Demand for 5-fork restaurants remains stable in Peru

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The Peruvian Gastronomy Association (Apega) said that the international crisis has not affected consumers flow to 5-fork restaurants in Peru.

“This is because for Peruvians cuisine represents a shelter, and the budget destined for this sector never changes,” Apega states.

Apega's president, Gaston Acurio, said that the demand for restaurants of all kinds (including 5-fork ones) is registering stable levels.

“We are not registering increases, but neither a considerable drop,” he said.

With regard to the average ticket, he said that Peru is the cheapest place on earth when eating in 5-fork restaurants.

For example, a high cuisine ticket worldwide costs US$ 250, while in Peru is US$ 40. For casual cuisine (including Cebiche or Chinese food) the ticket costs US$ 20,” he added.

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# menu de 0.50 soles says :
2 July, 2009 [ 16:01 ]

did you hear about the menu of 0.50 soles??     its all soup¡¡¡ !!!  jajajajaja

# Martin says :
2 July, 2009 [ 16:47 ]

Great prices for tourists from abroad, but $20 or $40 for an 'average' Peruvian is a lot of money. Probably the waiter serving the tourist can only afford a "menu" of about 5 soles.

# David N says :
2 July, 2009 [ 19:05 ]

I don't know that I agree with you Martin. Most of the tourists in Peru are here to backpack through the country, sleep in hostels, and take buses. Yes there are some with money but most are just as broke as the local population.

In Lima, for example, the population is 8 million or so. Now, the overwhelming majority of those unfortunate souls are dead broke and live in deplorable conditions. For them, S/10 menu is a fancy restaurant and expensive.

But about 5 percent of the population can afford these prices. That's around 400,000 people. They consist of the 'elite class,' which includes elected politicians and their groupies, pilfering through the tax dollars and lining their pockets with our hard earned money.

# Mike says :
2 July, 2009 [ 19:47 ]

My wife has sworn to me there are places in Lima you can pay $150 per person for dinner, but has yet to make good on her promise to show me where.....

And she's been telling me this since I met her in '04!

We had dinner at Costa Verde a while back - I was thoroughly unimpressed.  I don't mean about the price, I mean the quality of the restaurant.  It was OK, but nothing to write home about.  The food wasn't even that good.

# Terri says :
2 July, 2009 [ 20:14 ]

I'm from Chicago, IL USA so am use to great food and service.

Most restaurants in Lima, if transplanted to Chicago, would not last a year - the customer service is very poor.  However, Lima is better in general than Milwaukee or Detroit restaurants, to name a few.

The best meals I eat in Lima are from our family employee in price, taste, and service.  Though she cannot seem to learn how to use soap and water to clean a floor, she's a great cook.

# fork says :
2 July, 2009 [ 20:35 ]

Gaston Acurio competes with Abencia Meza and Kina Malpartida for the title of the most annoying clown in Peruvian media. Can't wait for them all to emigrate to Miami and entertain people over there.

Having said that, there are plenty of very good places to eat in Peru, and cheaper than 40 dollars per person. But that is on par with most underdeveloped countries, and more than in some places in Asia. And 'high cuisine ticket worldwide' is not $250, Gaston has no idea what he's talking about. What they mean by '5-fork' anyway.

# David N says :
2 July, 2009 [ 21:44 ]

Mike, Costa Verde is awful.  I went there a couple of times and was really turned off by the buffet.  Didn't look sanitary or like the food was being properly chilled/warmed/handled.  I'm no huge fan of Lima restaurants, but if you want to eat down on the beach and out of the Larco Mar scene you're much better off right down the road at Cala.  It's believable and looks clean. 

Or if you have a hankering for a steak, El Honero in Chorrillos isn't half bad.  Mainly US beef.  Avoid their strip steaks though, full of fat.

Terri, have to agree with you.  I've had some first class dining experiences in Chicago.

# Mike says :
2 July, 2009 [ 22:10 ]

My wife said Costa Verde used to be a lot better.  We didn't have a buffet, but I got sick as hell after forgetting myself and eating some local-type shellfish. Sheesh.

Thanks for suggesting Cala - I'll check that out.

Some of the restaurants I have liked most in Peru are casual dining places.  And mostly in Huancayo.

BTW, fork, 5-fork means 5-star.

I also have an amusing anecdote.  My first trip to Peru, in 2005, my wife took me to Larco Mar.  There was a great restaurant (she said) called "Tony Roma's" my wife wanted me to see.  It was really crowded, and I didn't want to wait to eat.

The upshot?  That was the first time I had even heard of Tony Roma's - (which apparently had not spread into my corner of the US yet) and because I didn't know anything about it, I thought it was a Peruvian restaurant with an Italian theme!

And, truth to tell, I kept thinking it was until I saw one two years later while traveling through North Carolina.

Guess I don't pay attention to chain restaurants too much.

# David N says :
2 July, 2009 [ 23:42 ]

LOL - good thing Tony Roma's had a wait because the one in Larco Mar is really terrible.  Mango's is better, but do the regular menu and skip their lunchicito buffet or whatever it's called -- that's lame. 

# Simon Hopkins says :
3 July, 2009 [ 01:08 ]

Why do you fools even bother going to Peru is beyond me.
Go back to usa and please stay out of Peru & South America.
Rubbish like you is not welcome.

# jimmyjames says :
3 July, 2009 [ 01:15 ]

Ok folks, for a fantastic dining experience, GREAT FOOD and BETTER SERVICE at PREMIUM PRICES, go to San Ceferino in San Isidro.  For GREAT FOOD AT GREAT PRICES try Al Fresco in Miraflores below Parque Kennedy.
I have a couple of gringo friends here from Chicago, and they will tell you all that NO ONE is competing with the  quality of life and cuisine that can be had right here in Miraflores.
I am finding that many people here have their favorite spots to dine here and ALL of them please!!!!!!!
Stay away from the tourist traps like Mangos and Romas.
Don't you dare miss the Chifa and Ceviche and you don't have to spend very much for GREAT FOOD.
Also, don't figure on getting great service and remember that most of these people make less in a day than you make in an hour, in most instances much less.
And to you complainers, go home and miss what we are enjoying every day......... 

# Paul Turner says :
3 July, 2009 [ 02:24 ]

Lima Cuisine: You Don't Know What You're Missing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060801119.html

# David N says :
3 July, 2009 [ 06:24 ]

Who would want to go to Alfresco for their horrible service and bland, overpriced seafood. That place is a tourist trap if there ever was one! That other one is mainly pastas. I can have my housekeeper make spaghetti or lasagna.

People down here go to Larco Mar for the atmosphere and the views. The other poster mentioned Tony Roma's which sucks. Mangos gives a halfway decent plate of food with a good view, so you don't know what you're talking about.

# David N says :
3 July, 2009 [ 06:36 ]

Oh, and another thing...your friends from Chicago must be from the south suburbs, because only someone from Joliet or someplace like that would be impressed with Miraflores. 

I worked for a time right in downtown Chicago.  Lived six years in NYC.  You cannot compare the first class, world renowned restaurants found in the city of Chicago or New York with the third rate stuff found in Lima.  No comparison.

# Terri says :
3 July, 2009 [ 07:43 ]

It's true that Peruvian restaurants serve good food, however, they're a one trick pony.   After 6-8 months of the same dishes (with the very poor service), eating out becomes boring quickly.

I asked my family to have our employee (who I pay) to serve me less rice every day.  When I asked if they can make vegetables instead, my family said "What? You do not like rice!"  I like rice, potatoes and chicken, but not every day for almost each meal for nine months. It took about five months for them to learn not to give me so much rice on my plate.

Peru's food is good, but not much variety.  I guess it's fine if you're only visiting, but it has been tough for me to avoid boredom and or frustration (even sickness) when eating in Lima.

I would add that the USA food is unhealth compared to Peru.  The USA food industry pumps sugar, fat, and or caffine in most of their food. This is why the 1/3 of USA people are obese.  Peru does not know obese compared to the USA.

# Mike says :
3 July, 2009 [ 10:01 ]

People in the US aren't obese because all of the food is unhealthy - it is because they make uneducated, immature, unhealthy decisions about what to eat - and have HUGE set of choices (combined with marketing pressure).  And on top of this, high-calorie food is cheap.

Why?  I've heard all sorts of stupid theories, but what it comes down to is that processing food in a batch is still cheaper than picking and shipping the food (and it staying in salable condition).  The US in *not* a small country.

Still, even 'processed' foods aren't that bad.  The selection is the best it has ever been, with about the only thing wrong (still) are higher levels of sodium than I would like to see.

Frankly, some of the best improvements in "processed" foods in the US is frozen fruit and vegetables - the quality of them has increased dramatically in the last ten years.  And frozen items like this are the minimally processed type - rarely with anything added.

# John B says :
3 July, 2009 [ 10:30 ]

Thanks Dave for your 6 comments and the other suggestions from others on what and where to eat. We love the Hawaiano because the food is always great and the buffet has everything for 50 soles.With any food, drink,desserts,with all you can eat. I don't know if the Incas ate cuy but you can have it,tried it twice.My Peruvian wife loves it.Your adverage American doesn't require going to any 5 star restaurant like we have in NY or Chicago to appreciate Lima. A few inches later could change my opinion? I first tried ceviche in Peru and got hooked. The chifa (chineese rice) is good everywhere I've eaten it.

# Chris says :
3 July, 2009 [ 11:18 ]

Read "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser.

Schlosser describes the growth of the restaurant industry as being driven by fundamental changes in the USA. Since the 1970s there has been a steady decline in the hourly wage (adjusted for inflation) of the average USA worker.

Additionally more United States mothers were working outside the home, so abandon homemaker responsibly like cooking. With one of the highest divorce rate in the world, USA single mother led homes are over 40% of families.

People have less choice than we expect.

# Mike says :
3 July, 2009 [ 11:36 ]

People have more choice - they just make poor ones.

And, yes, fast food is bad for you (generally).  If people want to make the poor choices of eating fast food and eating heavy calorie food in general, then that's their problem.  They choose it - they can't complain.

No corporation is forcing Americans, or Peruvians, to eat a particular food.  They design marketing campaigns to be attractive.  They make food that is comforting, priced cheap, and has good initial taste and "mouth feel."

I eat at McDonalds (or Bembos, or wherever) - but only as either a last resort or a treat.  If more people treated high-calorie food like that, they would be in a much better place with their health.

But if that is choice you want to make - then whatever results from that is your own fault.

And I don't want to hear about people not wanting to cook at home - first of all because plenty of people do, and secondly because the same ones who don't have "time" to cook at home are the same ones who think that fast food is OK to eat every day.  They are stupid, lazy, and not looking to change that - ever.  Good luck to them.

# Terri says :
3 July, 2009 [ 13:59 ]

Ring.  Ring. Ring.  Clue phone.  It's for you.

 

"Choice"  - Dude, you've watched to many re-runs of "The Matrix." In the USA consumers are sheep, and are mostly influenced my marketing and the chemicals put in foods.

 

In the chapter entitled 'Your Trusted Friends' of "Fast Food Nation", Schlosser takes a look at restaurants deliberately targeting children. One marketing expert has called the 1980s "the decade of the child consumer." He described children as "surrogate salesmen" who had to persuade working/single mothers to buy what they wanted.

 

The USA has the highest obesity rate of any industrialized nation. More than half of all USA adults and about one-quarter of all American children are now classified as obese or overweight (BMI>30). Those proportions have increased dramatically during the last few decades, along with the consumption of fast food.  The rate of obesity among US children twice as high as in the late 1970s.  Mom divorced dad, so now mom has to work - sorry no time to shop and cook and clean.

 

"No other nation in history has gotten so fat so fast". In simple terms, when people eat more and move less, they get fat. In the US, people have become increasingly sedentary and consume more restaurant meals, including fast food. As people eat more food outside the home, they consume more calories, less fiber and more fat.

# David N says :
3 July, 2009 [ 14:13 ]

Yes, ok, we all get it.  Obesity, excess, blah, blah, blah.  Americans are overweight?  OK fine and whatever.  Financial capability to over indulge most likely.  Congratulations. 

Doesn't change the FACT that the minute I get off the plane in Lima I'm reminded of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  Sheesh you people are short little midget things.  I feel like a giraffe in this country.

My guess is the nutritional value of the food Peruvians consume is lacking, and this accounts for their short stature.  Lack of vegetables in the diet, lack of proteins, lack of clean drinking water, and lack of sanitary living conditons. 

# Rene says :
3 July, 2009 [ 17:13 ]

Terri, when you bring on statistics, make sure you note them down properly.

"More than half of all USA adults and about one-quarter of all American children are now classified as obese or overweight (BMI>30)."
Overweight equals BMI>25, and yeah, the majority of US citizens is overweight. But obesity (BMI>30) is much less represented, less than a third of all US citizens. Draws a whole different picture, hey...

Statistics must be accurate. If you don't do it accurate, you loose credibility as you just did...

Plus, regardless of what the majority of US citizens does, it does not disqualify any of the opinions given above

# Mike says :
3 July, 2009 [ 19:46 ]

Terri, you are the one the phone is ringing for.  You, and people like you, just make up whatever excuse for individuals so that they can constantly claim to be victims.  They always have an excuse to be stupid.

Americans have choices.  You don't need to turn on the tv.  You don't need to buy someone's product.  Americans live in a free society where they can choose whatever they want.  If they want the easiest thing, that's up to them.  If they want to be impulsive and silly, that's up to them.

Marketing to children?  No laws against it for restaurants - thought there are now rules in regards to television shows and toys/games.  Should there be?  Well, not unless the television show they are watching is for the same thing the ad is for.

My child is marketed to, and certainly loves going to Mickey D's (or where-ever), but she knows it is a treat and not to be used as daily food.  Why is that?  Because I am an active parent and actually teach her things outside of the school.

If other Americans do that and "are sheep" as you put it, that is up to them.  No one is holding a gun to their head or a burger in their mouth.

And just so you can stop quoting things:  saw the movie, read the book.  Yes, horrific.  Yes, it is too bad certain people are so uneducated.  Work hard to improve the education system, and other things fall into place. i.e. People start making better choices.

But then again, people have to choose to make a better education system - it is up to them.  If they decide not to put their energy into it, then that is their decision.

And the same goes for Peru.  People are OK with corruption, dishonesty, and criminal behaviour?  Then they can live with it until they decide they don't want to anymore.

# David M says :
3 July, 2009 [ 23:03 ]

Mike you clown.  How can you think that eating frozen friuits out of tins is any good ?

Nice fresh natural fruit is what you want to be eating pal !

# David N says :
3 July, 2009 [ 23:13 ]

The fruit in Peru used to be OK years ago but it isn't good anymore.  Rotting bananas, old grapes, spoiled apples are mainly what's found down here now. 

All the good fruit gets sent overseas now and Peru gets what's left over.

Also, there isn't a decent deli in the entire country.  Oh, and just ask someone for a bagel.  They just give you some dumb stare and offer the usual white flour pan francais.  Crazy thing is they sell cream cheese, but no bagels.   

# Mike says :
4 July, 2009 [ 08:21 ]

David M - you are correct, fresh is better.  However, frozen and canned is often cheaper in the US.  And since both are now significantly better, no one in the US can use the excuse of powerty to not eat well.

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