REVIEW: Sampling the BBQ menu at Senor Ceviche in Kingly Court

Peruvian food has to be one of my favourite cuisines. It’s fresh, zesty, meaty, full of flavour – and all normally accompanied by a lot of cocktails and punchy spirits. My first Peruvian experience ever was actually not that long ago when Lima in Fitzrovia opened its doors and got London all exotic. Since then we’ve been spoilt with new Peruvian restaurant, but none quite like Senor Ceviche in Kingly Court. The restaurant draws its inspiration from travels around Peru, showcasing a mind-boggling array of flavours and ingredients, some of which I’ve never even heard of before. And if that wasn’t enough, Senor Ceviche put on a week-long BBQ menu with some truly outstanding dishes which hopefully make their way onto the regular menu over time. Cocktails here are special too, worth the visit alone – especially seeing as you can prop up at the bar and soak up some of the restaurants atmosphere.

Apart from the delicious food, our evening led us to chatting with the guys from Chase Distillery, sampling the brands absolutely stunning Chase Smoked Vodka. The smoked vodka is made using traditional copper pot distilling methods, blending their award-winning Chase Vodka with Herefordshire’s finest oak smoked water. I wasn’t a vodka fan, until now. The vodka then managed its way behind the bar and left for the mixologists to create a signature cocktail. Food wise we started our BBQ evening with some absolutely stunning quinoa croquettes. A rich mixture of cheddar and quinoa paired with an aji ricotto & pineapple salsa. This may have been the first dish we ate, but it turned into being one of my favourites.

Food was flying out of the kitchen, and lots of it. As the evening went on the food got better with each plate, which made for an exciting and very exotic flavour sensation. The seabream ceviche was beautifully fresh and zesty, full of colour and full of flavour. Grilled beef heart skewers, piled high with sweet potato mayonnaise, aji panca, botija olives and mint was a dream come true – but the star dish was the Pachamama pork ribs. Slow cooked, succulent baby back ribs with sticky Nikkei bbq sauce & roasted peanuts. A dish which if on the menu you should all be ordering.

And then this happened. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. A draw droppingly beautiful octopus tentacle, singed to a perfect tender texture and served with a dollop of who knows what – but it was delicious. If octopus is your thing then Senor Ceviche are the masters. A truly exceptional plate of food.

Admittedly we’d drunk far too much of that delicious Chase Smoked Vodka by this point and barely had room for dessert, but we gave it our best shot. Perhaps not my favourite part of the evening, this sweet toffee pudding like skewer creation was a nice end, but it could have been a lot better. The espresso martini made up for any shortfall.

We had such a lovely evening at Senor Ceviche and the BBQ menu we got our hands on was not only good timing, but an absolute treat. The food was good, the BBQ’ness was full on smoke, the staff were excellent and the prices a bargain. Yes there is better Peruvian food in London but when it comes to price and fun – Senor Ceviche is leading the way and for that reason I can’t wait to come back.