The Grinning Oyster: Pearl #29 ~ Food Series: La Rosa Nautica

If you read my earlier posts, you've seen me reference my favorite restaurant in Peru, La Rosa Nautica (which I just discovered also has a location in Colombia!) and you've heard the story about how the first time I ate there I met President Toledo, only about two weeks before he left office.

As a segue, I had the opportunity to meet President Toledo (by that time the new president, Garcia, had already been voted into office) later in my trip at the U.S. Embassy's Fourth of July reception. That time, I shook the president's hand as he left the reception, and as he reciprocated the hand shake and made eye contact with me, I imagined that he was thinking that he'd seen those uncommon* blue eyes before but couldn't place them.

*In Peru, as in much of South and Central America, blue eyes are less common than in the U.S. or northern Europe. I've found that they can be quite the captivating feature for people from these countries. I mean, let's face it, I married a Nicaraguan and he's fascinated by my eyes! Even his mother wants our future children to have blue eyes!

When I heard that the president was going to be at the Lima airport the same day I was flying out to return home, I had this great hope that I would run into him again! Naturally, the third time he saw my, my image would become emblazoned in his memory and I'd be able to introduce myself and be able to count the former president of Peru among my professional contacts. Maybe I could have gotten free trips to Peru out of the relationship, or leverage it to go on to an extraordinary diplomatic career! Alas, it was not to be (yet). I never saw the president at the airport and my hypnotic gaze has probably lost its power with him.

But this isn't a presidential story, it's a food one. Hence it's inclusion in my new food series. And really, this food item has been described sufficiently in earlier posts so that I don't need to say much, other than that my first encounter with La Rosa Nautica was such that the destination became a required stop for any Lima visit of the future.

I didn't return on that trip, but I did when HubbyBubby and I came back in 2008. We had but one day to see Lima since it was just the gathering spot for our tour before we headed out to other cities and sites throughout the country. I was not 100% organized, so unfortunately I dragged HubbyBubby around to:

A pharmacy to get malaria medication since I'd forgotten mine at home. Turns out, malaria medication is available as an over-the-counter drug down there. How convenient.
A store that could produce instant passport photos and copies of documents needed to obtain a Bolivian visa (at the end of our trip). Fortunately, having spent my first trip in Lima working for an Embassy, I knew where to go for these resources, which is why I wasn't panicked upon leaving the U.S. without proper visa documentation. It's good to have a back-up plan, especially when you're a procrastinator.
An Internet Cafe (To finish and send my time sheet to my employer so I'd get payed while I was gone. Yes, I did this from Peru because I hadn't finished it in the chaotic preparation for my trip. It was not my best moment as a savvy and prepared traveler).

Once I took care of those necessary tasks, and grabbed a Lúcuma ice cream (Mmmm, if you ever get the chance to try lúcuma, a fruit found in Peru, do it! Its mysterious and subtle and delicious flavors are like nothing else I've tried.) from the mall across from the Embassy, I suggested to the ever-patient HubbyBubby that we go to La Rosa Nautica. She loved it as much as me, as you can see in the pictures below. It made up for all the craziness and set the tone for the rest of our incredible trip, which featured many treasured food moments yet to be documented.

For the record, I also recommended La Rosa Nautica to a high school friend traveling to Peru about a year and a half ago. She came back with rave reviews. Another friend from college leaves for Peru this weekend and has been given the same recommendation. She said she's going to try her best to check it out and I can't wait to hear what she thinks!

So, World, the moral of this pearl is that if you're in Lima, have dinner at La Rosa Nautica. You won't regret it.

P.S. Despite being a pretty fancy restaurant, and very pricey by Peruvian standards, the food still only costs about a third of what an equivalent meal would cost in the U.S. Also, you can see that HubbyBubby and I were slummin' it in our jeans and T-shirts (we were basically backpacking through Peru, so we didn't pack a ton of nice clothes). On my previous trip I was in similar attire. The waitstaff didn't seem to mind either time and the service was great. So, while I would normally dress up a little to eat at a restaurant of this caliber, in my experience it wasn't strictly necessary at La Rosa Nautica.