La Nueva Chomba Picanteria — Restaurant in Distrito de Cusco

What a lovely small local restaurant. I was tired of touristy places with mediocre food, and employees trying to cast an advertising spell on you on the doorstep trying to lurk you in. I found La Nueva Chomba thanks to a local’s recommendation.

The staff was incredibly friendly and kind. They were happy to explain and even show these unique dishes on their menu, in addition to giving recommendations. This is where I decided to try the infamous specialty of Cusco - cuy. It was prepared with herbs that gave it a pleasant flavour and juicy texture. Probably the best cuy in town! So, if you’re curious about trying it out and would actually like to enjoy your experience - this is the place for it. Their other dishes were delicious as well, including potatoes in various forms, quinoa, etc. As well as their drink menu, their chicha morada and maracuyá juice were fantastic. Since I had room for some more curiosity, I tried out their frutilla (a mix of corn beer and strawberry juice) too.

All in all, La Chomba is the best place to try out the true local food. The way the locals have it without any tourist traps. And the amazing staff is there for you to help you navigate in this exciting...

I know, many claim this restaurant a local favorite. And we were brought here by a super nice local guide, who dropped us and drove away without getting any commission from the restaurant. We truly believed he liked the food here. However the food was simply horrible to us.

We ordered chick soup (Caldo de Gallina), roasted chicken (Gallina Dorada), and pork Adobo. The roasted chicken was a chicken breast with bones and tasted normal though hard to cut, and the other two simply tasted weird. To be fair, the chick soup was OK, but the potatoes were strange. The pickled chili in the adobo tasted rotten. I recommend to whoever wants to give it a try to stick with beef.

For drinks, the purple corn juice (chicha morada) was watery -- I guess it's authentic but won't prefer it to the berry-blended version in the finer dining restaurants. The strawberry juice (Frutillada) tasted rotten strawberry.

Everything was in huge portion but we couldn't finish 1/3 of the order because of the flavor. Waiter was great. And seriously, the highlight was the free soup they offered...

I always want to dine where the locals dine, and this place is certainly where this can be achieved. I like the environment here and think it is quite basic, which I don't mind.

But the food was very average unfortunately. I enjoyed tasting my friends guinea pig and that it was moist and tasty. However, my sopa de gallina was a disappointment. The broth was ok but lacked flavour and the chicken was unbelievably hard, which could not be cut with a knife.

I tried some meat and potatoes from my girlfriends plate and just thought the meat was overcooked and potatoes under seasoned. The food was heavy and filling however lacked seasoning and finesse (the latter is not necessary, just an observation).

I want to recommend this place but can't based on what I had, I think other dishes are perhaps better, but I invite those to come here and try the local food and judge this...