El Puntito Dulce, the family business that went from offering traditional desserts to a more Creole menu

Rosa Castro is the person behind El Puntito Dulce, the place that began offering the most traditional Peruvian desserts such as mazamorra morada and rice pudding and today it opens a new location where it has diversified its offer, having different Creole dishes available to its most loyal diners.

But before having four stores in Lima, Puntito was just that, a small space inside a perfumery that was also in the family. Doña Rosa says that the business began to go badly after the appearance of the pharmacies, so to take advantage of the premises they decided to put some furniture at the door with pots of rice pudding and purple mazamorra, such was the success of the sale of desserts. , that many days they made more money than they sold in perfumes.

It is at that moment, 24 years ago, that she decided to study pastry and baking to perfect the techniques and offer new products to her clientele, because everything she had prepared up to that point, in reality, had been done from what she learned from her grandmother in Cutervo. “She (her grandmother) had very good taste, people looked for her for big events and I always saw that. Also, I saw my mother prepare manjar blanco or pineapple candy with sweet potato. And later I started doing it at my house, when we even had a perfumery, I cooked for my house, but they loved it. And that’s how it all started,” says Mrs. Rosa.

The new direction of the family business

To attract a new audience, Doña Rosa found it necessary to study pastries and pastries, the objective was to be able to offer new desserts and why not dishes, so they started with picarones and anticuchos. Without a doubt, the business was expanding and she needed a name and what better way to pay tribute, in some way, to the Cutervo family.

The creator of the desserts says that her grandmother had a food business in the city of Cajamarca, but it had no name, however, it had become a meeting point and they began to call it “El Puuntito.” So they did not hesitate to bring that family tradition to Lima, they just decided to add the word “Sweet” because of the offer they had at that time.

The reinvention of El Puntito Dulce

Food businesses were greatly affected during the coronavirus pandemic and El Puntito dulce was no exception, although the desserts never stopped being consumed, diners asked for something else and that was what they were going to offer. “We started making Creole dishes, for this we received training and hired a chef to help us with the preparations and we started selling by delivery,” says Doña Rosa.

And this is precisely the offer that they maintain to this day and that they have strengthened in their new premises in Jesús María, inaugurated at the end of July. “Having a new location, and we have built it from scratch, is a big challenge, but we have a lot of confidence in our work and we know that it is a new opportunity for more people to get to know us,” says Mrs. Rosa.

A renewed letter

Desserts continue to be the business’s letter of introduction, but of course, today they have more than 50, where the purple mazamorra, rice pudding, fruit shampoos continue to stand out, but there are also the most innovative ones such as the lucuma chocobrownie or the aguaymanto, blueberry and strawberry tartlets.

But what they are looking for now is to position themselves with the savory ones, which although they have always offered it, the sweet ones have been the most recognized. Within the salda proposal is the stuffed potato, the Lima cause, the humitas stuffed with cheese, the tamales, criollos, the stuffed rocoto, the chard cake, among others.

And when it comes to the lunch menu, a new menu and a new direction for the business, they have been very careful with what they offer. Doña Rosa emphasizes that they do not skimp on inputs, they know the challenge they have taken on by offering Creole dishes and what they seek is to provide the best to their diners, who also, and according to her, tend to be quite demanding.

Within the menu of Creole dishes is Lomo Saltado, Ají de gallina, Asado con Puré, Tallarín Saltado, Chaufa a lo Pobre, among others.

El Puntito Dulce maintains that family essence and with its new location, it also takes you to the Cutervo of the Castro family, who today remain convinced that they can turn the family business into a meeting point for families and friends.