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Pisco Paradise- Chakana, Moseley
10 June 2022 - Justin Sims
Apart from observing the odd pisco sour listing on cocktail menus, I have to confess that I knew nothing about Chile and Peru’s national drink and certainly couldn’t describe its taste. That is until I chatted to Sam Owen from Moseley’s Chakana restaurant last week.
Sam’s the assistant manager and looks after the drinks-side of Birmingham’s first Peruvian restaurant. This intimate, relaxed eatery in the heart of Moseley village is the brainchild of Michelin-starred chef Robert Ortiz, a Peruvian native who delivers authentic culinary brilliance in small plate format. It’s no wonder that during their two years since opening, they’re attracting a wide audience of curious diners, including repeat visits from proud Peruvians!
What was the inspiration behind such a niche concept?
“Robert [chef patron] always wanted to share, being a very humble man, he wants the world to enjoy what he enjoys eating and doing in the kitchen. He wants it all to be acceptable to everyone. As a restaurant we want to provide very high quality food, made with respect and care that’s accessible to everyone. We want everyone to come in, be well looked after and try something new and pisco fits that perfectly too.
Peruvian cuisine is some of the best in the world. If you look at the top 10 restaurants in the world, two of them are Peruvian.”
How easy has it been to source piscos and how extensive is your range?
“At Chakana, we have the largest range of piscos in the UK. We’re forever collecting more, from the commercial brands to artisan. There’s a full range. Inn Express hold onto Barsol which is probably the most commercial. It’s solid. When you get to the point when you’re trying bigger and better piscos, you’ll get something more like what we’ve chosen which is the San Gallán brand. We’ve had it imported directly from Peru and we have distribution rights in the UK.”
San Gallán recently won the top spot in the spirits category of the international CINVE awards, which is testament to their outstanding quality, and Sam confirms that the gold medals on the bottles are helping to translate into retail purchases from diners.
What is your personal favourite and why?
“The San Gallán brand is my favourite. I’m really quite into the San Gallán Acholado, just because it draws from either end of the spectrum. It’s 70% Quebranta and 30% Italia so it’s got the floral notes, it’s got the almond notes, basically the fruit and nut combo.
It’s almost a new age for pisco sour. Depending on what pisco you use completely changes the cocktail. It’s a very forward grape flavour and we get very excited about coming up with new cocktail ideas.”
Do you have any exciting new Peruvian drinks in the pipeline?
“We are going to be getting some Peruvian wines which we’ve sampled. They’ll be our wines to distribute and made using the same grapes as those used for pisco.
A lot of people are leaning more towards New World wines and I think Peruvian wines are going to be part of that next transition. We do have a dry white wine that we tried which won 97 out of 100 in a recent wine award in Chile.” For Chile to hand out such an accolade to their neighbour makes a BIG statement!
A big Inn Express thank you to Sam for his time. I certainly need no further convincing to pay the guys at Chakana a visit when I’m next in Birmingham for some much-needed practical pisco training!