Temperature: Hot, off charcoal
Where: Carretilla / anticuchería
Price range: S/16–70
What they are
Anticuchos are skewers of beef heart marinated in vinegar, garlic, cumin and ají panca, then grilled hard over charcoal so the outside chars and the inside stays pink. They come with a boiled potato, a piece of grilled choclo (giant corn) and three sauces: green (huacatay or cilantro), yellow (ají amarillo) and red (rocoto).
Heart is a muscle, not an organ like liver, and it eats like a firm, very beefy steak. The marinade is what gives the skewers their dark crust.
If you'd rather not, most places also do anticuchos de pollo, with chicken.
When and where
They're a night food. The classic setting is a cart on a busy corner from around 19:00, smoke coming off the grill and a few locals waiting.
- Anticuchería La Tía Grimanesa, Miraflores. The best known, sit-down, and a bit pricier.
- Anticuchos Bran, Surquillo. A grill bar with its own page here.
- Street carts in Surquillo, Lince and Barranco: cheaper and smokier.
- Criollo restaurants serve them indoors, at lunch too.
Of all street food, anticuchos are among the lower-risk options, because the meat is cooked over very high heat right in front of you. Pick a busy cart. More in the street food safety guide.
Ordering at a cart
Ask for "dos anticuchos, por favor". A portion is usually two skewers with potato, choclo and the sauces. Pay in cash with small bills, wait while they grill, and eat standing up off a paper plate. Locals tend to go for the green sauce first.
What they cost
| Where | Per skewer (S/) |
|---|---|
| Street cart | 8–15 |
| Sit-down anticuchería | 18–28 |
| Upscale restaurant | 30–50 |
Two skewers with the sides come to about S/16–30 at a cart and S/45–70 at a restaurant.
To drink: a cold Cusqueña, Pilsen Callao or Cristal, or a soda.
Where they come from
Andean peoples grilled marinated meat on sticks long before the Spanish arrived. The anticucho Lima eats today took shape in the colonial city, among enslaved Africans on the coastal plantations. They were given the cuts the landowners threw away, beef heart among them, and they marinated it in ají panca, vinegar, garlic and cumin, skewered it on sugarcane and grilled it over coals. Lima kept the recipe, and today it sells on street corners all over the city.