A Peruvian gluten free restaurant round up!

I’ve picked four restaurants to highlight, in cities you’ll probably visit if you weave your way to Peru.

Jack’s Cafe, Cusco

A huge gringo favourite. Normally we’d probably avoid this place, but coming to Cusco from Bolivia where we had our share of tummy upsets we really appreciated something that felt safe. They are good with allergies and I can highly recommend the big breakfast and nachos, but personally I loved the drinks. Awesome hot chocolate and mango and strawberry lassi.

Nuna Raymi, Cusco

(Slightly drunk looking, but the bread is glutenfree! )

A little treat, normally probably a bit out of or price range but it was our leaving meal after volunteering with NGO Taxi and a great night. It makes my noteworthy list add they were really good with The gluten free thing, had a large selection of dishes I could eat and served bread baskets with three kinds of gluten free breads!

Astrid y Gaston, Lima

OK, this was a crazy treat. This is the number 18 restaurant in the world and so a little out of our normal budget. It’s £70 for their 28 course tasting menu, which lasts about 3 hours. We had to go as this is so much more affordable than its European equivalents. On booking (only the day before for lunch, months for dinner) we told them about coeliac disease and they said they would adapt the menu for me. Gluten didn’t feature heavily in the boyfriend’s food, but whenever it did I had an equally wonderful gluten free alternative! Money very well spent. (And don’t worry if you only have shabby clothes, ours were awful but at lunch at least it’s perfectly fine)

Raw Cafe, Lima

A more reasonable find. All the menu here is gluten free, healthy and delicious. A bit of a walk but very worth it. We wanted to go back but ran out of time; the pizza and a sun dried tomato and linseed base was great, as was the chocolate avocado mousse dessert. The juices are also some of the best we’ve had in restaurant, the hulk (spinach, apple and other green things) is recommended!

The Coca Shop- Peru

This shop in the heart of Cusco (https://foursquare.com/v/coca-shop/4e4afecc22713bd908b93699) specialises in products made with Coca leaves. Coca leaves are meant to have many medicinal benefits, but the main one trotted out is to counteract altitude sickness.

You can either stick a large quantity of leaves in your mouth and sort of mush them up for hours, or you can pop them in some hot water for tea (much nicer).

Now, thanks to the Coca Shop, you can also enjoy it in a variety of sweet ways.

The chocolate brownie is so so good. A bit unusual, but one of the best I’ve had for a while.

This cookie thing, called a kukota is also very nice, although to my mind chocolate always wins. Boyfriend raved about this and it has an interesting Coca taste.
Also available are a handy snack bag of biscuits and chocolates by the kilo.

The gluten free secret? The owner doesn’t like wheat flour and only uses corn!  Such a nice surprise.