How spicy is rocoto?
Hotter than the yellow ají in most Lima sauces. Rocoto relleno uses the whole pepper. Ask for sin picante if you want the filling without the full burn. You should still expect chili.
Picanterías
What to Eat in Arequipa
Written by the Peruvify team in Lima, from the catalog of 205 dishes, drinks, desserts and fruits. Last updated .
What to eat in Arequipa is a picantería lunch: rocoto relleno, a shrimp chupe if you want the bowl, and solterito or ocopa beside it. Adobo is the Sunday pork. Queso helado is the cinnamon ice cream at the end, and it is sweet, despite the word cheese. The heat here is rocoto, which is a different pepper from the yellow ají in Lima.
Eat in a picantería
A picantería is Arequipa's room for this food. The plates come together, often with a little chicha de jora. You are not meant to order a single neat entrée and a side salad. Go hungry, at lunch.
The city is lower than Cusco and higher than Lima. You will feel the altitude less than in Cusco, and you will still feel the pepper more. Rocoto is hot. If you need it calmer, say sin picante when you order the stuffed pepper. You will still taste chili.
The Arequipa table
These are the plates the catalog ties to this city, not a generic Andean list.
Rocoto Relleno #43
RareAndes (Sierra)
A hot pepper stuffed with beef and cheese, usually baked. This is the one people mean when they say Arequipa is spicy. It is not a dare you have to win.
Stuffed hot rocoto pepper with beef and cheese.
Ingredients: Rocoto, Beef, Fresh cheese, Egg.
Chupe de Camarones #42
EpicAndes (Sierra)
River shrimp, potato, milk, egg and corn. A whole lunch in a bowl. Eat it here rather than as a copy in another city.
Arequipa's river shrimp chowder.
Ingredients: Shrimp, Potato, Milk, Egg, Corn.
Adobo Arequipeño #44
RareAndes (Sierra)
Pork marinated with chicha and ají, traditionally a Sunday breakfast or late morning meal. Come on Sunday if this is the plate you want.
Pork marinated in chicha and spices.
Ingredients: Pork, Chicha de jora, Ají panca, Bread.
Solterito #45
RareAndes (Sierra)
A chopped salad of fava beans, cheese, corn and rocoto. The meatless plate that still belongs on the same table. Ask them to go easy on the rocoto if heat is the issue.
Fresh bean, cheese and corn salad.
Ingredients: Fava beans, Fresh cheese, Corn, Rocoto.
Ocopa #41
RareAndes (Sierra)
Potatoes in a huacatay and peanut sauce. Vegetarian in the catalog. Some kitchens add shrimp. Say which version you want.
Potatoes with huacatay and peanut sauce.
Ingredients: Potato, Huacatay, Peanuts, Fresh cheese.
Pastel de Papa #46
RareAndes (Sierra)
A baked stack of potato and fresh cheese. Mild, and useful if the rocoto already won.
Arequipa potato and cheese bake.
Ingredients: Potato, Fresh cheese, Milk, Egg.
Escribano #196
RareAndes (Sierra)
Potato, tomato, rocoto and vinegar. Another salad, sharper than solterito. Small portion, big heat.
Arequipa salad of potato, tomato, rocoto and vinegar.
Ingredients: Potato, Tomato, Rocoto, Vinegar.
Queso Helado #111
RareAndes (Sierra)
Coconut and cinnamon ice cream. Order it after the stew, not instead of lunch. The name says cheese. The cup is dessert.
Arequipa coconut and cinnamon ice cream.
Ingredients: Milk, Coconut, Cinnamon.
How this city differs from Cusco
Cusco feeds you corn, quinoa and guinea pig, and it asks you to take the first day slowly. Arequipa feeds you pepper, shrimp and a Sunday pork. Both are the Andes. They are not interchangeable menus.
Chicha de jora, the fermented corn beer, is part of the picantería habit and part of the adobo marinade. It is alcoholic, unlike chicha morada. If you do not drink, the food still works. Ask for the purple corn soft drink or water.
Vegetarians can build a lunch from solterito, ocopa (without shrimp), pastel de papa and escribano, then queso helado. Rocoto relleno and adobo are meat. The ingredient check for the wider country is the vegetarian guide.
Questions
What is a picantería?
An Arequipa restaurant built around these spicy, shared plates. Lunch is the meal. The table usually holds more than one dish, and often a glass of chicha.
When do people eat adobo?
Sunday morning is the local habit, as a late breakfast. You can find it on other days. Sunday is when the city is actually doing it.
Is chupe de camarones the same as ceviche?
No. Chupe is a hot shrimp chowder with potato, milk and egg. Ceviche is raw fish cured in lime, and it belongs on the coast. Do not order one when you meant the other.
Keep reading
- AndesWhat to Eat in CuscoA light first day, giant corn, quinoa, and cuy only if you want it. Cusco is also spelled Cuzco.
- The catalog, ranked by chaseThe Best Food in PeruEveryday plates, dishes worth a detour, and the five legendary ones.
- Meatless, checkedVegetarian Food in PeruPlates, street snacks and desserts with no meat, fish or insect in the catalog ingredients.
- The whole menuWhat to Eat in PeruHow lunch works, how the three regions differ, and which city owns which plate.