¡Qué idiota! Having sat down and browsed the menu at El Rincon, a quiet canteen on the noisy Holloway Road, I realised I’d made an unforgiveable mistake: this wasn’t really a Bolivian restaurant.
We’ve been quite strict about eating at places that only do the food of the named nation. This is the main reason we’ve only got one or two African and Caribbean restaurants on this list so far. For instance, there are lots of ‘regional’ Caribbean restaurants that have one or two specialities from Antigua and Barbuda, yet none that exclusively cook that country’s food (which is why we skipped from Algeria to Argentina)
And unfortunately, El Rincon fits into the ‘regional restaurant’ category too, serving up all manner of Latino food. What’s worse, there are actually some genuinely Bolivian places in Elephant & Castle.
Still, we were there, and after a serious panic, we decided to Bolivia and let live, and ordered what the waited told us was most authentically Bolivian.
So, what did these gringos comer?
Neither of us were starving (and none of the entradas were Bolivian) so we went straight to mains. Alf got chicken Silpancho, basically breaded chicken with an egg on top, sat on a bed of rice and cassava chips. I ordered a Planchita, a mixed grill with an onion sauce, eggs, and rice steamed in a leaf of some sort. For two plates of what was, fundamentally, a large quantity of protein and carbs, it was all pretty good – but not terribly exciting either.
Before I ever visited Latin America, I’d always assumed the region would be full of fiery dishes to match the romantic hispanic spirit. Chilli peppers, after all, come from the region. In reality, from Bolivia to Colombia to Panama, most of the food is fairly bland, with little seasoning and almost no spice. That’s not to say it’s bad (the sausages and steaks are great), but they favour hearty over heat.
We visited El Rincon at about 6:30 pm on a Monday, so we were the only customers. Still, I can imagine when it gets busier it’s quite a fun place to visit. And though it wasn’t the truly Bolivian experience we sought, I believe ya can still get decent idea of the country’s cuisine at El Rincon.
Score: 6.5/10
Cost: £45
Location: 235 Holloway Rd, London N7 8HG
The A to Z of World Food in London 
This is a solid account of a Monday night restaurant excursion gone wrong. Belize it or not, it was too good a read to just La Paz it by. I was unable to predict how the evening would unravel. But as I know Uruguay, you’d of course have gone for the beers. Next time you should make a Montevideo. Keep it real.
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