Chakana Review

On Sunday evening, I had the pleasure of visiting the newly opened Chakana restaurant in Moseley. Chakana which comes from the Incan cross, is the new project of celebrated chef Robert Ortiz.

Situated in the former Lloyds Bank, the first thing that hits you when you enter the restaurant is just how homely it is. To the right is a bar, where the drinks are made and served, and in front of you are tables arranged in a circular formation, with gaps in between to give you plenty of space to navigate. There is also some nice lighting around the place, which just adds to atmosphere.

Another thing that you notice as you are guided to your table are the paintings on the walls. There aren’t too many of them, unlike other restaurants which seem to forget the main purpose is to serve food, not become an art exhibition. Some of my favourite paintings were the ones that were to the left of my position at our table, and the one to my right. The reasoning for this? The painting on the left was a burst of fire and colour, and reminded me of an album cover. Whilst the one to my right, looked like dashes of rain, or in one case Godzilla, which is cool, because who doesn’t want Godzilla there when you eat?

Now, onto the food. We got two starters, a salmon based dish which reminded me of sushi and a chicken and potato dish which really came down well. Both were delicious and disappeared within moments of appearing. Which was a great sign of things to come.

Finally, the mains came, and as you can see from the image above, I had the beef. It was delicious and really mixed flavours well together, I thought the quinoa was a masterstroke. Definitely one of my favourite dishes.

If you’re a fan of trying something new, or of Peruvian food, I’d definitely recommend going to Chakana.