grilled chicken accompanied by chaufa rice and homemade fries. And there are also their anticuchos, which receive a generous bath of chimichurri before going to the plate, in which they will be accompanied by golden potatoes and corn.

Our tour continued through “Cambalache Mar y Fuego”, where Víctor Espinoza was waiting for us with two proposals up his sleeve: the classic ceviche and the grilled ceviche. In the Cambalache Market they cook with the catch of the day.

For the classic ceviche, Víctor prefers to cut the fish into generous chunks and marinate them with ají limo, coriander, and salt. Then he adds lemon juice, a base of tiger milk and mineral water. He serves everything in a deep plate, in which he has previously placed lettuce, corn and glazed sweet potato.

The grilled ceviche is prepared with sole. For this dish, the fish, scallops and prawns are marinated for four minutes in salt, black pepper and achiote. Then they are placed on the grill, once they have been cooked, they are served in panca leaves accompanied by corn and glazed sweet potato.

Before going through “Tatán” and ordering a juicy beef hamburger, we stopped at “Bar 18″, where Frank Correa was preparing a “Black Punch”.

This drink is made from lime macerated in pisco. Two ounces of this macerate, two ounces of pineapple juice, one ounce of aguaymanto juice, a lemon dash, cinnamon-based syrup, one ounce of passion fruit juice, half an ounce of orange juice and five drops of craft carbon ink.

To serve, Frank filled a glass with ice and poured what he had blended. To decorate he placed a slice of cucumber, rosemary and dehydrated lemon.

Then he prepared “Princesa”, made with a base of cinnamon maceration and star anise in pisco. She put in two ounces of this mash, one ounce of orange juice, one ounce of passion fruit, lemon verbena-based gum syrup. She served the drink in a cocktail glass and garnished it with dried strawberries and rosemary.

Before we left, “Tatán” was waiting for us with a homemade cheeseburger and fries.

Where to locate them and from what time?

Mercado Cambalache is located on Gran Chimú 1879 avenue, in Zárate, San Juan de Lurigancho. And it opens its doors from 1:00 pm

On Fridays and Saturdays live orchestras are presented in the evenings. Food prices range between 15 and 39 soles. And all the cocktails cost 20 soles.