El Inka Deli (Revisited)

El Inka Deli
3826 Sunset Street
Burnaby, BC

During the food bloggers dinner we had last month in Alvin Garden, the topic of other regional cuisines was brought up by Sherman (this was regarding a comment where it “accused” Sherman of visiting way to many Chinese restaurants). At the end of that conversation, Sherman said he should try Latin American and asked me to bring him along next time I went to one such restaurant. Now, rather than going to a place I haven’t been previously, I chose one I have blogged before: El Inka Deli (previous post here). And, tagging along, we had TS of [eatingclub]Vancouver. Would I live to expectations? Pressure is on!

Originally, the group was a bit larger; however, due to different reasons, it was us three. To make things more “interesting”, the weather was out-of-wack that day. Remember I made a note about the temperature during the Caribbean Days Festival? Well, we went to El Inka Deli the same day. And guess what? When I arrived around 7:00 p.m., it was pouring! And we are not talking about the regular rain most people in Vancouver is used to: I am talking thunderstorm, too. (On a funny note, Sherman mentioned that it seems our gatherings have a rain component “built-in”. It was also raining the day we went to Alvin Garden!). And, now, to the food!

I guess this board is mainly for lunch time…

And, yes, the same “hot sauce” as last time!

We had a brief discussion as to what to order as, to paraphrase Sherman, variety was the keyword. In the end, we settled for each ordering an entree along with two appetizers. And, we started off with…

Ceviche de pescado (fish ceviche). The same way you have variations of noodles in Asia, in Latin America you have different versions too. While the basic principle is the same, “cook” the fish in citrus juice (mostly lime and lemon) along with some chopped/sliced onion and celery, some additions can make it completely different. For example, in Panama, people tend to add hot peppers as well; while, in Costa Rica, as Kevin (of 604 Foodtography) has mentioned, they add mayo and catsup. When asked if we wanted it hot/spicy or mild, TS jumped ahead and said “hot”. That works for me! AS for the taste itself, this is quite citrus-y. To those not used to the amount of acidity might be too much. And I am not talking a squirt of lemon juice – see the “puddle” of liquid? It was served with a piece of sweet potato and a piece of corn-on-the-cob.

The other “appetizer” was papas a la Huancaina , a potato dish dressed with a hollandaise-like sauce. If there was a weak spot (food-wise), I think it was this. Now, it is not that it was bad, just that the flavours were a bit more tame compared to the other dishes. Think boiled potatoes with sauce. However, in my perspective, it managed to “tone down” the acidity of the ceviche.

In a strange twist, Sherman ordered mondongo, i.e., tripe soup, which was served with rice, an arepa and a wedge of avocado. Why strange? Sherman was “complaining” he was hungry and, given he is over 1.80m (6+ feet), you would think he would order something heavier. No, he wanted tripe and that’s what he got. As for the soup itself… Well, it will be somewhat difficult to describe if you are not familiar to tripe. Yes, it had that tripe-y flavour. But, there were two “complains”. Out of the pieces of tripe, one of them was extremely chewy and second was that the arepa was a bit too dry to Sherman’s taste. Of course, he did not “dunk” it in the soup… ^_^

TS ordered the bandeja paisa, which was the dish I ordered in my previous visit. I think that post pretty much tells it all. One difference, though: TS noted that the chicharrón was not as crispy as it could have been…

As for myself, I ordered the mojarra. Doesn’t it remind you of certain fish I ordered in El Caracol Cafe? Oh, yeah, again, a whole fish it was! It was served with a side of rice and a green salad with avocado (which had an Italian dressing). Under the fish, there was a fried piece of smashed plantain. Unlike the pieces of fried fish I have gotten from seafood restaurants, *cough*Coast*cough*, this was not overly dry. Probably a little bit but nothing that a squeeze of lime juice couldn’t fix. Similar to El Caracol, however, I think it could have been improved if the fish was smothered by some herbs before frying. But, I might be digressing here.

Finally, to finish the meal, we had a piece of dulce tres leches to share. Hmmmmmmmm…. A cake that has soaked different types of milk and pieces of almond on top!

I must mention that, during the meal, a couple of funny things happened. For example, the glasses of water were completed forgotten and the meals took a bit to arrive. However, I will give them some slack here: we walked knowing that the restaurant closes at 8:00 p.m.; however, rather than rushing us through the meal, they just went through the usual after hours restaurant business and let us have our meals at our own pace. In fact, we did not leave until close to 9:00 p.m.! During that time, some people walked in, wanting to order and were turned away instead. Does the fact that Sherman and myself were taking pictures like crazy (including us moving around the table with our dSLR) had anything to do? I can’t say for certain…

I have already written my thoughts about El Inka Deli in my previous post and they still stand. But, that is not what I care about; instead, I wanted to know what Sherman and TS thought about it. And, in both cases, thumbs up were given. Sherman, TS, thanks for joining me and I guess pressure is, again, on for the next stop at another Latin American restaurant?

Edit: Sherman’s post is up. Check it here!

Tagged under: Burnaby • Fish • Latin America • Pork