Daddy Yankee: the story of Mi Barrunto, the cevichería that amazed the Puerto Rican singer

Few know that Augusto Sánchez, engine of the success of the restaurant My Guess, worked as the right hand of the great historian Maria Rostworowski. The Victorian graduated with honors in Library Science, just to show his mother that she could give him the gift of seeing his son become a professional graduate of San Marcos.

He had to juggle to carry out his cebichero enterprise –in the apartment of his divorced mother– and at the same time study, without the support of a father.

When his teachers found out that the young entrepreneur got up early to cook sweet potatoes and get everything ready in the restaurant, before taking a bus to get to morning classes at the university, they chose him to give the graduation speech.

There could not have been a more emotional speech, with his mother present in a wheelchair and already seriously ill from cancer.

Doña María Aranda passed away on September 11, 2004, the same day that Augusto and his two brothers, Luis and Jonathan, opened the restaurant. In fact, it is the largest cebichería in the country and a benchmark for any tourist who wants to put a great piece of Peruvianness in their mouths.

When María Rostworowski found out that her right-hand man was selling cebiches, the first thing she said to him was: “And when are you going to invite me one?” Augusto laughs at a life full of anecdotes and (it must be said) an unparalleled skill for having turned his restaurant into a gastronomic monster that leaves no one indifferent. Because Mi Barrunto can enchant you or it can shock you, but nobody denies a success that has football and the neighborhood as seasonings.

On Mother’s Day, for example, all the floors of this cevichería next to the Matute stadium are packed and a line of people forms waiting for the mercy of a free table.

And it all started when his brother Lucho had the idea of ​​selling tiger milk to the players and fans of Alianza Lima, at the door of his house. First they served on the street and then they bought the glass factory, in front of his building. Since then, no one has stopped them.

This primary connection with the king of sports has made all the great Peruvian soccer players leave their signatures and photos on the walls of Mi Barrunto. For them there is a VIP area on the fifth floor and even dishes that bear their names. The enormous Gareca Suprema, with giant corvina and shellfish, costs up to 180 soles. But there are also cheaper dishes, such as the Cebiche Cuevita, the Octopus Gallese, the Fetuccini Lapadula and others that whet the appetite of curiosity.

In the second concert that Daddy Yankee offered in the capital, the Puerto Rican artist spoke about his love for our gastronomy: “I really always have a nice memory of you, the great food you have is another level, you know. Thank you because we all come here and everyone says that the people here are incredible, they are chefs by nature, another level”, said the singer.

And he did not forget to mention Mi Barrunto: “Thank you very much to my people from Mi Barrunto who always treat us so nicely, thank you very much to my people from the Callao neighborhood,” said the artist, before resuming his concert.

• Mi Barrunto is open from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm at Jirón Sebastián Barranca 935, La Victoria.
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