Mama Irma's | Foodie Friday

Remember that post about 04 April 2015? The baby bro and I went to Flap-Jacks. Ring a bell now? Okay, let's jump back to that day. (If not, read the post here and then come back.)

Later that evening, Momma and Dad joined us in Indy for dinner. We were craving something different, something new, so I hopped onto Yelp and found Mama Irma’s, a Peruvian restaurant here in Indy. Now, we’ve had Peruvian food before (so it’s not exactly new for us...) in Virginia but it's nothing like Mama Irma’s! This restaurant is a small one situated in Fountain Square that can seat around 50 people. It has a spectacular menu with decently priced items considering Mama Irma herself checks the quality of her ingredients every day before cooking them. She told my family when she came out to do her rounds that she makes sure her ingredients are as fresh as they can be as if she was back home in Peru buying from local markets.

I loved the fact that she came out to talk to her customers. When she found out that we were new to her restaurant, she advised us to come back to order items that are off the menu and are sold on particular days. She also told us that in order to get some of her personal favorites to eat and make, we should call ahead so that she can special order the ingredients. This woman, who shared the same view as us that eating fresh seafood everyday is by far better than eating hormone feed chickens—well, okay, we share the same love for fresh and never frozen seafood, is such an awesome and caring woman. It shows in her food and how she talks to her customers as if they are family.

I don’t know how she does it, but she is some superwoman running this shop while able to waltz in and out of the kitchen to talk to her customers while single-handedly preparing multiple dishes.

Onto dinner...

To wet our palates’, we ordered her classic ceviche. Growing up, my parents always made a simple ceviche whenever the ingredients were in season or when they were craving it. It was composed of some sort of seafood, vinegar, and diced red onion. Mama Irma’s Ceviche Mixto (recommended to us by her) was composed of “fresh tilapia and shrimp marinated in citrus juice and peruvian seasonings also served with potato, sweet potato, and peruvian corn.” This vibrantly colored dish is the bomb. Even my baby brother, who hardly eats seafood, helped in demolishing the generous serving!

This was soon followed by the main course. Dad got the asado con arroz, or a “Peruvian pot roast served with white rice and salad.” He said that the meat just melted in his mouth and was perfectly cooked, and I have to agree with him on that. (I stole a few bites...) It was perfectly seasoned and melt-in-your-mouth worthy.

Momma and the brother got similar dishes; Mom ordered chicharron de camarones (“deep fried shrimp served with a salad and deep fried yuca root”) while brother ordered the chicharron de pollo (same description as Momma’s just with chicken instead of shrimp.) Both were equally good, but what I liked the most from their plates was the fried yuca root!

As for me, I ordered something a little different. I got the chupe de camarones. It was a “delicious flavorful shrimp bisque with shrimp, rice, peas, potato, peruvian corn, and poached egg topped with fried fish fillets.” It was exactly as the description states minus the poached egg (I didn’t even notice it). It was rich and flavorful, creamy and filling at the same time so don’t let the small bowl fool you! It was the rice, I swear… It’s a dish I would order again but probably not when I go back since I want to try something new!

Even though we were stuffed after polishing our plates, we somehow got roped into buying some of their desserts—rare dishes for us to order. The first is a typical crème brûlée known otherwise as leche asada. Dad took one bite of it and immediately ordered a second one. The second dessert we ordered was a pineapple cake with pineapple bits mixed in and a blackberry drizzle. Both of these desserts were heavenly.

 

Oh, and hold on a minute! We also tried some Latin American drinks. Baby bro got the Inca Cola—basically a bubblegum flavored coca cola. He’s had it before and enjoys it! The four of us sampled the home made Chicha Morada or purple corn soda. It was certainly interesting, a taste to get used to but refreshing to have after everything we ate. It wasn't for us at the time, but I'm sure the more we go and continue to sample it, the more we'll come to like it.

I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures and will drop in to Mama Irma’s in the near future if ever you’re in Fountain Square. Parking is on the street, but that’s fine because there are a ton of interesting places to pass by when walking to the restaurant. 

See ya!

DISCLAIMER: All descriptions were taken from MamaIrma.com. All pictures were taken by me on an iPhone 5C.

Mama Irma can be found at 

1058 Virginia Ave

Indianapolis, IN 46203

They encourage reservations!