Alanya Repostería
Wednesday, January 24
In the more touristy areas of Lima, there are now countless hip, modern cafes and patisseries. We had the most expensive, but also the most delicious pastries in the “Alanya” cafe.
The “Alanya” cafe is located on a quiet street lined with colorful, single-story houses in the Barranco district. The patisserie specializes in croissants and croissant varieties, and I have never seen so many different types of croissants before! A visit to “Alanya” is really worth it and we enjoyed just looking at the beautiful variety of pastries. The countless croissants are neatly arranged by type on an elegant black marble counter, and it took Christoph and I a really long time to decide which two pastries we would get. At „Alanya“ they have everything: minimalist plain croissants, almond croissants, pistachio croissants, croissants dipped in various types of chocolate, croissants with fruit, croissants with custard filling, and our favourite: croissants that have been dipped in chocolate as a whole and are therefore covered in a chocolate-nut layer that cracks really nicely when you bite into it. Although they also sell cookies, cinnamon rolls and other pastries here, Christoph and I opted for two of the luxurious croissants and took them to go.
Due to the proximity to the Pacific, which lies directly below the city, the humidity in Lima is extremely high all year round. In winter it feels much colder, and in summer it is often much hotter than it actually is. This humidity is part of life in Lima, but it’s a challenge, especially for bakers in town. The increased humidity in the air means that all types of baked goods that are normally crispy when they come out of the oven lose their crispiness after a short time and become soft again. This is precisely why we rarely have had really crispy baked goods in Lima, but at the Alanya bakery, they bake the croissants to perfection and somehow manage to keep them crispy. So if you are in Lima and are missing really good French baked goods, you should definitely pay a visit to the Alanya Repostería.
