Dining in style

I rise at 8:00. Feeling a little rough.

I go straight for breakfast. The usual stuff. Scrambled egg, cheese and fruit. Why break with tradition? I gulp down quite a bit of coffee, too. I need to wake up. 

Dan joins me and we have a nice chat. He's a really good bloke. He asks me some questions about beer history.  Which gives me loads to talk about. Going into walking encyclopaedia mode.

As I leave Leigh and David are arriving. “Recovered from last night?” What does she mean?

I return to my room where I throw up. Brilliant. I then fiddle on the internet a bit.

There's been a meal booked for some of the judges at Kao, a Thai Peruvian fusion restaurant that's supposed to be dead good. Dan told me it was at 14:00. I get in touch with Silvia to check. Just as well I did: it's actually at one.

It's within easy walking distance of the hotel. In another of the old stone colonial buildings, with an inner courtyard and lots of rooms. Built from volcanic stone, obviously. Everything is in the city centre.

I get there just before 13:00 and am the first to arrive. Now there’s a surprise.

I'm dining with judges from Argentina and Paraguay. Drinks first. They also make fusion cocktails. I have a Kao Sour, a fusion pisco sour. Well, two actually. As there's a misunderstanding in the order and the waitress brings two. Rather than let it go to waste, I bravely offer to drink the second one.

After the bao bun appetisers, we have three courses, which we share: an octopus soupy thing. pad Thai with shrimps, roast pork and beans. Dead good. This restaurant really does deserve its reputation. The cocktail is dead tasty, too. We have a nice chat about South America.

When I’m finished eating, I have a leisurely walk back to the hotel. Obviously, it’s a lovely sunny day. It’s a lovely sunny day every day of the year here.

I decide to give the beer festival a miss today. I'm still feeling pretty tired. Instead, I hang around in my room for a while. Trying to get through some of my pisco pile.

Around 19:00, I troll over to the hotel restaurant. I order a pisco sour. The waiter tells me that I forgot to pay for one yesterday. I must have been pissed. I always pay for stuff. I can’t even remember having been to the bar. Old age, I suppose.

I order a snack whose nature I'm not really sure about. Tequenos de lomo. Eight small fried spring roll type things filled with beef. Not bad. Not too heavy.

The TV is showing a pre-match football programme. Some of which is just showing the stands filling up and the players warming up. Rivetting stuff.

I only have the one. And leave just before the game starts. I don't want to be up late. I need to be up fairly early tomorrow. As I'm walking back to my room, I bump into Gabi and we chat for a while. It’s been good getting to spend time with her again.

I turn in a little after 21:00. Not quite having managed to finish off the bottle of pisco. Oh, well, I can have the rest for breakfast tomorrow.



Kao Thai and Peruvian Cuisine
Cl. San Francisco 217, 
Arequipa 04001.
https://kaorestaurant.com/