A Peruvian Feast at Coya for Lauren's Birthday

I’ve made some great friends through blogging and I’ve got to know Lauren really well in the past few months. In fact we’ve got so close that she invited me along to her birthday dinner with some of her best friends, including Colleen who I’ve also been getting to know well recently. Lauren had chosen Peruvian restaurant, Coya in Mayfair for the location of the celebration, and after a few Pisco Sours in the bar we went into the buzzy main restaurant to find our table.
First things first, we ordered bubbles to toast Lauren’s 22nd birthday!

It’s a fair while since I celebrated my 22nd birthday but Lauren and I have so much in common and always so much to talk about, that I barely notice our age gap. The birthday girl took the helm and starting ordering from the vast menu of Latin American cuisine.

As you know, I love Peruvian food and I’ve been to Coya a few times, the food there is of an incredibly high quality and I love the cool atmosphere and Inca-style decor. The restaurant has it’s own ceviche bar so we went ahead and ordered several of these starting with salmon nikkei with celery juice, ginger, daikon and wasabi tobiko.

Ceviche mixto including prawn, squid, mussel, aji amarillo and yuzu tobiko.

And yellowfin tuna with soy, sesame seeds and shrimp cracker. All light and with the most incredible flavours.

I’d tried the tacos last time I visited Coya and I suggested that we got some of those to share; Lauren made a great choice by ordering both the chicken tacos with red pepper and sweet corn and the scallop option with white miso and gem lettuce.

We also tucked into to a delicious salad of crab, tiger prawn and sweet corn.

And a tuna tartare. As well as everything tasting incredible, I loved the vibrant colours which looked so striking on the restaurant’s gorgeous crockery.
After sharing all those starters we ordered some hot dishes too, including these perfectly crisp pieces of calamari with Peruvian Marigold.
A totally delicious Chilean sea bass with lime risotto.

Pork ribs with a tamarind glaze and cashew nuts.

And this gorgeous piece of perfectly cooked salmon with golden beetroot, cucumber and mint.

And the Peruvian take on Patatas Bravas, crispy potatoes with spicy tomato and huancaina sauce.

And here’s the happy smile of a girl surrounded by her best friends on her birthday.

A tasty dessert platter with a Happy Birthday message for Lauren was delivered to the table and we all dug our spoons in as soon as she blew out the candles.
After dinner we headed back to the bar for piscos, mojitos and magheritas…

A pretty perfect birthday really…