Salmon Salmon

Location: 2907 NW 7th St., Miami
t: 305.649.5924
Cuisine type: Peruvian
Price: Moderately priced (it is seafood)
Hours: su-thu.12pm-9:30pm, f-sa.12pm-10:30pm


I need to make a confession. I have been a little reluctant to post this review. I am ashamed to say it but I’ve been holding out on what I consider to be one of Miami’s best kept secrets.

If location, location, location, is the mantra that needs to be championed for any business to be successful, successful, then Salmon Salmon should have probably closed its doors over twenty years ago. Instead, thanks to the tenacity of its name, Salmon Salmon is my pick for the best authentic Peruvian food in Miami.

I need to pause here a second and pay a well deserved homage to Peruvian food.

Peru’s rich folkloric history serves as a legacy to its people, Peruvian food is its people’s legacy to the world. Right about now you’re probably saying to yourself this guy must be Peruvian, well I’m not, I’m simply telling it like it is, or at least what I think it is. Though, you don’t really have to look very far to find evidence to support what I am saying. Perhaps you’ve seen one or two big name restaurants serve up some rendition of Peruvian fusion; the Japanese-Peruvian form seems to work well.

That said the only fusing going on at Salmon Salmon is of the shoulder-to-shoulder type. Talk about a small dining area. I think, if I’m not mistaken, there are about 8 or 9 tables and some stools at a bar area they have. The space is tight and there is only one table that can accommodate large parties but not in excess of six people. So go early or call ahead because it fills up quickly, though with the caliber of cuisine they offer you would expect their waits to be significant.

If, like me, you count Salmon Salmon as one of your usual spots, then you know what I’m talking about and can hopefully give me a few menu suggestions. If, however, you are not familiar with the restaurant and its cuisine, perhaps, at the risk of sounding overly presumptuous, you will allow me the liberty of tailoring a menu for your inaugural visit.

The menu that launched a thousand visits:

-Begin with the causa limeña (quite literally translated means Lima’s cause) and a ceviche(order either all fish or varied known as mixto, I leave this up to taste)
-Follow it with an order of chicharones mixtos con pescado y camarones (a fried assortment of fish, squid, shrimp, and plenty of it) and their corvina (sea bass) with tacu tacu (if you’ve never had this and you’re a fan of rice and beans, then prepare to be seduced by this domed offering)
-Conclude with their babarois (floating island dessert, it’s as pleasing rolling off the tongue as it is in) and don’t forget to order their café cortadito (half coffee and half milk), you can chose to have it with dessert, though, I prefer to take my coffee afterwards, it really does deserve your undivided attention
-Then discretely lean back in your chair with the self-amusing thought that the Achilles heel of your taste buds has been exposed, whilst you churn your newly found mantra in your head: Salmon Salmon