Ceviche, Peru's classic dish of raw fish cured in citrus, has become a fixture of Madrid's dining scene, according to a feature published by the Spanish newspaper La Razón. Among the restaurants doing it well, the paper singled out Ronda 14, on Calle del General Oráa, where chef Mario Céspedes has built a following for his own version of the dish.
La Razón described ceviche as seafood cooking with a bit of an edge: raw fish cured in lime, sharpened with chili and finished with onion that crackles as if it had just come out of a fight. The paper said Madrid has taken well to the dish because it likes food that carries a story, and a little danger, with it.
What Ronda 14 Serves
At Ronda 14, Céspedes cooks what La Razón called a mestizo style that draws on Peru, Japan and Asturias at once, comparing it to a family gathering where nobody agrees on where they are from but everyone still eats well.
The restaurant's ceviche is built on corvina, or sea bass, which the paper said arrives clean, firm and fresh. The lime does its job without becoming an executioner, La Razón wrote, while ají limo chili adds the bite needed to remind diners this is not simply a fish salad.
The Role of Leche de Tigre
Central to any ceviche is leche de tigre, the citrus marinade used to cure the fish. La Razón said it needs enough strength to season the fish without turning into a pool of acid, and should support the fish rather than disguise it. When it is done well, the paper said, diners end up doing something not entirely proper, dipping the last piece of bread into the dish to finish it off.
At Ronda 14, the ceviche comes with a sweet potato puree, which La Razón described as a sweet, silky counterpoint to the acidity, spice and freshness of the rest of the plate, calling it a kind of truce after the battle. Traditional Peruvian ceviche is often served with corn and boiled sweet potato, ingredients that are meant to soften the dish's sharpness, and the puree at Ronda 14 echoes that pairing in a more refined form.
Balance Is the Secret
According to La Razón, the secret to good ceviche is balance: the lime should not overwhelm the fish, the chili should not take over, the onion should stay crunchy, and the coriander should not be so heavy that it turns the plate into a garden. Above all, the paper said, the fish itself has to remain in charge.
The article noted that ceviche can travel from Lima to Madrid, take on a Japanese-Peruvian nikkei style, adopt Asturian touches, be dressed up as haute cuisine or served at a bar counter with a beer beside it. But it argued that if the dish does not taste of the sea in the end, everything else is just decoration.
Peru's National Dish
Ceviche is widely regarded as Peru's national dish, traditionally made by curing raw fish or shellfish in citrus juice and serving it with onion, chili and coriander. Peru marks a National Ceviche Day each year, and the dish's popularity abroad has grown alongside that of Peruvian cuisine more generally, including the nikkei style referenced on Ronda 14's menu, which developed from Japanese immigration to Peru in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Where to Find It
Ronda 14 is located at Calle del General Oráa, 25, in Madrid's Salamanca district, an area known for its upmarket shops and restaurants.
