*El menú* on a Peruvian sign means:

the list of everything the kitchen serves

You are handed a glass of *chicha de jora*, having enjoyed *chicha morada* at lunch. What has changed?

This one is fermented and alcoholic

Nothing — they are the same drink in different glasses

This one is made with rice instead of corn

AH-hee, stress on the first syllable

Peruvian menu words, explained

Short answer

Peruvian menus use words that do not appear in Spanish courses: ceviche, lomo saltado, ají de gallina, causa, chicha morada, anticuchos. Most are dish names rather than grammar, but knowing which are spicy, which contain what, and how to pronounce ají and chicha makes a menu readable.

CEFR A2 Reviewed by Jhoslyn Updated 2026-09-11

Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.

The dishes you will see everywhere

el ceviche — raw fish cured in lime with onion, ají and salt. Eaten at lunch, essentially never at dinner, and a restaurant that serves it in the evening is telling you something about the fish
el lomo saltado — beef stir-fried with onion and tomato, served with chips and rice. The dish that shows most clearly how much Chinese cooking is inside Peruvian food
el ají de gallina — shredded chicken in a thick, mild, yellow ají amarillo sauce. Despite the name, not spicy
la causa — cold mashed yellow potato layered with filling, served as a starter
los anticuchos — skewered beef heart, grilled on the street in the evening. One of the best things in Lima
el rocoto relleno — stuffed rocoto pepper, from Arequipa, and the one dish on this list that is reliably hot
la papa a la huancaína — boiled potato under a cheese-and-ají sauce
el arroz chaufa — Peruvian-Chinese fried rice. Chifa is the word for a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant

Ají is not one thing

El ají means both “chilli” in general and the sauce on the table. Which one you get depends on context:

ají amarillo — the yellow one, fruity, the base of enormous amounts of Peruvian cooking, mild to medium
ají panca — dark red, smoky, barely hot
el rocoto — looks like a small red pepper, is genuinely hot
“¿Me pasa el ají?” — pass me the chilli sauce

“¿Tiene ají?” asks whether there is sauce available. “¿Es con ají?” asks whether the dish already has it in.

The drinks

la chicha morada — purple corn, boiled with pineapple and cinnamon, sweet, non-alcoholic, everywhere
la chicha de jora — fermented, alcoholic, a completely different drink that shares most of its name. Worth not confusing
la maracuyá — passion fruit
el pisco sour — pisco, lime, sugar, egg white, bitters
la Inca Kola — bright yellow, tastes of bubblegum, outsells Coca-Cola here, and refusing it politely is a national conversation

Pronunciation, because these get mangled

ají — ah-HEE. The stress is on the final í and the accent is there to tell you so. Not “AH-hee”
chicha — CHEE-chah, both ch sounds as in “church”
ceviche — in Peru the spelling cebiche is also correct and common; both are pronounced the same
lomo — LOH-moh, a clean short o at the end, not “loh-mow”. If that vowel is drifting, see vowels

One warning about false friends

La palta is avocado — aguacate is understood but is not what anyone here says. El choclo is corn, not maíz, when it is on your plate. La yuca is cassava. El camote is sweet potato, not batata. And el jugo is juice while el zumo, which Spanish courses from Spain teach, will get you a blank look.

Topics Food and markets Peruvian Spanish Getting around

Eight on the words a Spanish course never gave you — starting with the one that looks like English and is not.

1*El menú* on a Peruvian sign means:
Answer

today's fixed-price set lunch — This is the false friend that costs people a cheap lunch. *El menú* is the set meal at a fixed price; the list of everything is *la carta*.
2Which of these dishes is reliably hot?
Answer

*rocoto relleno* — *El rocoto* is genuinely hot, and stuffing it does not change that. *Ají de gallina* has *ají* in the name and a yellow sauce, and is mild — the name is not a warning.
3You are handed a glass of *chicha de jora*, having enjoyed *chicha morada* at lunch. What has changed?
Answer

This one is fermented and alcoholic — *Chicha morada* is sweet, purple and non-alcoholic; *chicha de jora* is fermented and alcoholic. They share most of a name and almost nothing else.
4You want avocado. What is on the Peruvian menu?
Answer

*la palta* — *Palta* is the word here. *Aguacate* will be understood but is not what anyone says, in the same way *zumo* gets a blank look where everyone says *jugo*.
5Which of these words would mark you out as having learned your Spanish in Spain?
Answer

*el zumo* — *Zumo* is the Spain word for juice and gets a blank look in Lima, where it is *jugo*. *Choclo* (corn) and *camote* (sweet potato) are the local words you want.
6There is no sauce on the table and you would like some. What do you ask?
Answer

*¿Tiene ají?* — *¿Tiene ají?* asks whether sauce is available. *¿Es con ají?* asks something different — whether the dish already has it cooked in.
7How is *ají* said?
Answer

ah-HEE, stress on the final í — The written accent on the *í* is there precisely to tell you where the stress falls. The *j* is the throaty Spanish one, so it comes out ah-HEE.
8*Los anticuchos* are:
Answer

skewered beef heart, grilled — Skewered beef heart, grilled on the street in the evening. The marinated raw fish is *ceviche*, which is a lunch dish and essentially never eaten at night.