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Noble Cause
A popular temple to one of Peru's most exquisite dishes, Mi Causa restaurant is dedicated to exploiting to the maximum the textures and flavours of the Peruvian potato, discovering endless surprising possibilities and delighting in previously unknown colours and tastes.
Text: Ivan Reyna Ramos
Photos: Walter Hupiu Tapia  More than 3,000 varieties of potato are cultivated in
Peru. Bearing names like yellow, Andean, huayro, tumbay, tomasa and yungay, they are the protagonists in such wonderful dishes due to the simple fact that the noble potato can be used in a thousand different ways. But it is the Lima dish known as "causa" which is perhaps Peru's favourite potato dish.
When speaking of "causa" we must go back to the war with Chile, when the nation's courageous women invented a recipe that would help to solve the urgent food crisis occasioned by combat. They cooked potatoes, mashed them and seasoned them with chilli peppers, lemon and salt, then filled this soft mixture with other ingredients, which they then offered up "to the cause" (or "causa" in Spanish).
 That was how this most Peruvian of dishes was born - a dish which now conquers the most demanding palates. And Lima - of course - boasts one particular corner of the city where "the cause rules", with all its many colours and flavours.
The restaurant is called "Mi Causa", and it is located on Avenida La Mar 814, in Miraflores. It is owned by Arequipa-born Oscar Bustamante, who welcomes his guests with a light appetiser called "escribano" (mashed potatoes, olive oil, chilli, vinegar, tomatoes, no lemon and a little salt), a delicacy whose name translates as "notary", and the taste of which is said never to leave you.
Mi Causa's unique flavours are based on the culinary secrets of old María Laura Ramos de Bustamante, who knew how to combine certain varieties of potatoes to produce incomparable results. Imagine, for example, treating yourself to a "causa" with stir-fried beef, onions and tomatoes ("lomo saltado") without even missing the rice that usually accompanies this dish; or enjoying a "causa" with sea bass in a garlic and caper source; or falling in love with a sweet potato "causa" accompanied by marinated fillet of sole ("tiradito") and chilli. This is the kind of punishment that the restaurant has meted out to many famous names, including the current president of the republic.
 "I am not a chef, I am an enthusiast who loves inspired cooking" says Bustamante. He is interested in recipes capable of awakening new taste sensations. This master of seasoning is now thinking of going international through new branches of the restaurant in Santiago, San Francisco (California) and Florence.
According to the Peruvian gastronomy expert Isabel Álvarez, "causa" ought to be named Peru's national dish. And Óscar Bustamante says that the best way for Peru to convince the world that the potato is truly Peruvian is for everyone to eat "causa". That would certainly be a just cause: to give the potato its rightful place.
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