Peri Peri is a new restaurant that opened at the beginning of March, featuring South African cuisine.
I was invited to come check it out and I was definitely curious. Despite the restaurant being open only a few weeks, it was already filled with returning customers, always a good sign.
The restaurant is named after an African bird’s eye chili, peri-peri, which is featured with most of the dishes on the menu.
Seafood Corn Husks
Mr. K and I chose to start with this appetizer as we saw several other tables ordering it. Sweet, buttery grilled corn was mixed with delicate scallops and shrimp, lightly seasoned with some lime juice and garlic. It was a simple dish, but enjoyable.
Prawns Peri Peri (Flame-grilled prawns, shell on with butter, lemon, coarse salt, and Peri-Peri)
This was Mr. K’s entree and it gave us our first taste of the unique peri-peri sauce. This is not your ordinary hot sauce.
The sauce is served on the side, so that you can dip as much as needed. Neither of us have ever tasted the peri-peri chili and it was an interesting experience. The burn slowly creeps up on you, followed by a quick kick, which then slowly dissipates. I loved it. It actually made me giggle. The sensation reminded me of eating pop rocks, but with spice.
There were plenty of prawns in this dish, accompanied by aromatic rice.
Hot Rock Filet Mignon (Lightly seasoned, filet mignon to sear tableside on Hot Rock. Dijon, peppercorn, sauces)
I chose the filet mignon as my entree. It’s served tableside, and you have control, cooking it to your desired doneness. The meat cooks very quickly on the hot stone, so I didn’t have to do much cooking. The dish was accompanied with french fries and tender asparagus.
Overall, we had a good meal here. I’ve never had South African cuisine so I don’t have much of a point of comparison. But I did notice that many of the diners were from South Africa and were repeat customers. We definitely want to return and try out more of the menu and I’m happy to see more diverse cuisine in San Diego.
Please note, as indicated above, I was invited to dine here and my meal was complimentary. I was not further compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.
Peri Peri
7845 Highland Village Pl
San Diego, CA 92129
I’ve heard about this restaurant a lot lately, I’m curious to try this peri-peri chile.
And I have to say you really rock at taking restaurant pictures. The lighting is often too dark and everything looks off but your pictures always look very nice/appetizing. Props 😉
aw thanks. i get frustrated by low lighting too. i wish i could take all my restaurants pics in sunny daylight.
I stopped by to check out their lunch menu but the place was empty and they didn’t offer any lunch specials.
Hoping to stop by soon though. I heard they might be offering happy hour?
Oh, that would be nice!
They look delicious.
the food was pretty good