The ceviche guide that treats the Peruvian national dish with the specificity it deserves: the leche de tigre (the tiger’s milk — the curing liquid of the lime juice, the ají amarillo, the coriander, and the fish juices that is simultaneously the ceviche’s medium and its byproduct and that the Lima cevichería serves in a separate shot glass alongside the plate as the specific Peru dining ritual that nobody outside Lima has adequately exported), the cut of the fish (the sole (lenguado) or the corvina (corvina del Pacífico) — the specific Pacific coastal fish that the cold Humboldt Current gives Peru its specific fish quality, the same current that gives the Peruvian anchovy its specific fat content that the Italian anchovy industry imports for the colatura), and the three regional variants (the Lima, the Iquitos jungle, and the Arequipa style) that the single word ceviche covers without distinguishing.
Reading time: 6 minutes | Last updated: 2026
The History
Ceviche is 2,000 years old. The pre-Inca coastal cultures of Peru used the tumbo (the passion fruit) to cure the fish before the lime arrived from the Spanish colonisation. The specific ceviche that the world now knows (the lime-cured, the ají amarillo, the red onion, the coriander) is the post-colonial synthesis that the Lima cooking tradition assembled from the Andean (the potato, the corn), the Japanese (the nikkei influence — the precision cut, the minimal dressing), and the Spanish (the citrus, the onion) traditions.
The Essential Components
The fish: Fresh (the specific instruction — the ceviche is cured in the lime acid for 5-10 minutes at the quality Lima cevichería; the ceviche marinated for 2 hours is cooking with acid rather than curing). The fish must be sashimi-grade fresh — the Humboldt Current’s cold water gives the specific Peruvian Pacific fish its flavour.
The leche de tigre: The curing liquid — the lime juice (the specific Peruvian limón de pica or limón ácido, the thin-skinned green lime more acidic than the Persian lime available in UK supermarkets), the ají amarillo paste (the yellow chilli — the specific Peruvian chilli that gives the ceviche its fruity heat, the chilli that has no direct UK substitute), the coriander, the ginger, the fish juices, the salt.
The ají amarillo: The yellow chilli is not the yellow pepper. The Capsicum baccatum is the specific Peru chilli — fruity, hot (moderate by Peru standards, hot by UK standards), giving the specific ceviche flavour that the jalapeño or the scotch bonnet cannot replicate. Available at the Latin American supermarket in the UK (the Golders Green Road or the Brixton market) as the paste.
The choclo: The large-kernel Peruvian corn (maíz choclo) — the starchy, chewy kernels visible at the side of the plate, the starch providing the counterweight to the acid of the leche de tigre.
The Three Regional Variants
Lima ceviche: The ceviche clásico — the sole or the corvina, the lime, the ají amarillo, the red onion, the coriander, the choclo, the sweet potato. The reference version.
Iquitos jungle ceviche: The river fish (paiche, doncella) cured in the lime with the cocona (the tropical fruit native to the Amazon — the acidic tomato-adjacent flavour) and the ají charapita (the small hot jungle chilli). The ceviche that the Amazon river gives rather than the Pacific coast.
Nikkei ceviche: The Japanese-Peruvian hybrid — the precision sashimi cut, the sesame oil, the soy sauce used in the leche de tigre alongside the lime, the salmon or the tuna rather than the coastal white fish.
Where to Eat the Reference Ceviche
Lima: The Central Cevichería (Barranco — the weekend lunch institution, the leche de tigre in the shot glass, the sole ceviche at PEN 45-80 / £8.88-15.79).
La Mar Cevichería (Gastón Acurio’s restaurant, Miraflores — the most internationally recognised Lima ceviche restaurant, the menu covering all three regional variants at the premium Lima price): Book at lamarcevicheria.pe.
London: The Lima Floral (Covent Garden — the Virgilio Martínez-affiliated restaurant, the closest available in the UK to the Lima reference ceviche): £16-24 per portion.
