Tucked away down a side street of Kensington is an unlikely location for an exuberant Latin American restaurant. From the outside, one wouldn’t identify it as such either. But inside the décor is subtly tropical, much like you might find in any Latin American capital city’s fine dining abodes.
Fusion is all the rage at the moment, but the hype means very little in Latin American cuisine, which is by nature fusion. Take Peru; the gastronomic sum of sophisticated ancient cultures and layers of historical immigration. You have the thousands of types of potatoes, chillies and exotic grains; the French and Spanish had their way with them, the large Japanese immigrant community (hence what we now know as Nikkei) and almost every other persecuted population that flocked to the new world embracing their ingredients into their cuisine. Populations move and take their food with them, that is what fusion cuisine is.
But for all the hype in London, there are few restaurants that really do the fusion experience that is Latin American cuisine justice, so I was curious to see what this latest offering delivered.
Sometimes it’s the simplest dishes that tell you most; the unindulged Chicken croquetas, for example, whose shredded chicken mixed with creamy béchamel sauce was as soft and moist as it should be or the pork belly patacones; succulent and crispy at the same time. Indeed even the humble lamb taco, which might do little rouse the senses, was absolutely delicious: the filling of lamb with Ras el Hanout and finished with roasted pineapple and cinnamon. So far so good: all these were signs that the chef had some seriously good taste buds and an idea of how to get the best of his ingredients.
Then came the highlights - the absolutely gorgeous grilled octopus, with pureed potato and yellow chilli dressing. Even the ‘warm’ ceviche which got my alarm bells ringing, won me over as the sweet potato ‘ice cream’ (yes that’s right – stone cold) melted over the seared seabass morsels, chilling the tiger’s milk and soothing its sharpness at the same time. Definitely ingenious over pretentious.
Somewhere around here the word cachapa’appeared, a delicious Venezuelan dish you'd make at home from either fresh grated corn (or a powdered replacement you find in Latin supermarkets) but not usually trendy enough to appear on most ‘fusion’ menus. I was detemined to catch them out on this but, alas, the chef, Francisco Lafee, whom Zuaya stole from Barrafina, was indeed Venezuelan, brought up in Peru, the final confirmation I needed that this fusion experience was the real deal.
And yes there was room for more. I loved the Chocolate Surprise, a kind of Latin American’s Eton Mess, mixing up mango and chocolate in only the way a Venezuelan-Peruvian can. All this was washed down with delicious cocktails, including the ‘London to Lima’ version of Pisco Sour. The title which just about summed up my entirely satisfying evening, a delicious transportation to the South American capital – perfect for the middle of a dreary London week.
Zuaya is offering LatinoLife readers 15% off plus a complimentary glass of champagne. Quote #latinolife and show a screenshot of this review.
Zuaya, 35B Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 5EB
