Yet another great Peruvian success story involving food, proving that it doesn’t matter how little you start out with, so long as you offer up plates of delicious Peruvian food and you have that special touch – a touch that is strangely commonplace in Peru – you’ll make a success of yourself.

I had heard of El Veridico de Fidel with the famous leche de tigre once or twice, but when I was bombarded with news of it from three different people in the space of 3 days, I knew I had to pay a visit. Surprisingly this spectacular little restaurant its on one of my well-trodden roots in the heart of La Victoria.

Ceviche from Veridico de Fidel — The famous Leche de Tigre of El Verídico

The story begins in 1989 when the Aymar brothers decided to open a small stand outside the stadium of the famous Alianza Lima football club. To hungry fans they sold ceviche, arroz con mariscos and chicha morada. The brothers had the special touch and soon built up a legion of fans of their own. It grew increasingly difficult to serve hundreds of people from a small stand, plus they were making good money, so why not, they thought, go legal.

Now employing 13 people to help out, serving from a decent food-cart and selling a larger variety of dishes to a larger number of people, there was one event that pushed them into the world of formality.

A famous sports commentator tried their food and couldn’t believe his taste-buds. “This is the real deal” he exclaimed, or in Spanish, the verídico. The name stuck, and he told everyone about it.