Pisac Peruvian Bistro – 195 Carlton St., Toronto, ON M5A 2K7
Country: Peru          
Must-try dish: Arroz Con Mariscos
Dinner guests: Father Tom, Loud Lucy, RP, Monopoly Guy, Brocillana
Seating: Indoor seating with a side patio in the warmer months. 
The high: The prices for the quality and the quantity of food is spectacular. 
The low: There isn’t cuy “guinea pig” on the menu, which is one of Peru’s most famous dishes. 

Whether you’re in Pisac Bistro, Lima, or Cusco, the first order of business is always to treat yourself to a pisco sour. This cocktail is the iconic benerage of Peru, made with their national alcohol pisco, lime juice, and egg white. It’s refreshing and filling all at once. You likely won’t be able to stop at one! 

This is our second visit to Pisac and our first since the restaurant moved locations from the Annex to Cabbagetown, keeping the same owners and a similar menu. It’s a family-run operation with a father-son duo managing shop. Originally hailing from Lima, they settled in Canada and started providing Torontonians with authentic recipes from back home.  

In all of South America, Peru is the most famous country for its cuisine, which blends land and sea with regional root vegetables, rice, and quinoa. There are Japanese, Chinese, and European influences that make Peru’s cuisine one of the most unique in the world.  

When there are generous portions, we’re generous with invitations. For a table of seven, we ordered five starters and five entrees – the perfect amount of food for this hungry group. It was also a terrific tour of the menu blending fish, seafood, and meat to satisfy the variety of palates in the gang.   

Entradas

One of the most popular small plates in Peru is the Papa a la Huancaína – boiled potatoes and hard boiled egg doused in a creamy feta and chili sauce with black olives. It’s an epic mixture of textures and flavours that change with every bite. 

Of the two octopus appetizers available, the Pulpo Anticuchero stole all of our hearts, so much so that we ordered two portions so that one could be enjoyed on each end of the table. This large meaty tentacle has a charcoal flavour from the grill with a slightly spicy rub and creamy cilantro sauce for dipping. It’s excellent in every way. It was the obvious favourite for all seven of us. 

In an attempt to veer slightly off-piste, we had to have an order of the Calamares Fritos (Fried Calamari) to pick at while we compared the ceviches. This squid was a crowd pleaser with the crispy exterior and the soft interior that’s best enjoyed with a little dip. 

Ceviches

Of the four, we picked an elevated traditional recipe and a Japanese fusion recipe to compare the differences in sauce and texture. Ceviche is quintessentially Peruvian – it’s made of raw fish or shellfish that slowly cooks in a sauce of citrus, spices, and seasonings. Even those carrying an apprehension of it tend to love it after a small taste. 

The Ceviche Mixto is a more varied version of the Classico which consists only of mahi-mahi, while the Mixto incorporates many things from the sea on top of the white fish: calamari, octopus, and shrimp. It’s dense with generous portions of meat and its marinade. There’s onions, cilantro, citrus and chilies that make up the “leche de tigre” sauce that famously slow-cooks the raw materials over a period of time. In this recipe, sweet potato and corn are added in for an even more exciting texture with every bite. 

To compare with the traditional version, we opted for the Ceviche Nikkei. The fish base is tuna, while the marinade carries more of an Asian influence with soy sauce, sesame oil, and leche de tigre. It’s less meaty than the first one, and the flavours contrast well and clearly identify one from the other. This is the saltier marinade of the two, and it pairs excellently with the fattier tuna. It’s a win-win with whichever ceviche you pick, let’s be honest with ourselves. 

Segundos 

Something you see on every menu in Peru is the Lomo Saltado . It’s a piece of steak marinated in soy sauce, and served with fries and garlic rice. This is the epitome of meat and potatoes! The fries get soggy (in a good way) in the sauce and the whole plate ultimately blends together. You can’t really go wrong with it.

Chicken is often underwhelming, and we try our best to avoid it at restaurants unless it’s a total hit. The Aji de Pollo at Pisac is one of the best options on the menu, so we went for the chicken this time. It’s made up of a slow-cooked chicken breast and hard boiled eggs covered in a creamy yellow sauce made of chili, parmesan cheese, almonds, and black olives that tops a mountain of garlic rice. There’s something magical about the sauce whether you have chicken or egg, or only the rice. Anyone with a chicken aversion should at least have a taste once. 

Never did anyone say that braised lamb shank is bad, because it’s nearly impossible to screw up. The fall-off-the-bone meat melts in your mouth regardless of the marinade – it’s an instant winner. Pisac’s Seco de Cordero is one of those reliable and delicious plates for anyone in the mood for lamb. The flavouring speaks to its South American heritage with regional chilies, onions, cilantro, red pepper, and brown ale. It’s served with navy beans and like many of the other dishes, it’s served with garlic rice to soak up the sauces. There isn’t much more to say on that topic. 

Our crowd pleaser of the evening was the Arroz Con Mariscos, which is a Peruvian-style paella hiding fish and seafood throughout. This spicy rice is cooked with shrimp, calamari, octopus, mussels, chilies, peas, and corn. Despite having the other ingredients, the main event is the generous amounts of seafood within the rice, it’s impossible to get a bite without something from the sea. This dish is packed with flavour, and seafood, obviously. 

Our final dish was a recommendation from our server, and kept the seafood theme intact. The Parihuela is a fish and seafood stew with a tomato and chili base. With the abundant amounts of rice from the other dishes, it was easy to soak up the broth of the soupy-stew. Similar to the other seafood dishes on the menu, there’s octopus, shrimp, calamari, mussels, and fish included in each bite. 

If it wasn’t already evident, we love this place. The new location is bigger but retains the coziness of the original spot. The owners always make an effort to come say hello to their tables, and the rest of the staff is friendly and helpful. It goes without saying, if you’re in the mood for nice food and a few pisco sours, Pisac is for you! 

Eat with you soon, 

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)