Food ·
Leche de tigre, aguachile, and the argument about which one is a ceviche
Two raw fish dishes sit next to each other on our menu. They are cousins, not twins, and the difference is worth ordering both to settle.
Peru will tell you ceviche is theirs. Mexico will tell you aguachile is something else entirely and please stop calling it a ceviche. Both are right, and we serve both, three lines apart, at 120K and 110K.
Ceviche mixto is the Peruvian one. White fish, prawn and octopus, cured in leche de tigre: literally tiger's milk, a lime and fish stock marinade that is sharp enough to wake you up and rich enough to drink on its own, which people in Lima do. It comes with plantain chips and a sweet potato puree, because the sweetness is what stops the lime from running away with the plate.
Aguachile is from the Pacific coast of Mexico and it is faster and hotter. Chilli water, not tiger's milk. The fish barely sits in it; by the time it reaches you it has been dressed for minutes rather than cured. Ours uses the white fish of the day with charred green chillies, mango, baby cucumber and red onion. It is the spicier of the two by some distance.
The rule of thumb: if it has sweet potato, it is Peruvian. If it makes you reach for your beer, it is Mexican.
Which one to order depends on the time of day. The mixto is lunch, with a Bintang and your feet in the sand. The aguachile is five o'clock, with a Margi'Verde and a decision to stay for dinner.
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