IK is truly a fine dining establishment. Upon entering the main room, La Jaba (or fruit box), you’re immediately surrounded with the scent of earth, fruit, and flowers. The plants on the edges of the fruit box are living, the wood is recycled from colonial houses, and you can see the kitchen all around you.
Our table was set with two stones while others had stones and pieces of branches. The wait staff told us they were there to bring good energy from the Amazon to us. Each table had a different image projected on it, from a fishing scene, to coffee beans, to the Incan knot system for counting, all a part of the story of Peruvian food/culture.
We ordered the IK experience, a 12 course tasting menu, which took us on a journey through Peru from the oceans to the Amazon.
To start, we asked for recommendations for refreshing drinks. I’m honestly not quite sure what we were served but refreshing it was! It had a taste of huacatay, an herb reminiscent of mint from the Amazon and was topped with a slice of Japanese cucumber and a cracked pink peppercorn. We went ahead and let them serve us recommended drinks from here on out.
The second drink represented a tree. It had a layer of ice where a branch, representing the tree, stood upright, frozen in the ice. Under the ice was pisco and upon serving the drink the bartender broke the ice and poured tonic water in to fill the gap between the pisco and the ice.
The third drink represented the death of a tree. A branch, upright in wax, held a few eucalyptus leaves so we could enjoy the scent. The drink underneath contained fermented cacao bitters—and it was so tasty!
But back to the food…we were given giant tweezers for utensils which were fun and new, fitting for the delicate nature of the courses and the precision with which they were served.
The tasting started with smoked trout wrapped in a leaf of an Amazonian plant, served on a stone and adorned with three beautifully placed flowers. In the box to the right sat two pieces of fried fish skin sprinkled with a seaweed dust (with a bit of creamy sauce on the bottom), atop a bed of seashells and stones. The fish captured the smokey essence in a lovely bite and the fish skins tasted like chicharron from the sea.
Quinoa crackers brushed with something shimmery came out next, filled with a cream cheese and cooked quinoa (and possibly sprouts?). These were served on a slab of stone. Alongside these came a branch with pretzel-ish bread with a leaf on the end, to mimic an amazonian tree.
Next, a bed of Peruvian roots presented itself as the next course. Our server was careful to mention these were more similar to a sweet potato than a regular potato and were meant to be eaten with two fingers, in two bites (or so). Each was topped with homemade ricotta, mara salt, and more beautiful edible flowers. Each bite was heavenly, and I took smaller and smaller bites toward the end to better savor the flavors.
A clay pot came out next, with a wooden potholder, topped with some woven cloth. Upon opening it, the server dropped a few drops of something onto a hot coal to create smokey steam. These potatoes were baked in the brick oven with a salty bread covering the whole potato. We were lucky to sit next to the brick oven and caught a glimpse of these being made. Accompanying the potatoes was a cheesy sauce with marigold oil.
Next, roasted baby corn with goat butter and basil oil. 4 roasted baby corn were wrapped in a single husk wrapped with string. Our server cut and opened this for us with tiny scissors at the table and they were still steaming hot. I’d never had goat butter, but the richness combined with the roasted-ness and chlorophylly basil were like magic!
Hearts of palm served in a nest were next, possibly with a hollowed stalk of sugar cane. These were beautiful, but the flavor was not very memorable.
Grilled scallops! Beautifully cooked and served with a sauce dusted with seaweed powder. Sadly I don’t remember what the sauce was made of, but each of the scallops were delicious.
More scallops (yum!) in the form of ceviche, topped with avocado granita. Never had a scallop ceviche but it was pretty good texture wise and the granita added a nice chill. Not sure what the round green blobs of liquid were, though they reminded me of capers in that they were very, very salty. At this point, we received a fresh spoon and fork (or fork and knife) with each course.
Alpaca tartar with maca and cereal. The flavor was quite memorable, but not the greatest. It was very strong and sharply herbal. Exquisite as far as presentation—each leaf, flower, stem was harmoniously placed in the tartar.
Escabeche de pollo, thin chicken strips that were rolled into a cylinder and topped with mushroom slivers to resemble, a mushroom! This was tasty and juicy.
Possibly the best dish of the night: seared Amazonian fish ribs (cooked in the clay oven), with heart of palm salad, and a square of layered yucca. It had a savory crispy crust and had such flavor! The heart of palm salad was beautifully fresh and the yucca also added another flavor and texture to the dish.
Our last savory dish: pork with crunchy chicharron on top and veggies unknown to me in the middle (reminded me of cabbage though).
Now for the desserts. It was a lovely surprise for us to find out that the desserts were a bonus to the tasting menu. They were each served separately and with their own utensils (when necessary).
We started with a sachatomate, a sorbet made of the Amazonian tree tomato, shaped as a tree tomato, with a stem to pick it up and eat the sorbet. This was beautiful and fun to eat, with a sweet tomato-ey taste (mom, I know you’d love this one).
Next came guanabana covered with homemade yogurt. It was a strong fermented flavor for the yogurt that remained refreshing because of the chill.
Almost last: pineapple in cinnamon earth and an ice cream made with an Amazonian seed (in the shape of a seed!). This was the most complex flavor with all the elements painting a gorgeous picture and taste. Jon said it reminded him of something his dad makes! I would certainly like to try that.
Before we were entirely done, we had a little fiesta at our table! Our server even brought a bit of confetti to celebrate. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it was really a great end to a complete sensory experience. He explained that this is a very traditional ceremony where people dance around the tree and then knock it down. The figurine is Ekeko, the god of abundance and prosperity. Around his neck hang miniature replicas of all the things we would like in abundance (here it was a tiny TV, car, beans, and money). He also carried 2 small sachets of mara salt and chocolate covered mango pieces for us as memorabilia for us, a really nice touch!
And we got a few more sweet treats besides that; the tree held two passionfruit cups with 70% cacao, there were marshmallow and chocolate grubs on a branch, and a truffle game! Two in the bowl were chocolates, but if we guessed wrong we’d end up eating a rock. The truffles were my favorite, they too tasted of the minty huacatay herb.
IK is named after Iván Kisic, a chef with a dream of bringing fresh Peruvian tastes to people with new and creative techniques. He died tragically in a car accident before the restaurant opened, and his cousin Monica (with a molecular biology PHD) and twin brother Franco successfully made his dream a reality.
Everything looks interesting and yes the tomatoes would be something I love to try how was it?
Sweet or salty?
By the way did you get wet in the fountain ?
It was great! The tomato sorbet was sweet =) You would love the amazonian tomatoes too, just a different flavor, very fresh.
I did get a bit wet in the fountain, it got my foot as I leapt over! But other than that we were lucky and didn’t get soaked (like I saw some people did, haha).