I don’t think I’ve ever seen sashimi served with a lime dipping sauce before in North America. In Lima, though, this is a non-spicy variation of tiradito, which is essentially ceviche smothered in a lime-based puréed chili pepper sauce. In this Izakaya restaurant (small plates, Japanese snack food/bar food type restaurant, aptly amed, in this case, Izakaya…) their house version of the variation on the variation was expensive, but delicious. 30 soles or so for the plate, which is not a meal in and of itself. But a better deal than the sushi “boat” of mixed sashimi, nigiri and maki, especially when paired with house-made natto!
People think I’m crazy. I’m not Japanese, but I love the sticky, slimy, smelly, mushy fermented soy bean dish. They swore here it’s gluten-free, but they didn’t serve it with rice. So I had to order some separately and mix it all with my gluten-free soy sauce. There were enough traditional dishes on this menu to ensure that it’s not a place for tourists, or even most Limenans. It’s Japanese in search of real Japanese food who come here for chawanmushi egg soufflés, grilled marinated meats, and expensive sashimi.
The natto was really good, but definitely a lot more soup-like than I’m used to. It had a good stinky smell and soft, creamy texture and was topped with seasoned seaweed (which may have had gluten in it). With the hot rice, I was in heaven. Unfortunately, I had a bad reaction that night to something I ate, so I suspect there was some gluten involved somewhere, but the lime dipping sauce for the sole was perfect (better than soy sauce, even) since it brought out the flavour of the fish and had a little salt in it anyway.
Izakaya in San Borja – highly recommended for authentic Japanese in Lima. It’s not cheap, but it’s good.
Leave a Reply