La Chingana: that’s right and you should try this at the new cevichería on Barranco Boulevard

The colorful, festive and very marine Barranco has arrived at La Chingana, a new cevichería located on the boulevard with a small but varied menu, and first-class ingredients to savor the freshest gifts of the Peruvian sea at the table. In the same style of the old chinganas, this restaurant seeks to maintain the party and the meeting with friends, the jargon and the most memorable characters of the neighborhood as seen in its menu.

They opened just two months ago and, in this short time, they have managed to make even their own Gaston Acurio who recommended the cevichería in one of his recent Instagram posts. And how not to make them if each plate of The Chinganalike its rice dishes, shells, octopus or ceviche, has the gift of stopping time just to savor it.

Adapt the old to the new characters

Music is important in this place. Local and Latin American bands feed the La Chingana playlist with salsa, cumbia, rock, pop, with the hits of La Sarita, Barrio Calavera, Los Chapillacs, Los Auténticos Decadentes, Frankie Ruiz, Tito Nieves, Joe Arroyo and a mix to dance from your seat, in the living room or on the terrace of this mansion full of graffiti, while the dishes arrive or some of their signature cocktails such as La Jacky, El Loco Granada or Jaimito.

“In old Lima our grandparents had their huariques, their chinganitas where they would listen to music and eat, have a drink. Before, only men went to the chinganas because of the machismo. Now, with all the wave of youth, there is a new way of seeing things and it does not mean that tradition is lost”, tells us the chef and creator of the menu and concept of La Chingana, Erika Morote (Lima, 1985). .

“We can bring it to the new ways of living by accepting and including ourselves. Everyone can come, family, friends. We are completely open as is the neighborhood of Barranco, super cheerful, lively, historically carnival and classic too. I exploit art and color a lot, what we are doing is adapting to the new youth with cool huariques with what people want, ”says Morote about his new location.

What did they prepare for? Advantage?

“We started with some red Chalacas. They are chalaca-style shells with a rocoto cream paste that makes them tastier and some marine dumplings filled with seafood and fish.” Two delicious entrees to share. The shells have just the right amount of spice and the empanadas have a dim sun-style filling.

Pepe Olivares is one of the must-sees on the menu. The chef explains how this irresistible olive octopus is prepared in her own version: “This one was born because I don’t like octopus, they always blend it like mayonnaise and I find it very greasy, but I love olives, so we put the chopped olives, purple with green. We have made it Creole with minced chili pepper, olive oil, leche de tigre, slices of octopus and avocado. It’s like disintegrated.” Also, the presentation makes it more irresistible. If you are not a fan of olives, this dish will make you doubt your principles.

We continue with the main dishes. El Mariscal is one of the three types of ceviche offered by La Chingana. It is prepared with the catch of the day, shellfish and milk with yellow pepper in the northern style that gives it the original touch and color. Among the rice dishes, El Norteñazo stands out, a delicious creamy rice with seafood (prawn, octopus, squid) prepared with black beer, chicha de jora, male and female coriander; and El Fijo, which is the classic rice with seafood but this time flambéed and with plenty of Parmesan cheese. “They are classic dishes, but we try to give them our personality. As you can see in the color you can see a party on the plate”. The presentations are a party of color and details, they have portions of chalaquita on top of the rice to accompany and refresh the flavors.

They are dishes made with the intention of being subtle and harmonious, as well as colorful and festive. “We take care of the fact that it is seafood, but it doesn’t have to taste like the sea. You have to be able to feel the flavor of each shellfish, but well, I take great care of the fresh input, the cooking technique, the management of temperatures both for frying and for cooking”, details the chef about this process that becomes a healthy obsession in search of perfection on a daily basis.

Among the signature cocktails we will find chinganeros such as La Jacky, based on Jack Daniels, it is a fruity and colorful cocktail; You can also order Suavena, Loco Granada and Jaimito. The Peruchos are the classic chilcanos, sours and macerated; Among Los Fichos are the Negroni, Gin tonic and Pink tonic; and Those that nobody wants, they are called that because they are rarely asked for but they have to be on the menu, like the Moscow mule, Aperol Spritz and Tinto de Verano.

A chef’s dream

His love for the sea, for the streets of Barranco and for the boulevard that he walked from his childhood with his father, enjoying art and mansions, influenced the creation of this new company. Being a chef for Erika Morote was first a dream that only came true (and her second career) after the birth of her daughter. For her, having the responsibility of raising a person meant showing by example the importance of being happy with what you do, and her first career didn’t fully do that. That is how she decided to leave everything, change course and follow the passion that she discovered at home when she was little: “As an older sister, I learned to cook for my little brothers. We would come home from school, I would sit them down to watch El Chavo and start cooking. At night, my mom told me how to chop parsley, onion, etc. At the age of 13, she was already cooking for the whole family”, Morote recalls between laughter and nostalgia.

“The fact that my daughter has come into my life and asks me if I am happy doing what I do, today I can tell her that I am more than happy. What I like the most is the adrenaline, the pressure of having everything at once, the responsibility you have to know that it depends on you. I enjoy both the preparation and the plating, I am a perfectionist”, and this is demonstrated in each dish by this new space in Barranco.

More information

• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 1 to 4:30 pm
• Location: Sánchez Carrión 110, 2nd floor, Boulevard de Barranco
• Starting at 6 in the afternoon, Feria Bar opens at the same venue, a bar that has no relation to La Chingana, but if after ceviche and El Mariscal you are still ‘stacked’ you can continue enjoying yourself in this other environment. The idea of ​​sharing spaces is a way to reactivate the boulevard. Erika Morote explains that during the day this house is a dead space, so they decided to make the most of it.
• Winter dishes are coming soon
• Visit his Instagram account: