On this beautiful Friday, I was meeting a friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It’s at Mochica that we found ourselves for lunch.

This odd location on Harrison street, far for the usual eatery street of San Francisco, made the experience even more interesting.

The place was empty at first and my friend was already waiting for me. As we got seated we were serve a small bowl of fried chick peas, mixed with fresh red onions, fresh cheese and peruvian corn. It was great and the Perfect complement to a Cusquena (Peruvian beer).

I take a look at the menu and already I have a list of things I want to try. We started by the Ceviche Mochica, a  plate with 3 different ceviche. It was good and fresh, I would have loved to stop right there but this was so promising that I needed to try more.

Then came the Anticuchos, beef heart on skewers, served with grilled Yukon gold potatoes. So good!!

My friend wanted to tried the Yuca frita, a reminder of his childhood in think. Again it was amazing. The texture was perfect and far for the greasy thing you can imagine, the inside of the Yuka felt like a light purée as it broke into my mouth.

I had seen some pulpo on the menu and i had to have it. It was baby pulpo cooked alla plancha, I loved the texture, they were perfectly cooked. Delicious!

We finished our lunch by sharing the pastel de camarones. As weird as it may seem to eat a sweat shrimp potato cake, fried and sprinkled with sugar, it was a very surprisingly good dish. It was also served with a spicy caramel like sauce. I do not like desert, this hit the spot big time! How can I explain, the sweetness of the shrimp came in perfect harmony with the rest. To me if you go there you have to order this dish!

Summary: Out of nowhere, Mochica has definitely put a pin on my map. The food is great, fresh. As we left, the 2 groups that had come in for a later lunch were all Peruvians and it told me that I wasn’t wrong. If you are looking for a great place for Peruvian food, or just to share a few tapas, I will highly recommend Mochica.

Bill for 2: $88.97 (including $20 of drinks)