Sonccollay Pre Inka Cuisine — Restaurant in Arequipa

This restaurant was part of the "free walking tour" in Arequipa. The interest of this restaurant is in the cooking discipline of the chef, who cooks everything in clay pots and uses no added fats (as a token, he let us slide a finger on the grid under the air vent, which is greasy in every damn kitchen in the world, even if you do your best at keeping it clean -- and it was completely dry, I kid you not). He introduced us to a genuinely new ceviche experience: Arequipa-style. Arequipa, even if it's at 2300m altitude, has always had a connection with the ocean, which is not too far away. This ceviche does not contain lemon, but juce from under-ripe maracuya (passion fruit), seaweed, and then the other usual spices. And of course fish, which in our case was swordfish. We tasted both the basic version and the sea urchin version (which was fantastic). Our main course was an alpaca fillet. We asked it rare, but it came medium. After the meal, when chef came to say hi, we told him, and he would have none of it: on the spot, he re-cooked us a second, wonderfully cooked, fillet and gave it to us (for free). At that point we were too full for dessert, which would have entailed a fondue with 100% dark Chuncho chocolate (sigh).

Another speciality of this chef is his penchant for XIX century linguistics. He drew chains of words crossing every language but starting or ending with a Quechua word. Thus we discovered that "wasi" (house) is phonetically close to "house" and also to "casa". And "smoke" ("goshtay" in quechua) must be related to the name of the Greek island of Kos, which was apparently home to a lot of woods the trees of which were felled for burning ("Kos" is obviously also the origin of "cucina" and hence "kitchen").

But yes do take cash because this multi-faceted chef does not accept...

Quick Review: Personalized and immaculate service. Incredibly delicious and above all UNIQUELY flavored food. Walter is an incredibly hospitable owner (He will give you a tour of the kitchen before you eat and show you the ingredients he will be using). More than anything, this is not a restaurant, because it not only gives amazing food, but an amazing experience.

Long version:

If you are looking for a great view of the the plaza while you eat delicious food, you will not get what you are looking for by following the "jaladores" in the Plaza to their half-baked picanterias. However, you can have a great view, great food (unique food you won't get anywhere else in the world mind you), and on top of that, a great experience. It's like a tour you might take to Colca Canyon, except your guide is Chef Walter, and the experience is pre-incan food. Here he serves the origins of Ceviche, Lomo Saltado, Causa, and the best Chicha I have ever tasted. The flavors are so much more complex than any Peruvian food you've tasted to date. And the prices are extremely reasonable for what you get and the experience that comes with it. If you come to Arequipa, and you don't take a culinary tour with Walter through the history and flavors of Pre-Incan food, have you really been to Arequipa? Or did you just take pictures for Instagram? You HAVE to eat at this restaurant, it is...

The owner/head chef is rude arrogant and aggressive. The staff don’t listen, he came out to take our orders. Told us what we should be eating and added wine on to the order after my friend asked what white wine they had. Overall they are very forceful. Then we ordered ceviche as a starter before the mains. it took Nearly hours for the food to arrive and then they bought the ceviche starters out after the mains. They couldn’t fit this onto the table and everything got cold as it was all out at once. Staff didn’t listen and told us it was all fine. The food was not very good, alpaca steak was so well done it was extremely tough and not enjoyable to eat. All other dishes were either over or under seasoned. The chef asked for our honest opinion and when we told him he told us to shut up, said we had a banquet and should be grateful. He then swore at us in an aggressive tone and walked off while continuing to rant. These people have no idea how to run a restaurant and to top it off it is very overpriced. Save yourself the hassle. There are so many nicer places to eat...