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El Amigo

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

Peruvian punch: El Amigo offers Latin American fare.
Peruvian punch: El Amigo offers Latin American fare.Christopher Pearce

South American$$

Like efficient light rail and the end of the Mexican wave, Peruvian food has been threatening to hit Sydney for the past few years.

Mancora dishes up fine ceviche in Marrickville and Misky Cravings has your cassava covered in Fairfield. Closer to the city is El Amigo, perched in rickety old Ross Street in Forest Lodge.

El Amigo is a jumble of red walls and Latin American kitsch. Tables are clothed in either cheap and cheerful Italian check or the kind of material hippies use to make bracelets with at world music festivals. Peruvian wall hangings and Inca Kola posters decorate the room.

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Peruvian fish ceviche is hidden under a hill of red onion.
Peruvian fish ceviche is hidden under a hill of red onion.Christopher Pearce

If you're in the mood for takeway, head to El Amigo early and snap up one of the golden beef or vegetable empanadas ($5) from the bain-marie, or go really Peruvian street food and grab some anticuchos ($16). Anticuchos is Quechuan for ''cut stew meats'' which at El Amigo translates to marinated ox heart on sticks. They're served with potatoes, corn and huacatay chilli. Full of flavour and not too offaly, if you haven't tried heart before, anticuchos are a great place to start.

Tamales ($9) are a must order, consisting of cornmeal studded with chicken, toasted peanuts, olives and egg wrapped up and steamed in banana leaf. Peruvian fish ceviche ($19) is cooked in a rocket fuel of lime juice and hidden under a hill of red onion.

''Would you like chilli with the ceviche?'' Yes, you would. The chilli sauce packs more heat than a double-crossed 007, but a neighbouring puck of sweet potato steps in as a cooling agent between bites.

Empanadas ready to eat.
Empanadas ready to eat.Christopher Pearce
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The tacu tacu ($17) is an all-day breakfast for all-time: a fried cake of rice and beans served with fried banana, fried egg and a zippy salsa criolla. It would be completely vegetarian friendly if there wasn't a layabout piece of steak sharing the plate as well.

El Amigo isn't open for dinner or on Saturdays, but trading hours are often extended at random, especially in the summer holidays. When that happens, grab a spot near the street, pour a glass of rosé (corkage $2 a person) and order a $34 plate of jalea (lightly battered seafood) for two.

The view across to Bridge Road is hardly Rose Bay calibre, but an inner-west sunset has a magic all of its own.

THE LOW-DOWN
DO … buy some dulce de leche alfajores for the trek home.
DON'T … bother too much with the burger menu.
DISH … Peruvian ceviche ($19).
VIBE … South American family lunch with touches of suburban takeaway.

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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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