This years Valentines treat for my wife was supposed to include a trip to the beach but, having arrived in central Lima to find all the banks closed I ended up having to return to Miraflores to pay my bills, before leaving Lima though, two rituals had to be carried out otherwise I would never have felt comfortable going home.
First was a trip to the Maury to sample one of Señor Eloy's famous Pisco Sours and second was a visit to Bodega Antonio Carbone on the corner across the road from Theatre Segura on Jr. Huancavelica.
The last two times I have visited they have been closed for their annual holiday. One of those times we were trying to introduce Tom, AKA Chiclayo Gringo and his wife to the delights of their sanguche de Jamon. Anyway I am pleased to say that today they were open and it looks like they've spent their holiday dusting and cleaning.
The bottles both old and new that fill the shelves are shining like new pins but whats more important is the Ham sandwich is still as good as ever. Just sitting in this place gives you a strange sense of what it must have been like in Lima back in the 1920's when they first opened their doors for business. The place oozes nostalgia and the food is excellent. Worth a visit just for a photograph.
Antigua Bodega Antonio Carbone
Beauties and the Beast con Señor Eloy.