mlgb

I would have sent that meal back from the sound of it! There are many more options closer to the main Plaza but my experience is too old to give a recommendation.

crellston

I rarely eat in hotel restaurants anywhere. it s a while since I have been but Cusco is jam packed with good restaurants. If you have more time there then I would head up to San Blas. There are lots of decent places up there. Life is too short to put up with bad food!

mlgb

My worst tummy trouble in Peru was likely due to a hotel restaurant (altho no way to be certain).
​​​​​​ There's always pollo a la brasa somewhere nearby as an alternative.

As another editorial comment but my personal preference in Peru was to avoid international corporate chains. Even the mid range Peruvian chains like Terra Viva would be a second choice vs a one-of owner operated, where I've always had better service and good recommendations about restaurants and such (shout out to 3B!!) Plus I'd rather support a local owner directly and not some stockholder.

mjs

We were just tired after hiking MP Huchuy Picchu, 2 hour train ride and 2 hour car ride to Cusco and did not feel like going out. The Sonesta is a bit outside the center of Cusco as well. Yesterday took a “free tour “ of the city, then took a taxi up to Saqsaywaman, then walked down to San Blas to explore the area before heading to the San Pedro market for some shopping. Developed some GI distress despite traveling like in SE Asia. Took 1000 mg of Azithromycin. Dinner at ChiCha, a Gaston Ocurio restaurant. Interesting selection of Peruvian food. Had the stuffed bell
pepper and roast chicken but was not overly impressed by the food. I had a similar reaction going to Morocco when their food was being hyped.

mjs

For our last day in Cusco we spent the time just wandering around the streets of the center of the city. We paid $40 to extend our check out time for our executive jr suite til 3pm from 10 am. My daughter just brought up her stuff to our room. Sonesta has a free shuttle to the airport every hour so we took the 3 pm to the airport which was only about 10 minutes away. Premium economy line was short and allowed us to check our bags and get our boarding passes in about 5 minutes. Security was also fairly brief. Went downstairs after security to the Hanaq lounge with priority Pass. It’s a small lounge with maybe 25-30 seats so we had to sit outside for maybe 5 minutes before being admitted. Food limited to various chips, chicken sandwich and pastries. Coca Cola, inks cola, water, beers, wines, and various hard liquor available. Our 1755 flight boarded about 30 minutes before departure and the flight to Lima was uneventful. Highly recommend Premium economy on Latam as it makes the check in a breeze and there is plenty of leg room ( I had about 10 inched between my knees to the seat in front of me) and the center seat between 3 seats/side is blocked. They also serve a few snacks/ drinks. Not much more money for a ticket than a less expensive ticket with checked bags. Taxidatum taxi pickup for an $18 ride to our Lima hotel, the AC Marriott in Miraflores. Upgraded to high floor ocean view rooms due to Marriott platinum status. Free breakfast for the 2 of us and breakfast discounted from
$22 to $13 for my daughter. First AC hotel I have ever stayed at. Room ok size at 291 sq feet. Decent shower, refrigerator with 2 500 cc bottles of water. Decent value for $195/night.
The next morning had a very decent breakfast then walked to the tourist office in Miraflores to take their “free” tour of the historic center of the city. They took us on city bus and then about an hour and a half stroll through the center of the city. Later on our own we walked through the central market and on to China town, which was
very busy and crowded. Had lunch in China town which was inexpensive and not that dissimilar to many other China towns around the world. Uber back to the hotel. Walked around the Larcomar mall next to the Marriott. Wongs supermarket in basement a great place to buy snacks and drinks.
Dinner at Cosme in San Isidro via Uber. Food was quite decent. Sea bass tiridito was tasty. Fried Ceviche underwelming. Shrimp taco good.
Pork bun excellent. BBQ pork taco good. Pumpkin and dulce de leche ice cream yummy. Fairly inexpensive and we had two mixed drinks, a mandarin pisco sour that was underwhelming and an excellent Bees Knees.

mlgb

Never heard of fried ceviche. Must be a typo? Or some restaurant trying to be "creative", kind of a odd mix of offerings from the sound of it.

Shame you didn't make it to the Larco museum, especially since you went to San Isidro for dinner.

Hope the return flight goes smoothly.

mjs

No typo. Basically fried pieces of fish. Cosme recommended by my friend who lives in here. and top 50 Latin America list. Yesterday walked around Barranco and did a tour of Miraflores. Weather like Southern California in the winter. My friend Rodolfo and his wife picked us up for dinner at La Rosa Náutica on the ocean below. Excellent seafood. Rodolfo and I both studied in San Francisco although not at the same time many years ago. I have been promising to visit for many years. He lives in Miraflores but they spend their weekends at their second home an hour south by car near the ocean. He loves and misses California wines so I promised a tour of some good vineyards when he visits San Francisco for a meeting we will both attend in February.
Today is our last day in Peru and we are taking it easy as this has been rather fast and intensive trip and we have only visited a few parts of the country. Today is a shopping day. Have a 2255 flight to Houston so we will leave the hotel at 1830 via Taxidatum. Have to check out of hotel by 1600 so will have dinner nearby. Traffic in this city is awful so hopefully an hour and a half will be enough time.

mlgb

I was curious, Google says it's fried fish with pickled onion salad and maybe some leche de tigre. I guess they can call it whatever they want. I imagine it is popular with people who won't eat raw fish for whatever reason. Sometimes "real" ceviche is served with a few pieces of fried fish or seafood as a garnish along with corn, sweet potato and the pickled onions, and a slice of pepper, depending on which region you are in. I figured with that type of all over the place menu it was some kind of "cheffy" restaurant.

That should be plenty of time to get to the airport, taxidatum will know.

It's nice that you got to visit your friend there.

mjs

Took about 70 minutes to get to the airport. Our driver tells us that rush hour is from 3-10. Traffic heavy. United premier line takes about 10 minutes to check in and security and immigration take another 15. Polaris class uses Sumaq lounge near gate 17. Large lounge but pretty full. Get 2 free alcoholic drinks per entry. Fair amount of hot food plus sandwiches, pastries etc. Longer line for priority pass Hanaq lounge Next door.