Peru was the first stamp in the Culinary Passport.  Represented by Viva Chicken in Ballantyne.

The restaurant is in a shopping area with lots of restaurants and shops.  The traffic patterns and parking are odd but I didn’t have any problem finding a spot.  The restaurant was fairly busy and obviously a popular place as I heard several people talking about previous trips.  You place your order and they give you a number and will bring your food to the table.  They pack a lot of seats in the space so even though it was busy there was no problem finding a spot.  It is a bit loud so if you are looking for a place for a quiet lunch, keep moving.

The chicken was flavorful by itself but they have three sauces you can try.  It was convenient that the sauces were self service and you could pump them into little cups.  I tried the mild yellow and medium green.  The yellow Aji Amarillo was mild as advertised and a bit tangy.  The green huacatay is made from Peruvian black mint and herbs with just a bit of a kick and was my favorite of the two.

The quinoa caught me off guard because it was a cold dish.  It was made with red quinoa, onions and some other items.  It was a bit like a potato salad with quinoa instead of potatoes.  After the surprise of it being cold I decided I could definitely eat it again.

Canary beans were new to me and I was interested to see if I could figure out where on the canary they came from.  Still a mystery.  They were peppery and like most other white beans to me.  Good balance to the cold quinoa.

Overall my verdict is the food was good and definitely worth visiting again.  I didn’t get a Peruvian vibe from décor but they were good at moving the traffic in and out.

Here’s the link to their website.