in the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School
Av. Vasco Núñez de Balboa 530
Miraflores - 617-8300 x8353 Reservations REQUIRED
Tuesday-Friday 12:30-2:30 and 8:00-10:00
RT here. Many people know of Le Cordon Bleu and its stellar reputation as a cooking school. But the fact that some of their schools -- including the one in Lima -- have a restaurant is a pretty well-kept secret.
Well, tell your friends... the restaurant in Miraflores (El Taller) is a great way to eat some high-quality food at a really, really reasonable price.
Reservations are required, and they are pretty good at dealing with bad Spanish over the phone.
Since they are in training, the staff there really cares. A lot. Maybe a little too much, but what can you do? Anyway, we arrived and were seated and greeted by a waiter, with the supervisor hovering nearby. The bartender stopped by, too, with his list of drinks, hoping that we would order something complicated. Sadly, we kept it simple, and he sulked away, back to the bar.
First they brought us a 'shot' of ceviche as a courtesia.
Part of the fun is watching the students scurrying in the kitchen. The shot was the work of three people. For our appetizers, I had pasta with shrimp (I don't remember what the sauce was, but it was tasty), and my date had a Spanish Omelete (tortilla Espanola).
Our main dishes were a Lomo Saltado (I stick with the classics) and a Corvina for my amiga.
My lomo was delicious, and my date raved about her fish. She let me taste a little of her food, and I agree with her -- it was pretty awesome.
We had a hard time deciding on which dessert options to select, so the waiter offered to bring us small portions of all three to share. They were all as good as they looked.
And to top it all off, the food there is pretty damn cheap, considering the quality of the food. You can see the prices if you go to the school's website and nose around, but they did the menu one better: Any three course dinner (your choice from the menu) was just 25 soles. Drinks were extra (and they are normal-priced), and the price does not include the tip. But, we got out of there for way less than 80 soles for the entire meal, and I considered that a real bargain.
I will return to this restaurant. I already have four visits under my belt. The food is good, the prices are better, and it makes for a great date. Just don't tell anyone about it!
