What's the draw:
If you thought Peruvian cooking was all about quinoa and ceviche, well, you're wrong. This is food with soul, and to learn all about it, you should go to Andina's new site on Westbourne Grove. The restaurant (the sixth in Martin Morales' Ceviche Family group) takes its inspiration from picanterias, the traditional family-run restaurants found throughout the Peruvian Andes. Everything is designed to evoke these community hubs; even the interiors make it feel like you're sat in someone's kitchen, albeit a very stylish one – a thoughtful nod to picanterias being part of the family home.
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What to drink:
This is the place to glug – or, er, delicately sip – frothy, delicious pisco sours if there ever were one. But don't overlook the rest of the cocktails: many of them are classics, creatively reimagined with pisco as the main spirit. We whet our appetite with La Nieves, a negroni-style aperitif made with pisco, rhubarb gin, rose vermouth and contratto bitters, as well as sampling La Nueva Palomino, made with lychee-infused pisco, london dry gin, ginger and lemongrass cordial, guanábana (soursop) and elderberry juice. Save space for wine, too – we tried a 2016 albarino, made at the Garzón winery in Uruguay, rich in tropical fruits with mineral tones.
What to eat:
A glance at the menu and plates like aged Hereford rib-eye on the bone, chicharron pork bites or beef short ribs might catch your eye, but we urge you to take your time here. Try the corn tamal, a riot of textures and flavours that tarts up the roadside South American dish. Elsewhere, the prawn croquettes are rich, but not overly so, and laden with all the flavour of a perfect seafood bisque. As for larger plates, you can't miss the presa iberica pork – morsels of perfectly pink meat with a crisp, charred shell, served on creamy mashed potato with loads of fresh green chilli spice – or the Insta-ready grilled octopus served with sweet potato.
Small plates from £5; wine from £5 by the glass. 157 Westbourne Grove, W11 2RS; andinalondon.com