TheBanyanTree: Enamored with the Milk of a Tiger

[B Drummond]

While in Costa Rica I was told that some of the best chefs in the  
world are from Peru.  That was news to me.

But from my two dining experiences at local restaurants near the work  
locations we had to visit, I'd find it hard to argue with our Costa  
Rican business associate's opinion.

Our first visit was to Sambukka, a local restaurant in Lima.  We had  
the recommendation of our Peruvian business associates.  The  
highlight of the meal?   Ceviche!

This was ceviche from the source, no, it was ceviche from the gods  
that we ate.  (I know that because we ordered Ceviche in several of  
the other countries we visited on the continuation of the trip and  
nothing else  -- whether in Argentina, Uruguay or Chile -- came  
remotely close to the ceviche that we had back-to-back in two  
separate restaurants in two days while in Lima.)

What made the ceviche more than outstanding at these locations was at  
least two things:  it had to have been made from fish that was so  
fresh it surprised me that it wasn't still flapping when they brought  
it to our table (it was corvina, by the way)  And second,  what  
indubitably must be the world's best "leche de tigre".

I'm thinking that no where else on earth (well, at least at this  
present time) is there anything that compares to the leche de tigre  
that local Peruvian chefs know how to concoct.  For the real lover of  
leche de tigre our hosts recommended a small glass of the elixir to  
drink solo.  Me?  Well, after having ceviche the first day, then  
again on the second, let's just say that I was so enamored of the  
combination of tastes in the ceviche and the tiger's milk that I  
drank my whole glass, along with that in the plate of ceviche. (If I  
had been home, behind closed doors I probably would have licked the  
plate too)

God willing, if I ever get the chance to return to beautiful Peru,  
three things I plan on not missing:

	Machu Picchu

	the Amazon headwaters

	Ceviche

I want to take the train from Lima to Cuzco when the festival is on  
(3rd week in June, if I remember correctly) and then take the trip up  
to Machu Picchu.  I'll take some ceviche on the way on the train, in  
Cuzco, and the good Lord willing in Machu Picchu as well.

I want to sit around a campfire in Amazon headwaters and eat ceviche  
and plantains and wash it all down with good Peruvian beer and finish  
it all off with a Leche Asada.

And last of all I want to go back to Lima and to its sections named  
Larcomar and Miraflores and sample some more of Peru's wonderful  
foods, along with, yes, you guessed it, Ceviche!

Oh, yeah.  It's easy to become enamored with the milk of a tiger,  
especially when the tiger's from Peru.