Callao Peruvian Restaurant by Jaime Pesaque — Restaurant in The Hague

Edit 2025: their ceviche carretillero is really the best I’ve tried in the Netherlands. The portion is really small though. I’d come back just to have it after a beach day. Wish their starter menu had more variety. They have removed a lot of dishes.

— Old review from 2019

It's a nice restaurant, interior is decorated with industrial design, looks nice.

Food is supposed to be Peruvian but it's more like a gourmet version of Peruvian food. It tastes nice, yes, but not really authentic. Ceviche (regular one), was too acid and watery, I couldn't taste the "leche de tigre" (mix of lime juice, fish, fish broth, onion, cilantro, etc), it was just acid lime juice. I can't recommend their ceviche but I understand it's a bit hard to make it without Peruvian limes.

Lomo saltado was tasty, different from the original lomo but tasted good. The fries were soggy so if you don't like soggy fries then skip this dish, I prefer when they serve the fries in another bowl to avoid this issue. The beef was perfectly cooked and soft.

Their "Arroz con mariscos" was too salty but it tasted good, I can't find anything worth mentioning as I didn't find it remarkable. It was good but not wow.

They didn't have Inca Kola (Peruvian soda).

Would I go back? I'd like to try their other dishes. I have hopes their "ceviche carretillero" will be better than the regular ceviche. I'd give them another chance, it's certainly a good restaurant but it didn't fulfill my expectations. For a person without knowledge of Peruvian cuisine, this restaurant will be nice but for connoisseurs of Peruvian food, it isn't the best...

ENG: Went for a birthday dinner for 2. Asked for a surprise birthday dessert at reservation, they definitely delivered.

Very nice restaurant with professional and nice atmosphere, nice view of the harbour and nice terras allthough we asked to be seated inside which was great.

We had the Maracuya Pisco Sour and the Chicha Morada. Best chicha morada I've ever had.

The starters: Tuna tataki and Octopus with assorted corn. Both delicious, but the Octopus was my favourite.

Mains: duck confit and arroz con Mariscos. Both great, but the seafood rice was absolutely perfect, I will definitely be back to have that dish again for sure. The duck confit was also very delicate and tasteful.

Desserts: Tres leches cake and the chocolate cake with dulce de leche. The tres leches was delicious and covered in crispy roasted almonds, very good combination of soft and sweet with crunchy. The chocolate cake is delicious, but be warned its dense, but in a good way.

Our waiter (Brian) went above and beyond and was extremely professional and attentive while at the same time being very welcoming and makings us feel at home. Even when we asked to be reseated.

Observed the teams interactions, they are all very in tune and know precisely what to do and when to do it. Looks like a young and sharp team.

Highly...

The star I’m giving is just for the pisco sour.

The staff 4/10 The food 3/10 The location and view 10/10

We went there for dinner at 18:30 it was full and there were only 2 waiters for the right side of the terrace and they were in a rush all the time, even when we were ordering, they keep looking to other tables because they were very busy. We felt they gave more importance to the big tables.

We ordered ceviche and as far as I’m from Perú I know how a good ceviche tastes, but the fish had a strange taste… maybe it was frozen fish.

The octopus was ok but nothing special.

The worst dish so far was the “traditional” Lomo saltado… one more time it was COLD. The rice portion was raw.. The beef was burnt —check the photos— it was full of dried fries but no problem because you can dip them in the full liter of soy sauce in the bottom of the plate. To finish: since when the traditional lomo saltado has BANANAS??

Our expectations for this restaurant were high because we checked many reviews and most of them are positive.

For me as Peruvian I think only foreigners that haven’t tried the amazing Peruvian kitchen would say that the food in this restaurant is good.

We were disappointed. A very bad first and probably last...