Tropicana Magazine Sep-Oct 2017: Fortune Favours The Brave

THE COOKBOOK
Staying True To
PERU
Chef Gastón’s life and achievements are a fearless display of how a
home can be a source of culinary pride and how a passion project can
revolutionise a country’s fine dining scene.
Words by Tania Jayatilaka
Good things should be shared;
if anyone believes in this
adage enough to make it a life
philosophy, it’s Chef Gastón
Acurio. A venerated name in
the Peruvian dining industry,
he is one half of the husband-wife duo
behind Astrid y Gastón, a fine-dining Lima
restaurant with a rich history, strategically
located in the pastoral San Isidro estate. It’s
no coincidence that this area houses a 17th
century plantation house that’s rife with its
own historical richness ever in silent praise
of Peruvian pride and culture.
Casa Moreyra and French Cooking
The former colonial plantation house,
Casa Moreyra, was declared a historical
monument in 1972. More recently, it’s the
spot to which the Astrid y Gastón restaurant
relocated in 2014. It was around the same
time that Chef Gastón returned from
retirement to take the helm of operations
again, after leaving an impressive trail of
more than 40 Peruvian restaurants across
the globe.
Together with his German wife, Chef
Astrid Gutsche, he initially set up Astrid y
Gastón in 1994 in Lima’s Miraflores district,
Chef Gastón
the first of many bold moves following his
decision to become a chef despite his family’s
wishes for him to enter the legal profession.
Having worked in Paris at Michelin-star
restaurants such as the Tour d’ Argent,
Chefs Gastón and Astrid returned to Peru
from Europe, with the intent on continuing
the tradition of French fine dining at Astrid
y Gastón.
It was after a year that Chef Gastón
began to question the decision to serve
traditional French cuisine in a country
whose gastronomic heritage was in itself so
spectaculars even if the people didn’t realise it.
From France to Peru
In a 2014 interview with the Telegraph,
Chef Gastón explained the dilemma he
faced some 20 years ago when deciding to
switch from French cuisine to Peruvian―
Peruvian cooking was generally considered
less refined compared to French cooking,
something best left to the confines of the
home rather than an upscale eatery.
Taking a risk, Chef Gastón and Chef
Astrid began experimenting with more
Peruvian ingredients in their menus. This
boldness and sheer determination to bring
the Peruvian cuisine to haute culinary
95 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 | TM