There are certain challenges when trying to introduce a cuisine into a country especially one largely unsampled and unheard of. And for years native Peruvian chef Alejandro Saravia has toiled trying to introduce his country’s cuisine to Australia through his Taste of Peru dinners and cooking classes. There is the struggle against using ingredients like guinea pig which many people associate with Peruvian cuisine, lest it become a gimmicky cuisine. There is also the wider misconception that Peruvian food is just like Mexican food or Spanish food.

Fast forward to a few years later and after working in kitchens across Sydney (Pier, Sails and El Bulli) and biding his time, Alejandro has finally stepped out into the spotlight with a restaurant of his own making the food that he wants to, with Morena serving modern Latin American cuisine.

Chef Alejandro Saravia

What does Morena mean? Alejandro explains that Morena is a Latin American woman, brunette specifically, and a woman that can fill up a room with her presence. She is sexy, fun but  elegant. And this is the sensibility that he is trying to impress upon us-it’s Peruvian fine dining but with a Latin American warmth to it. Part of the St Margaret’s development it sits where Guru and The Battery used to.

The front entrance is an eye catching verdant scene glowing with hydroponic lights. The scene is a joint venture between Morena and Queensland’s Kendall Farms. They grow them the very important “Aji Amarillo” or the Peruvian yellow chile pepper which up until now, they had to use dried or in a paste form. It took the farm just two crops to get it just right.

Morena has Australia’s first pisco bar, pisco being that eminently drinkable grape brandy that lends itself to sour flavours without being too mouth puckeringly sour. Here they experiment with many different cocktails including Pisco infused with coca leaves (the leaves that are used to make cocaine but have actually been part of the Inca and Andean diet for many years-and no the end result bears no resemblance to cocaine! ).

Pisco Sour $17

The Pisco sour is a frothy foamy drink made with Santiago Queirolo Pisco, lime juice, sugar syrup and egg white shaken vigorously and served in a wine taster with a couple of dashes of bitters and has a distinct aniseedy taste to it. It is finished off with some finely grated kaffir lime zest. Limes are sweeter in Peru while they are more acidic here so to compensate they also use some lemon juice.

Morena Chilcano $18

The Morena Chilcano is Alejandro’s favourite. He predicts that when the Summer weather hits and they open up to the courtyard outside in February this refreshing cocktail with Pisco infused cucumber, lime juice and ginger ale will be the hit.

The bread is baked on the premises daily and is a lovely, warm round roll with quinoa and it comes to life when paired with the coriander seed and black pepper infused Italian olive oil. Service is sweet and they explain things to us. However as we’re dining early (way too early for the Surry Hills crowd) and are the only customers, we feel a little claustrophobic as two wait staff hover over us.

Peruvian ceviche with kingfish, cancha and caramelised sweet potato and seaweed $20

There’s a degustation menu with 6 courses for $105 or with matching wines for $135 but we went a la carte as we wanted to try some other dishes. We start with what has to be the signature dish, a Peruvian ceviche. Although ceviche is a dish that spans many countries, the difference between others and Peruvian ceviche is the use of aji amarillo and it is not considered a Peruvian ceviche without it. The waiter tells us that the fish today is kingfish instead of the pink snapper on the menu and it comes in even sized cubes dressed with lime and lemon juice, balls of sweet, caramelised sweet potato and cancha which are crunchy, dry roasted Andean corn-corn being another item that is used extensively.

The flavours are tart, moreish and the texture of the kingfish is sublime. There was some brown seaweed at the bottom which was quite strong in flavour and I didn’t really go for this as I preferred the fresh flavour of the kingfish and I felt that the seaweed detracted from the fish. They key to good ceviche apart from fresh fish is using freshly squeezed juice as storing lemon and lime juices overnight can turn them bitter.

Causas 3 $18

Causas 3 is actually based on the historical dish of causa. When Peru was fighting for independence they used to feed the troops on what they could get their hands on which was potatoes. It is a dish based on mashed potato and historically they mixed with aji and lime and as named Causa as it would sustain the troops to fight for the “cause”. The causa here consists of three quennelles of mashed potato and each is flavoured with a different ingredient.

The top one is flavoured with parsley and other herbs and is topped with a creamy avocado and tiny, crunchy cubes of fish (and is my favourite of the causas). The yellow causa is the original causa and is desiree potato mixed with aji amarillo to give it a more golden colour and topped with large kernels of Andean corn. The third orange causa is given blush with roasted capsicum and topped with tender, braised octopus. And all of these dishes are plated very prettily and as per my resolution after the photography class last year I love playing around with the manual settings on the camera and using  my favourite Sigma lenses to try and capture these.

Andean Garden $18

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Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest move going to the Sydney Fish Markets the week before Christmas. I think I was lulled into a state of denial by hunger and eager opportunism and the compulsive urge to try somewhere new. I was taking my “team” that is my lovely hair stylist and makeup artist Elly and Joel from Stevie English salon to lunch. And before you think “Who on earth has a team?” it was a temporary dream team for me, we were doing a shoot (I can’t wait to tell you all about it!) and whilst I wish they were my permanent team, alas I awoke a few days later and did my own hair and makeup-badly I might add

Chosen because all love yum cha, we decided on a new venue that was set apart from the Chinatown crowd, for no reason apart from wanting a nice view. Of course the uncooperative partner for this plan was the weather and we had buckets of rain which made the stalking experience in the car park all the more unpleasant.

We arrive at 1pm on time for our booking but you don’t really need to book here. It’s a large room on the first floor of the Sydney Fish Markets building, quite busy and yum cha is in full swing. Large Chinese families dispense with the yum cha and order celebratory king crabs, whole fish and lobster. This is Elly and Joel’s second time at yum cha and I’m just going to broach the topic of chicken’s feet with them here

Out of nowhere a woman appears with three plates of roast duck on pancakes and we nod eagerly. The first few moments of yum cha always seem to be filled with an overwhelming urge to order everything. Elly, Joel and I are hungry, particularly Joel whose eyes are bobbing up and down with excitement, pupils dilated at the trays of food swimming past us. We grab a bit of everything from the steamed dumpling tray and sit back and sample our choices.

Duck pancake $5.50

The roast duck pancake is actually rather good with the crisp duck skin and dark meat, baton of refreshing cucumber and sweet, moreish sauce. Also of course there is the obligatory sauce drip down your hand as you lift it to your mouth.

Scallop dumplings

Now the prices for each of these are a bit all over the place as they just stamp and I never check but medium dishes are $5.20, large dishes are $6.50, specials are $7.80 and BBQ’d items are $14.80. The scallop dumplings weren’t bad, they weren’t the ones with peanuts in them which I don’t like much at all but they were full with scallops.

Vegetable and scallop dumplings

The vegetable and scallop dumplings were quite good with one burst open but quite honestly I was on the hunt for my favourite prawn dumplings and these were really biding my time until the trolley lady came around. And the trolley ladys are quite good here making sure that you get what you want even if they aren’t quite as frequent as you would like with about three covering the floor during service.

Dim sims

The dim sims are  quite good, I’m not a huge dim sim eater but I do like the fact that there’s a fat prawn at the bottom of each dim sim to give it extra flavour and texture.

Char Siu $14.80

The char has nice thin pieces, a good sauce and a mixture of not too lean pieces for I am  Jack Sprat’s wife and can eat no lean when it comes to char siu.

Eggplant dish $7.80

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I believe in karma-of all kinds including and not limited to strange things such as karma of lifts. For not having a license for several decades means that I have gotten several lifts over the years and I probably owe the universe several thousand. So when I was confirming plans to meet with Laura at Janani she mentioned that she didn’t have her car. I offered to pick her up and drive her there in Purdie the Prius.

Slowly I fought my way through peak hour city traffic where I tried to find the lane markings which were slick and glistening with what looked like oil. We finally made it to Janani with a combination of the GPS and Laura’s instructions and fell upon it gratefully.

Laura is a regular here and she and her friend NQN reader Maddie have been going here for years so she gets a warm greeting when we enter. “I always order the same thing so let’s order weird things tonight and let’s order lots of food!” she says eagerly. We peruse the plastic coated pages and start at the drinks. The two owners, a husband and wife team are here 7 days a week and the wife answers any questions we have about the menu items.

Faludha $6 on left and Butter milk on right $3.50

The closest description of the faludha is a thick, rose scented milkshake drink with scoops of kulfi ice cream and faludha seeds. It’s is sweet, thick and delicious without being too overpowering with rose. In contrast is the butter milk-not buttermilk, the by product of butter making, but an entirely different entity. Here they blend coriander, curry leaves, cumin seeds and ginger with milk and serve it cold. It’s unusual and definitely savoury and your brain, especially after having the faludha thinks  “No” but when yo think of it like a cold soup like a gazpacho through a straw then it tastes better. It’s kind of like the first time I tried a salty lassi or ayran. Now I love them both but the first time I didn’t.

Ginger Milk tea $3.50

“That’s three drinks right?” she asks us and we both nod. I always love going out to dinner with people that love to sample a lot. The ginger milk tea is my favourite of the drinks, not just for it’s warming properties on this cold and wet night but once I add a couple of teaspoons of sugar it gives a bit of spicy, milky sweetness that is like a little hug.

Chicken 65 $8

“Don’t ask me what Chicken 65 means” the wife says to us laughing. “What does it mean?” we ask. They say  that it is called that because it has been made since 1965. The dish is made up of tender pieces of chicken marinated in what looks like a spicy yogurt marinade and grilled until juicy and charred on the edges. It’s similar to a Tandoori chicken in smaller, bite sized pieces.

Hopper: coconut milk and jaggery $3.50

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