By Heather Nicholds
For our first lunch out in Lima, Peru, Phil and I headed to El Alma Zen, an organic vegetarian restaurant, and were blown away.
We had to go, after being highly recommended by our friends Jill and John of Vegan Cuts, as well as Happy Cow and several other vegan/vegetarian bloggers.
Not only was the food delicious, but the restaurant was so homey and comfortable, the servers friendly and we had a wonderful conversation with the owner, Henry, after our meal.
He is totally dedicated to spreading awareness of the importance of what we eat and how we grow it. We talked about a lot of things, and share many of the same thoughts on food, agriculture, energy and life.
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He started a local organic farmer’s market (Bioferia) with some other growers that happens every Saturday in Miraflores.
So back to our lunch – it was phenomenal…
They brought us this really tasty cool mint tea when we arrived. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it was fantastic. And the menu was so beautifully simple, written and drawn by hand.
We started off with a ‘tabla andina’ – which was a plate of a mix of different types of local potatoes, tomatoes and corn (all really yummy) with a Brazil nut cream sauce and pico de gallo.
I had a plate with a really nice tomato-based dish with carrot, along with brown rice, some marinated onions, a few raw cucumber slices, and a cup overflowing with gorgeous fresh lettuce greens, a few cherry tomatoes and the longest zucchini noodle I’ve ever seen!
Phil had some ravioli, which he thoroughly enjoyed, that was filled with something savory and delicious and topped with a sundried tomato sauce.
All of the food tasted truly phenomenal – a combination of being fresh, organic and local, prepared perfectly to accentuate the natural flavors, and served in a wonderful atmosphere.
It was an incredible pleasure to have lunch there, and if you head to Lima you should definitely make a date to have a meal at Alma Zen!
Do you find food tastes better when it’s local and organic? Let me know what you think below.
Heather: Hey guys this is Heather for Healthy Eating Starts Here.
So, Phil and I are in Lima, Peru and we just had lunch at this fantastic restaurant called el AlmaZen which is in Miraflores and we had a fantastic vegetarian lunch, and we told them that we couldn’t eat any dairy or cheese. So, all of our stuff was vegan and we had a wonderful conversation with the owner afterwards.
So, we filmed a few clips of our lunch and now we’re just basking in the wonderful energy of talking to someone who shares the same values as us and then going to go for a walk.
Some really cool different types of tomatoes and potatoes and there is some little bits of corn and salsa and I’m not quite sure with this yellow stuff is, but it’s yummy.
Phil: All we know is that there is no cheese, no dairy.
Heather: Yeah. It’s a vegetarian restaurant and we specified that we’re allergic to milk and cheese. The potatoes are so good. You’re jealous of me right now aren’t you?
Phil: Yeah, I’ve been waiting.
Heather: I love the sprouts and this looks like popcorn. Cool, it’s crunchy.
Phil: Yeah.
Heather: Just like popcorn. Okay, you can — I haven’t tried this little thing here yet.
Phil: It’s a fruit.
Heather: It’s a fruit. It’s like a little bit tart and a little bit sweet at the same time. Look at my dish, it looks so pretty. I love the zucchini curls going on over here and a little bit of onions and I’ve got a nice mix of some raw food, and some cooked food, and some brown rice back here.
The only thing is I don’t know what to do is how to eat the lettuce that’s in this cup. I think probably I’m just going to dump it out and eat it all together, but it looks pretty in its cup. And Phil has ravioli.
Phil: It’s really good. I could eat about three times as much, but it’s really good.
Heather: Tomato sauce on top.
Phil: Yep.
Heather: Looks like some sun-dried tomatoes, spring onions.
Phil: And all this cost 35 soles, it’s about $14 each.
Heather: Canadian or US.
Phil: Canadian. Although they’re the same now.
Heather: True. And Phil says that these carrots are nice because they are soft, crunchy, and warm and what other adjectives did you put with the carrots?
Phil: Well, they’re basically soft and crunchy at the same time.
Heather: It’s a great place.
