La Bodega Verde

Located across the street from the small park overlooking the Ayacucho viaduct, La Bodega Verde offers and extensive menu of healthy choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The majority of the seating is in the outdoor courtyard, shaded by a couple of stately, old lucuma trees (beware of falling fruit). You won’t find a more peaceful setting in Lima for reading a book or getting a bit of work done on that laptop … and the WIFI works.

The staff is friendly and efficient. For breakfast, I ordered the Huevero, consisting of scrambled eggs with bits of ham and mushrooms. Served with toasted whole grain bread. This bread was dense and about as “whole-grain” as bread can get. Similar in texture to a dense authentic German rye bread. It was very tasty and even better after they delivered, on request, a small ramekin of creamy butter that was the perfect consistency for spreading.

There was no salt or pepper on the table, but the scrambled eggs didn’t really need it. They were seasoned perfectly. The breakfast included fresh squeezed orange juice and a cup of coffee. The coffee was a bit on the “mild” side but still good. The juice was a bit sweet, and a bit tart at the same time, with no sugar added. And I’m sure the extra dose of vitamin C couldn’t have hurt me.

The Bodega de Verde is one of the better options for breakfast in Lima, much less Barranco. I’m not the green and organic enthusiast that I probably should be. But what the heck. If it tastes good, why not cast a vote for fresh and unprocessed food.

Our rating for ambience is based on sitting in the beautiful outdoor courtyard. Inside it’s a bit less impressive. And, of course, that pleasant environment would only exist on a beautiful day, like the one we had on the day I was there.