The new restaurant will be located at Dempsey Hill and will offer an extensive menu of Peruvian dishes you can savour at different times of the day
While the proposition to savour Peruvian cuisine in Singapore is not new, it was often limited to a selection, and the odd pop-ups featuring more progressive interpretations. That is why Canchita Peruvian Cuisine, which is set to open on May 15 at Dempsey Hill, will be a welcome new addition to the scene in more ways than one.
“We are planning a menu that customers will want to return for and want their friends and family to try,” Canchita’s chef-owner Tamara Chávez López tells Tatler Dining in a recent interview. The Mexican-born chef was previously head chef at fine-dining outfit Ola Cocina Del Mar and Tono Cevicheria. She had also trained in Peru under chef Rafael Osterling (whose restaurant Rafael in Lima placed at No. 19 on the Latin America 50 Best Restaurants 2019 list).
Canchita’s menu needs to be accessible and offer a variety of options, she stressed. In fact, the range can be divided into five categories; “we have tapas or small bites that can also be served quickly and that customers who visit in the late afternoon can enjoy with their beer—such as canchita, which is corn from Peru”, and the inspiration for the restaurant’s name.
“Tono’s menu was more focused on ceviche and the flavour of the tiger’s milk,” López noted before affirming how Canchita is a Peruvian restaurant with a wider range of options for different times of the day. “And I think it’s important to maintain the traditional flavours … we want to have beautiful plates but with tradition,” she upholds.