Llama Inn has virtually nothing to do with llamas, which is a shame, because they’re one of the best creatures on Earth – I like their petulant underbites and New Romantic hair-dos. There was once a restaurant/llama petting zoo on the A66 near Penrith called the Llama Karma Kafe, where you could eat a jacket potato with tuna mix just metres from a crowd of these furry beasts, but sadly the place has long since closed.
Equally sadly, Llama Inn in Shoreditch is nothing like the Llama Karma Kafe, either – there’s not a slice of bakewell tart or a domesticated camelid in sight. Instead, it is a “cool” Peruvian restaurant down an alleyway, then up a lift and on to a Hoxton rooftop. You’d never get a llama in that lift, by the way; it’s far too small: the cool kids with their big shoes and oversized jackets have to take it two at a time. Llama Inn first opened in New York in 2015 and has now set up shop in London, serving anticucho (stuff on skewers), various types of ceviches and sliders, as well as its signature lomo saltado (stir-fried beef with spring onion pancakes and pickled chillies).
