Cambalache Market: discover the first gastronomic patio of San Juan de Lurigancho

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

“Mercado Cambalache was born because we had two food trucks ‘Cambalache Mar y Fuego’ and ‘Tatán’, which were located between Avenida Gran Chimú 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 “Renato Milera, the establishment’s Public Relations manager, tells Provecho.

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

An exchange of flavors

Upon arrival we find four stations, ranging from grilled chickens to alcoholic beverages. And, soon, the food court will have a space dedicated to artisan pizzas, the oven is already on and only a few details need to be refined 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 artisan fries. And there are also their anticuchos, which receive a generous chimichurri bath 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, Victor prefers to cut the fish into generous chunks and marinate them with ají limo, cilantro and salt. Then he adds the lemon juice, a base of tiger milk and mineral water. Everything is served 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 meat burger, we stopped at “Bar 18”, where Frank Correa was preparing a “Black Punch”.

This drink is made from a lime marinated in pisco. Two ounces of this macerate, two ounces of pineapple juice, one ounce of aguaymanto juice, a dash of lemon, cinnamon-based gum syrup, one ounce of passion fruit juice, are placed in the blender glass. half an ounce of orange juice and five drops of artisan charcoal ink.

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

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

Before we left, “Tatán” was waiting for us with an artisan burger with cheese and French fries.

Where to locate them and from what time?

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

On Fridays and Saturdays live orchestras perform at night, respecting biosafety protocols and respecting the allowed capacity of one hundred people in the establishment. It is important to mention that it is an outdoor space.

The price of food ranges between 15 and 39 soles. And all the cocktails cost 20 soles.