After using a Class Pass trial for an unusual "yellow" yoga experience, the closely located Pachamama East was perfect for lunch afterwards. It was a peaceful and quiet Friday afternoon for a short wander around Shoreditch. There seem to be two entrances. We entered the rear one straight onto the bar and a quiet area probably more for coffee than food.
The décor is very café rather than restaurant, with a lot of plants littered around including on the walls. The atmosphere was relaxed.
The menu is Asian-Peruvian (which I associate by habit with Nobu). However the Asian here did have more than just Japanese, with many Sichuan elements also.
It was lunchtime so I didn't feel so much like a cocktail, but the mocktail Chicha Morada (purple corn brewed with apples, cloves, cinnamon, pineapple skins) £7 sounded interesting and certainly the colour was striking. It did taste similar to a cloudy apple juice with spices. I didn't so much taste corn as I had hoped from the description.
- Padron peppers, chilli £5 – perfectly blistered with oil, salt and perhaps a little butter. Delicious. They weren’t very chilli hot, and didn’t see any additional chilli added;
- Yellowfin tuna, pickled potato, XO, cucumber £11 – a pretty dish topped with wispy white sticks. I couldn’t distinguish the XO sauce particularly nor the potato for that matter. It was savoury and ok overall;
- Seabass ceviche, soy tiger’s milk, nori, sesame £9 – this was an excellent dish with soft cubes of fish served in a delicious umami, tangy, and balanced sauce;
- Tuna, avocado jalapeño sauce, fried leeks, lime, radish £11 – nice combination of slivered tuna on an avocado bed with slices of chilli, radish, salty bits of leek creating an excellent combination of textures and flavours;
- Plantain, yacon syrup, feta, black olive £7 – plantains a little stiff and not ripe enough, very strong black olive crumb overpowered the rest, and chalky feta was very mild. The only dish I didn’t understand and didn’t like;
- Crispy lamb belly, green pepper, miso £11 – a little bit of crispness but mainly just pieces of lamb full of fried flavour. The green pepper sauce was contrasted by a bit of tart dark (vinegar maybe?) one and together combined well. Some lamb pieces were quite fatty whilst others were pure meat morsels great for chewing;
- Miso-cured carrot, black quinoa, Peruvian kimchi £7 – nicely roasted carrots with just a hint of something extra in it. Kimchi was thin strands of pickled vegetable;
- Octopus, black quinoa, onion, lime £15 – quinoa stewed and popped (or was it large couscous?) and presenting charred bits of octopus with excellent flavour. The octopus had texture rather than soft and fine, but far from chewy. Very good;
- Whole seabass, pickled chilli, mango, Asian BBQ sauce £23 – a nicely cooked soft fish served whole. It was nice although not particularly special.
Other than the plantains, all the other dishes ranged from good to excellent. I didn't really try the Sichuan options such as fried chicken or cumin lamb stirfry (yum), but that could be for next time.