Tio Mario – Barranco, Lima

My hands were clammy as I looked at my Cuy but I was too committed to quit. I had already mocked one friend for freaking out, and I told another to grow a pair. I almost cried when I didn't get to try it in Cusco and then there I was, at probably the only place in Barranco to serve the Peruvian delicacy heard around the world.

Everyone else had it roasted but mine was fried to a perfect crisp. I was spared the head with beady, reproachful eyes, but still the hand had its fingers twisted in anguish, an uncomfortable reminder of what I was about to do.

The smell was mouth-watering, and the crunch was so satisfying when my teeth broke through the skin. The fat drizzled across my plate as I tore off juicy slivers of flesh. The texture was tougher but far better than chicken, like a rougher rabbit with a lot more character and a little more game.

The cuy washed it down nicely with a traditional Chicha Morada, and the comp’ed Dessert was the perfect finish, a heavily-honeyed, deep-fried halo.

All western preconceived misgivings aside, the cuy was delicious, and Tio Mario knows how to make it. I don’t exactly have a basis for comparison, but I do have a new-found craving.