As a little boy living in Lima, the highlight of the month was receiving our ‘encomienda’ from my grandmother, Mamita Naty. Naty was an ‘Andina’: a strong lady from the Peruvian Andes. Lord Mayor of her village, a pioneer and the life and soul of any party. The encomienda was a large basket full of native superfoods from her village in the Andes: quinoa, amaranth, purple maize, maca, chia… A note attached read ‘Con mucho cariño’ – ‘With loving care’. From its contents we made dishes for my friends to marvel at. Years later, having lived and worked in Shoreditch, I knew I wanted to create something unique and personal there. I wanted to use the love of ingredients and knowledge I’d inherited from Mamita Naty. A kind of sanctuary, with exciting food and drinks. Quiet and comfortable in the daytime, buzzing at night. Andina is the result. A modern ‘picanteria’: an all-day, pioneering restaurant serving healthy food and drinks from the Peruvian Andes.
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