Burger day: La Vikinga, the dark kitchen that allows you to design your menu

No pickles or tomato. With extra cheese. Can it be in a gluten free bread? I don’t like beef, will there be something with chicken? I prefer sweet potatoes to potatoes. How about an olive sauce? Or a slice of avocado? Or crispy onion? Sometimes we Peruvians are somewhat peculiar with our tastes (we have reasons) and we don’t always manage to find the perfect bite. an initiative hamburger proposes to solve this eternal problem with a quite simple solution: do it yourself.

La Vikinga began operations in January 2020. Two months later Peru went into quarantine. They had no plans to work in a pandemic world – no one, really – but they had the cunning (or the luck) to bet on the format of dark kitchen or hidden kitchen. Everything is made from scratch in a workshop and distributed directly to homes. A great strategy in the most important year for delivery.

Behind the concept is the chef Diego Muñoz, who dedicated a good part of 2020 to commanding the Casa de Todos (a space where help and food were provided to the most destitute during the first months of the pandemic) and which, in addition, is about to be released a comprehensive gastronomic proposal in a famous New York hotel. Here all the details, bite by bite.

La Vikinga came to Muñoz through a friend. “At first it was just a brainstorm, but I ended up getting fully involved,” he says from New York. “What I like about this concept is that it is super versatile, but with quality products. You can assemble your burger however you want. We have, for example, four types of bread (one of them gluten-free, made with mashua); 80 gram angus burgers in case you want to eat more than one. Cheddar cheese, mozzarella, edam… you add what you feel like to it”, indicates the cook.

An equation put together by the La Vikinga team shows that the menu allows up to 300,000 possible combinations. We have not been able to confirm it yet – perhaps it will not reach life – but it is certainly a long letter. There are 18 toppings ranging from pickled cucumber, fried egg or smoked bacon, to caramelized pineapple or fried banana. That’s not to mention the eight sauces for the four kinds of sides (sweet potatoes, two kinds of potatoes, and chicken nuggets) that round out the order. The authors have not written about tastes and colors and here, definitively, the limit is set by each diner.

“It’s definitely a bit of a longer decision process, but it’s absolute freedom. Here instead of taking out, you put it. And there is also the possibility that each one is the architect of their own bite, their own flavors”, concludes the Peruvian chef.

In Lima, La Vikinga continues to conquer palates with its powerful flavors and impressive sizes. Do you dare to try it?

Instagram: @lavikingaburger

Orders: https://linktr.ee/LAVIKINGA