Review: Peruvian Food & Señor Ceviche, Carnaby Street

With Will spending January in Chile, he came back with a taste for lighter, fresher food. Typically I was used to the cold weather and was craving comfort food and stodgy carbs – so finding a destination for our first date night of the year was difficult! After much too-ing and fro-ing and menu consulting, we decided on Señor Ceviche. Offering both Ceviche and Peruvian Barbecue we thought there would be plenty of choice to keep both of us happy!

First off, Kingly Court is one of my favorite little pockets of London – a multiple level open area, with around twenty different restaurants offering food from across the globe. Plus Carnaby Street is a bit of shopping-addicts playground! The restaurant carried on the relaxed feel of it’s surroundings – the decor felt authentic and homely, the music was foot-tappingly fun, and the staff super-friendly. I love it when restaurants have an open kitchen too, it gives me more to be nosey at…

Allergy information obtained, having studied the menu over the few days leading up to date night we both quickly ordered. We took the opportunity to catch up properly before our food came out – as this visit was back in February (hence the horribly dark and badly edited photos!) it was our first chance to properly talk about his trip. We were also given some popped corn to nibble on while we waited – insanely addictive stuff!

A post shared by Señor Ceviche (@senorceviche) on Mar 6, 2017 at 9:47pm PST

Food arrived as and when it was ready – but it arrived quickly and pretty much at the same time anyway. The Pachamanca pork ribs were slathered with a slightly sweet sticky sauce and peanuts. The meat fell right off the bone, the sauce was insanely good – these were very much a favorite of us both. I only wish we had more of them! I absolutely loved the Anticucho De Res of beef heart skewers served with sweet potato mayonnaise, aji panca, botija olives and mint. The heart arrives in big pieces, each one folded onto a skewer, with a good gamey texture. It was rich, satisying and super-flavoursome, though I’m a big fan of offal as it is. Will wasn’t convinced by these, and he was definitely put off by the strong olive flavor of the topping. I have to say, I was massively disappointed with the presentation considering Señor Ceviche’s own Instagram post above!

From the ceviche, we went both hot and cold. The hot option was mussels with rocotto & coconut tiger’s milk, chorizo and charred sourdough – it was rich, spicy and intensely savoury, and the mussels well cooked and juicy. I wished we had had more bread to mop up the delicious sauce too…though I may have used the empty mussel shells to ferry most of it down! The sea bass ceviche with aji limo tiger’s milk, sweet potato puree, choclo corn, red onion, coriander & plantain is their classic dish. Beautifully fresh and zesty, full of color and full of flavor – this was my first time trying ceviche so I was a little nervous, but I definitely enjoyed it!

The only dud of our meal was the quinoa. We both love the stuff, but this was really buttery which clashed with all the other flavours. It was overly rich and cloying – not good at all, in fact completely inedible. If our servers hadn’t been so lovely, we probably would have sent it back…

Whilst W was more self-restrained and ended his meal with a Pisco Sour (too sweet apparently, he preferred the ones he had in South America) I finished with the Dulche de Leche. Tooth-achingly sweet, the warm sauce and crunchy pecans went wonderfully with the smooth ice-cream. It was the perfect end to the meal for me!

Quinoa aside, we both really enjoyed our time at Señor Ceviche. Our issue was the price – whilst not expensive, we both felt for the portion size all of the dishes (with perhaps the exception of the ribs) was overpriced. Considering the two of us can eat a massive meal at Wahaca for less than £25 total, we both felt a little put-off by our bill – and whilst we enjoyed our food, it didn’t absolutely blow us away. Perhaps we’re still not used to London restaurant prices!

Have you been to Señor Ceviche? What’s your favorite restaurant in London?