Pastuso: Why should I eat at this Melbourne Peruvian restaurant?

Pastuso on AC/DC Lane is the best place for Peruvian food in Melbourne. This laneway restaurant has a separate pisco bar and cevicheria.

If there’s one word synonymous with Melbourne, it’s laneway. Over the last couple of decades, Melbourne’s laneways have gone from being dingy places to store bins to the epicentre of city life.

The transformed small alleyways host a world-renowned street art scene. But there are also cafés, bars and restaurants snuggling into the gaps.

One of the best known laneways is AC/DC Lane, one of the best spots for street art in Melbourne. But at the end of AC/DC Lane is one of the most exciting restaurants in Melbourne.

The best Peruvian food in Melbourne

In the last decade or so, Peruvian food has boomed all over the world. Melbourne’s take comes courtesy of Pastuso, the concept pulled off with considerable flair and Inca-pastiche tiling.

The best place to eat Peruvian food in Melbourne is owned by the same people who run Argentinian restaurant San Telmo, and there’s a considerable sense of theatre. That’s partly due to the enormous iron cilindro, which smokes skewered meats. Diners can also sit by the grill, watching the cooking process.

The putting on a show vibe continues at the cevicheria section, where several different ceviches are rustled up with careful precision.

The third string to the bow is the pisco bar, and the pisco sours are the number one sellers.

The food menu is broken into several different sections. This means you can treat it as a small plates restaurant if you wish, or just tuck in to the big meaty mains.

Melbourne Peruvian restaurant: Pastuso menu

Some smaller dishes are branded as street food, such as the $21 calamar a la parrilla. This contains chargrilled Eagle Bay squid, pickled red onion, jalapeños and coriander. The $23 anticuchos are also found here. These seriously tasty wagyu eye rump and Albacore tuna skewers come with smoked potato puree and huacatay lemon dressing.

On the ceviche menu, there’s an emphasis on Australian seafood. Try the Ceviche Andino with Northern Territory banana prawns, green chilli acevichada, avocado and quinoa for $21.

But for main, the big charcoal-grilled mains will be the main allure. The $48 seco de cordero is arguably the star here. It’s lamb neck with traditional Peruvian beer and coriander sauce, plus salsa criolla.

If you’re planning a big feast on Peruvian food in Melbourne, you should probably book a table at Pastuso in advance. But there’s often space for walk-ins to sit at the bar and try something less formally.

More great places to eat in Australia

Chin Chin in Surry Hills, Sydney.

Eat Street Northshore in Brisbane.

Peel Street in Adelaide.

Catalina in Rose Bay, Sydney.

Bathers Beach House in Fremantle, Western Australia.