Fine Dining Lima part 2: Maido

Maido restaurant is the number two restaurant in South America and number 8 in the world.  We were outside the front door, early again. Leslie wondered who we might see that we've already seen before on this trip.  I said it would be someone we had seen at Machu Picchu but it turns out that it was the family of the sweatpants fame from last night. Luckily the youngest was wearing a poncho, blue jeans and the same tennis shoes as before. We did not sit right next to them so I don't know how their dining experience went. If we see them tomorrow we will sit down and get all the information. We got seated right away and welcomed by all the waitstaff yelling out Maido. Jonathan was our server and very attentive. It was a 12 course tasting menu with one snack, of course. The portions were much smaller and so it was much easier to sit through without being too worried about exploding before we reach the end. Some highlights included fatty tuna with a poached quail egg on top. A pork rib that had cooked for 50 hours. A dumpling with squid and river pawn on the inside. We had Limpet again tonight which was quite tasty. There was  fish and octopus sausage with japanese mustard and native potatoes, all served on a steamed bread hot dog bun. It was like a slider only a hot dog but there was no hot dog inside the bun, just a tasty fish sausage. One of the deserts was called Reef and it had seashells and mock icura and other items that look like fish but were actually tasty dessert items. Leslie had a fine champagne and I had a malbec that I actually liked. The atmosphere of the restaurant was much more relaxed than last night. A lot of the diners were ordering ala cart and there was a sushi bar. The people next to us were enjoying a birthday dinner. The people behind us eas a Japanese family and they were having a sushi tasting menu. There were 15 foot long ropes hanging from the ceiling, some tan and a section or red ropes. It represented a quarter of a Japanese flag. With mirrors on all sides the reflection would finish up the flag. At someocstion it must look like a full Japanese flag.  I took a picture of the kitchen from outside while we were waiting to get inside. Although we were not offered a tour of the kitchen our waiter took the tasting menu back into the kitchen and had the chef and the sushi chef sign it for us! That was a very nice touch and it helped solidify the memories of this fine dining experience.

I put the camera in the window to take this picture from the outside.

A beautiful spiral staircase leads up to the second and third floor. I took this picture from the outside while we were waiting.

Once again the Gringos are early and the door is still closed

The bar was busy all night long

Here are the normal colored ropes and in the distance are the red colored ropes

So many tasty beverages to choose from, Jonathan which should I have?

Excited with anticipation

Looking up at the ropes

Our first course. Seaweed, squid, avocado trout belly and more. So tasty

Yay...no sweatpants today!

This was a squid and sea snail dish. It had crispy white quinoa on the top

This is all that's left of a green rice tamale with sauteed River prawns. It had a prawn reduction which was very strong and tasty. I dug in so quickly and ate it that I forgot to take the picture, however this is my rendition of a jellyfish.

One thing we noticed is the great care they take with your napkins. Should your napkin touch the table when it shouldn't they will come by with a knife and fork and use it as a tong to remove your napkin and give you a new one. If you leave the table they will come by and take your napkin again with a knife and fork tong and then they will rearrange it without ever touching it. Once they get it very pointy they then set on the table and smooth out. Here is the waiters attempt to do that tricky maneuver, however he could not complete it. So Leslie got another new napkin her fourth for this dinner.

These are soba noodles made with cassava instead of Buckwheat, it had a dipping sauce that was so tasty we were trying to think how could we pick it up and drink it like soup, however we could never figure out a way of doing that without being identified as barbarians.

This is the Catch of the Day in a very hot cast-iron Bowl. It was served with another reduction and seaweed, and I believe it was black cod fish

From the second floor I could just barely make out Leslie through the ropes

Using the zoom I could get a good picture of her however she is engrossed in conversation with our neighbors. He asked her if this was her first time at the restaurant which of course it was, and that conversation took off, as any conversation with with Leslie will.

The spiral staircases from the inside of the building

You can see a gummy starfish, tapioca red Spheres that look like salmon eggs, foam, and other tasty bits that look like seaweed and other sea creatures

Jonathan sprinkled some crunchy items that now appear to be sand which will totally fill in our Reef experience

Here is our signed menu from the hot kitchen chef and the sushi chef. Thanks Maido !  And as it turns out Madio in Japanese means thanks so,  Maido, Maido!