Tambo Peruvian Restaurant

2 Reviews on “Tambo Peruvian Restaurant”

• Naor Wallach

  Being on a business trip and staying at a hotel in downtown Oakland means that I have no idea what’s around, nor what’s good. Recently, my wife and I came across a recipe that we wanted to make that called for a Peruvian paste as an ingredient. We are not familiar with that, nor have we seen it at our local stores so we were wondering what to do. Well…. I am in Oakland and looking for a place to have dinner and this place pops up at less than half a mile from the hotel. Bingo!The restaurant is very open with high ceilings which give it a very airy feeling. The front of the house is all tables while the counter is towards the back and you can see into the kitchen area. On the day and time that I was there, there was only one other couple in the place and the chef/owner greeted me and offered me any other table in the place. 🙂 After looking over the menu, I was not sure what I wanted, so the chef’s husband came over and suggested that I try the Empanada Sampler plate which offers four different Empanadas. Since one of them had a filling of Chicken in the Aji Amarillo sauce that was my purpose in trying them out, I agreed and ordered three more Empanadas: A mushroom filled one, one that was filled with sweet corn and cilantro, and the fourth that was supposed to have a Quinoa and vegetable filling. I also ordered a glass of a Peruvian Sauvignon Blanc to go with the meal.While the chef was not actively cooking that night, her staff was clearly competent as I could see from my vantage point. The wine was served in a chilled glass and was a very nice one. One could taste the lemony structure and the rocky soil that it was grown in. It is not as crisp or citrusy as the ones from New Zealand, nor is it as creamy or fruity as the California varieties. It is somewhat between those two. The four Empanadas arrived in due course. Along with them was a small bowl with a yellow sauce for dipping which was based on Aji Amarillo. For me that was already a success as I could now taste it and figure out if we needed to substitute it with anything. The first Empanada I tried was super rich, beefy, and salty. When the waiter came by to ask me how it was, I asked him what it was and was surprised when he told me that it was the beef Empanada. I was not surprised that it was beef – I could tell that in the eating – what surprised me was that I did NOT ORDER a beef Empanada. Oh well, I figured they made a mistake and so be it. I tried the Chicken Empanada (in Aji Amarillo sauce!) and it was creamy and tasty. The Mushroom one was probably my least favorite as it was relatively plain and not as packed full of flavor as the others. The Corn and Cilantro one was amazing – the corn was super sweet and between that and the strong Cilantro flavor it packed a punch. It would be a perfect dessert!As I was about to finish off these Empanadas, the waiter came to me with another plate. I was very surprised and showed it. He put down the plate which had a salad next to a stuffed pepper that was cut in half. I asked him what that was and he reminded me that I ordered the Quinoa stuffed item. Since it was listed with the Empanadas, I thought it would come as an Empanada and totally missed that it was a complete separate dish!Here comes the nice part – the waiter immediately said that this dish was complimentary (on the house) since they already prepared it and then he apologized for the mistake! Well, clearly the blame was joint so I was not sure how to handle it. I ended up leaving a very generous tip to pay for the extra dish that I did not order – but got.As far as the flavor. This was another winner. The Quinoa was mixed with different vegetables that were all chopped pretty finely and the flavors were augmented with a rich sauce that was just enough to coat everything and make the pieces adhere to each other, but was not too liquidy or overpowering. Clearly present in the mix were corn kernels that were absolutely gigantic! I asked about them and was told that they are a particular strain of corn that is popular in parts of Peru and in the United States is known simply as Peruvian Corn.If my travels bring me back to downtown Oakland I will definitely make it a point to visit this place again! The food was great, the people were friendly and they way they handled what was a misunderstand was superb and very gracious!

  October 27, 2016, 8:28 am

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• Kimmie

  Great Peruvian Restaurant. All my Peruvian friends go to this place. Food is fantastic!!! Do I need to write more? 😉

  January 19, 2015, 1:48 am

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