Tampa Latin fusion restaurant Sabor & Fuego brings a love for Peruvian cuisine to the city

Fresh taste of Peru in Tampa

Flavor and fire is the theme that Sabor & Fuego Latin Fusion brings to Tampa. The Peruvian-inspired restaurant is the passion project of a pair of brothers exposing Tampa foodies to the authentic flavors inspired by their hometown of Lima, Peru. 

TAMPA, Fla. - Flavor and fire is the theme that Sabor & Fuego Latin Fusion brings to Tampa. The Peruvian-inspired restaurant is the passion project of a pair of brothers exposing Tampa foodies to the authentic flavors inspired by their hometown of Lima, Peru. 

Their menu shares that Peruvian culture through traditional dishes like lomo saltado, and a unique, robust selection of desserts featuring lúcuma, the ancient "golden fruit of the Incas."

Latin fusion in Tampa

The backstory:

For the taste trekker or gastro-tourist, there are many worldwide flavors to explore in Tampa.

David Nieves Palma and his brother opened Sabor & Fuego Latin Fusion to expose those foodies to the flavors of Peru.

"It is a reflection, actually, of who we are," Nieves Palma admitted. "It is a Peruvian-inspired restaurant. ‘Sabor’ means flavor, and ‘fuego’ actually brings the passion and all the love that we put into the kitchen, you know? Every single dish."

Nieves Palma is the head chef who puts his heart into every dish with the goal of helping his customers experience the bold and diverse dishes from Lima, Peru.  

"As soon as you walk into the restaurant, you'll see a lot of what Peru is, you know? Like, from culture, dancing... food, and, you know, music as well," Nieves Palma said. "Seeing my mom as my chef, my mentor. [I] grew up, you know, around Peruvian food, and I always love, you know, how rich and diverse those flavors are. So, my brother and I, we felt that Tampa actually needed something different, something authentic, you know, but still welcoming and easy for everyone to enjoy."

Authentic Peruvian Food in Tampa

Dig deeper:

The menu at Sabor & Fuego reflects those recipes learned in the kitchen back home, and Nieves Palma works to honor those lessons.

"We serve very bold flavors of Peruvian authentic cuisine, from ceviches, lomo saltado, uh, seafood dishes like jalea, leche de tigre," Nieves Palma said. "Our most famous leche de tigre or tiger's milk...  that we serve it in a cup. It is, basically, marinated fish bites with onions, ají limo, cilantro, and it's been topped with cancha, which is our Andean popcorn, and then choclo, which is our giant corn. And also, it's topped with some sweet potato chips."

Helping customers embark on that flavor-filled journey, Nieves Palma stacked the menu with options from the more traditional items to the fusion options that combine ideas.

"We have a fish ceviche that is one of our most traditional and national dish," Nieves Palma said. "The same as the lomo saltado, which is a Peruvian stir-fry. It's sautéed on a wok. It's steak tips with tomato wedges and red onions. And our sauce that we use is soy sauce, red wine, topped with cilantro, served with rice and french fries."

Everything comes from that Peruvian influence, and all of it is filled with the love for food instilled in Nieves Palma by his mother. He creates it all fresh from scratch each day.

To end the meal, Nieves Palma offers the best creations, or at least the sweetest ones, to cap off the experience.

"Desserts? Then we're having a lúcuma, which is a particular, it's been called the golden fruit of the Incas," Nieves Palma said. "We have lúcuma mousse, suspiro de limeña of lúcuma, lúcuma flan, alfajores with lúcuma flavor as well."

What you can do:

You can find Sabor & Fuego at 1001 N. MacDill Ave., just north of Cypress Street. They are open seven days a week.