London Eating: Andina, Shoreditch

July 2019

The passion fruit coulis… I just wanted to take it home in a jar, lots and lots of it.

A day after the UK has seen its second hottest day on record, we decided to go on our July edition of London food adventure. It rained a little throughout the day and the temperature has become much cooler.

We visited Andina Shoreditch, a Peruvian influenced restaurant and part of the Ceviche group which has a number of similar Peruvian restaurants in London. We arrived at the restaurant at around 12PM on Friday as we wanted to try their weekdays-only set menu. We were welcomed warmly and the waiter gave us just the right amount of time to settle down and study the menu before they came to take our order. I also liked that the waitress gave us a choice of ‘still, fizzy or tap’ water when she came to take our drinks order. There is nothing worse than being bombarded by waiter’s drink sale talks as soon as you sit down at a restaurant.

For ‘Llama Express Lunch menu’, a diner can choose between 1 (£8), 2 (£10) or 3 (£12) courses. We both went for 2 courses. C ordered pork belly bites for starter and ‘poke’ (salmon) ceviche for main. I ordered braised aubergine and chips for main and chocolate and chia brownie for desert.

Pork belly bites came first, really tiny. C said it was… ‘okay’.

C’s ceviche came before my aubergine main. We were warned that they are a tapas style restaurant and dishes may not always arrive together. C said his ceviche was, again ‘okay’ and really nothing exciting.

I enjoyed my main dish; crunchy and fluffy chips, creamy aubergine on a bed of sticky rice, the spicy sauce brought the whole dish together and lifted it up. It was a good dish, a tasty dish, but that’s where it ended unfortunately. Good, but not memorable. Good, but not life-changing.

My desert on the other hand, was good AND memorable. I tend to prefer savoury flavours over sweet and the chia brownie was just right for me. The ganache was fantastic and I could really taste and enjoy the flavour of the chocolate rather than sugary sweet. The passion fruit coulis… I just wanted to take it home in a jar, lots and lots of it.

12.5% service charge was added to our bill which we accepted for friendly service and an overall good value meal. Plus, it was not a lot anyway as our food cost only £20 total. I would like to go back at their ‘Mucho Happy Hour (Sun-Fri 5-7pm)’ one day and try out the pisco sour maybe along with some a la carte dishes.

Andina, Shoreditch

Food: 3/5 (C), 4/5 (myself)

Service: 4/5

Value: 4/5

Would I visit again?: 4/5