Tu Casa, Kew Gardens

Saturday July 28th, my wife and I ventured into Kew Gardens to spend some quality time with my wonderful Brother-in-law and his wife. We spent a good part of the afternoon just chatting and relaxing in their exquisitely decorated apartment.
But suddenly around 4 O'clock the conversation switched from plants and flowers to food and where we where going for dinner. Right then and there I knew my husband’s stomach was starting to grumble. He has a tell tale sign when he is hungry, he becomes less talkative and more fixated on food. So my brother proceeded to take out different menus from local restaurants. We wanted to try something different and the choices in the immediate area were Italian, Pub Food and Peruvian. After looking over the menus we opted for the Peruvian restaurant called Tu Casa.
Our meal started with appetizers consisting of Beef Empanadas, Papa a la Huancaina (consisted of boiled potatoes covered in Peruvian cheese sauce) and Chorizo with fried plantains. We also ordered the Sangria which we enjoyed but have had better elswhere. The main dishes were Pernil con Arroz Moro(shredded slow roasted pork with their take on rice and beans), Entranada (grilled skirt steak w/chimichurri sauce, rice & salad) and a fusion dish of chicken vegetables over linguini in an Asian style sauce. So starting with the Empanadas, the dough they were wrapped in tasted exactly like my mothers Brazilian Pastels. Unfortunately the filling was dry and flavorless. I'm probably the only Italian allergic to cheese, that said I did not have the potato's in cheese but everyone else enjoyed them. The Chorizo and plantains were superb. The Pernil took me back to my mothers style of roasted leg of pork, this was as good as what I would make using my mothers recipe (in other words it was outstanding). The rice that came with it...well let’s just say it was not to my taste although most people seem to love it. The skirt steak was seasoned well however my sister in law ordered it well done and I like it still bleeding. Now for the fusion dish, this was basically chicken lo mein (I should not have veered, lets just leave it at that). Over all I gotta say the Pernil was so good it is worth the trip just for that dish. They get five out of five forks for the Pernil!

They earned three out of five forks on this visit.

                                       

http://tucasarestaurant.com/