Mishqui Cocina Peruana brought Peruvian cuisine to Monona and with its success opened a second location last year in Middleton.
If you like meat, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s start with the rotisserie chicken, which comes in whole ($21), half ($11) and quarter ($6) portions and also in combo meals. The chicken was moist and fell off the bone easily. It was topped with “traditional Peruvian spices,” and I mainly detected cumin.
The beef tenderloin in the lomo saltado ($20) had an excellent grilled flavor, plus it was juicy and tender. The soy and oyster sauces were savory, and the accompanying rice soaked it up. This was an absolutely wonderful dish.
On the other hand, the braised pork was a little dry and surprisingly not as tender as the beef in the chicharron de puerco ($16). I had ordered fried rice but was unfortunately given plain rice, but it still was an acceptable pairing with the excellent roast pork flavor and the accompanying salsa criolla.
In the fried rice (chaufa) section of the menu, you can choose among various toppings like jerk pork. I tried it with shrimp ($18) and thought it was okay. The fried rice was mixed with scallions, red peppers, bits of egg and crunchy noodles. While there was plenty of grilled shrimp, I didn’t like that the tails were kept on, and the shrimp didn’t have any seasoning.
For the sides, I liked the papas fritas, which were akin to steak fries. Meanwhile, the papas doradas (circular-cut yams) also were tasty, though very limp.
From the appetizers list, I got the Peruvian empanadas ($3.75), which come with your choice of stuffing (beef, chicken or vegan chorizo). The chicken version was very dry and tasteless, but the beef version was much better, sweetened by the inclusion of golden raisins.
I know I mentioned the prevalence of meat dishes, but Mishqui also has an extensive vegan section on the menu. It includes items such as seco de portabella ($15), a dish of stir-fried portabella caps in a cilantro stew, and tallarines saltado ($15), which is fettucine stir-fried with various vegetables.
Both locations of Mishqui Cocina Peruana are open for lunch and dinner every day.
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See more photos in our Mishqui Cocina Peruana Flickr album.
