MIL

Near the village of Moray is a site where it is believed the Incas ran horticultural experiments on a wide range of crops. Plantings could be made in various locations, with incremental variations in temperature, and available sunlight and shade. A mere 500 meteres from that site is located MIL. The scenery in the area is breathtaking, and thematically there could not be a better location.

Plants collected from the local area hang upside down to dry in the entryway to MIL

MIL is the sister restaurant of the world-renowned Central, the tastings of which focus on combinations of elements found within specific micro-climates in Peru.  Recently, one of the two driving forces behind Central opened Kjolle, in which (I am given to understand) pretty much anything goes. MIL, however, is devoted to the gastronomy of things found in specific Peruvian high-altitude micro-climates.

Food Lab at MIL

Past the drying plants, one is shown the food lab, where research is done on what can be done with the plants. Roughly one-fourth of the lab is devoted to what can be done with cacao.

Cacao bean in real life. We will encounter him again.

There is also an alcohol lab. MIL distills its own Cañazo, less widely known in North America than Pisco, but with regional roots just as deep.

Gettin' infusiony with it

Our meal consisted of an eight-item tasting menu, each with a specific accompanying beverage. The individual items on the tasting menu were referred to as "moments", which may sound silly or pretentious to you. It sounded silly and pretentious to me, until the food hit my tongue. Then, I decided, call it whatever you want - this stuff is unreal.

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Moment 1 - "Preservation"

Corn cakes. Coca leaf bread with elderberry butter. Freeze-dried potatoe crisps with rocoto. Tumbo cocktail.

Rocoto is a chile pepper, mild in most presentations we have encountered. It is the yellow stuff to the right of the coca leaf bread. Tumbo = passionfruit.

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Moment 2 - "Plateau"

Kañihua cracker, chirimoya cream, local greens and flowers, lamb ceviche in cabuya. Red ale.

Chirimoya is a tree fruit, known also as a "cream apple". 

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Moment 3 -  "Andean Forest"

Pork belly with tuber, lupinus legume cakes, same legume in rocoto pepper with avocado. Mata Cuy (cuy killer) with infusion

Julia on the pork belly: "I could eat this all day"

The Mata Cuy is a double-distilled sugar spirit, infused with some of the same seasonings used with the pork belly. A small sip after a bite of pork belly resonated and complimented. I got the idea to save a final large bite of the pork belly, and chase it with the majority of the Mata Cuy as a shot. It burned out the lining of my esophagus, took a detour left and incinerated part of a kidney, and then exited through a parallel rear opening of its own creation. Note to self...

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Moment 4 - "Diversity of Corn"

Corn purée, White corn, grilled queso fresco, crisps. Cara Sur.

The Cara Sur is a locally grown and produced vino tinto, with a bold impact and solid finish, reminiscent of heavy-duty wine-related words.

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Moment 5 - "Extreme Altitude"

Shredded duck with wheat, Black quinoa with green balls of lake algae.  IPA - never bottled - infused with passionfruit

I don’t typically enjoy IPA’s, to the degree that I can’t comment on whether this beverage pairing effectively complimented the Moment. My nickname for it was “Facewrecker”.

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Moment 6 - "Central Andes"

Fresh, moist roast potatoes, with chincho sauce for hand-dipping. Chicha Tuna beverage.

Chicha is corn alcohol, and Tuna refers to the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. It’s the red coloured liquid with the small flower floating in it.

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Moment 7 - "Frozen Cordillera"

Kjolle, with wild muña and tumba. To the right is the kjolle flower.

There was no beverage pairing with this; it was intended as a palate cleansing course. Muna is similar to mint, and tumbo is a citrus fruit similar to passionfruit.  This was served very cold, and melted in one’s mouth like a cross between an ice and a sorbet. 

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Moment 8 - "Huatia of Cacao"

Chocolate underneath frozen creamy mucilage, dusted with coca leaf powder. To the left, mashwa (potatoes) in clear sheet form. Miskioca spirit.

Miskioca is a spirit distilled from Oca root. It had a musky kind of fruity presence, in a manner like that of a pear wine that doesn't shave its legs or pits.

A cocoa bean, dissected for display and preserved in alcohol. The white is the mucilage, used in the dessert above, and within the mucilage are the cacao nibs, which are ground to make cacao.

We were offered a variety of after-meal beverages - alcoholic, various coffees, hot cacao. We both got the hot chocolate. It was the best I've ever had in my life.