What we’ve known for at least a couple of generations in La Ciudad de los Reyes is finally ready to enter common sense per ’s expert panel: Lima is the world’s best city for food.
One can literally fill books with the hundreds of traditional recipes that have arrived in Lima as people migrated to the Peruvian capital from the vast country’s more than twenty regions. Peru’s highly diverse geographical and climatic composition provides a plethora of root vegetables, fruit, chili peppers, theobromas and more, often unheard of outside of Latin America.
Lima’s food scene is what made me fall in love with the city and, seven years ago, spurred me to turn my life around to be able to live here. It’s not only the diversity and quality of the food that make the city stand out; it’s also the way culinary culture completely permeates local life, and Limeños’ total submission to its glory. Try to talk to a Peruvian before breakfast? Forget about it. Try talking to a Peruvian before lunch, their almuerzo that they religiously won’t miss out on? That breakfast better have been fantastic (and included café pasado and pan con chicharrón, a sandwich of fried pork belly and sweet potato beloved by locals). And when you eventually do get to that conversation, remember there’s basically only one topic to talk about.
From list-topping fine-dining to a hidden huarique to the city’s bespoke speakeasy – here are some of my favourite spots.
Central/Kjolle
Okay, let’s get the big one out of the way first. Maido might currently be considered the world’s best restaurant, yet that became possible only because Central was excluded from the 50 Best list after topping it in 2023. Virgilio Martinez’s crown jewel in Barranco is still the absolute reference point for how to experience a whole country during the course of a set menu, which is organised by the varying altitudes of Peru’s landscape. (That is, for those who can and want to afford the £500+ price tag in a country where the minimum monthly salary is half that).
Kjolle, run by Pia León, long-time head chef at Central and also Martinez’s wife and partner in crime, sits on the same property and relies on the same research and resources. It served as a slightly more moderate alternative to chronically booked-up Central for a while, but long ago became an almost equally lofty and award-winning affair as well.
Oiga
Or you go for simple, delicious street food. Anticuchos – skewers of beef hearts – are a Peruvian classic, and Oiga delivers them with the best twist of all: a 100 percent vegan version that is known to have changed even die-hard traditionalists’ minds for how perfectly close it hits to home. The food stall’s small menu includes other comida criolla all-time faves like papa rellena, tortita de choclo and tallarines verdes, and sister company La Recontra, working out of the same container in Surquillo, creates the hands-down best burgers in all of Lima, all vegan as well.
2REIS
In Peruvian informal speak, a huarique is a somewhat hidden, often family-operated food spot. For the common tourist, 2REIS is definitely that; sitting on the roof of a private house in the district of Breña, the small restaurant is accessible only via advance reservation through WhatsApp. It serves a delicious comfort food fusion of Peruvian and Italian staples (try the sweet potato raviolones or one of the pizzas) and rounds things out with an array of nearly twenty varieties of macerated pisco, Peru’s famous grape brandy.
+51 986 618 362 for reservations
Sastrería Martinez
For a few years now, the speakeasy has been all the rage in Lima’s bar scene, and the boldest and baddest of them all is Sastrería Martinez. Hidden in the back room of a (fake) tailor shop front, you’ll need a lengthy pass phrase to enter before browsing through the extensive menu of signature drinks, designed from scratch every year. Extensively researched, wildly imaginative with unheard-of ingredients like pacay liqueur, chuchuhuasi-infused Cynar or yacón honey, and gorgeously presented – this is Lima’s most exciting cocktail experience.
Wander around before or after; the bar is located on La Mar, an avenida on the western end of Miraflores once dominated by car shops and now one of the city’s most eclectic gastronomic strips. Mayta, for example – star chef Jaime Pesaque’s flagship restaurant – is right next door.
Pregón de las Once (Barranco)
For those who fancy a little history lesson with their sweets (and who doesn’t?), Pregón de las Once is the place to be. It starts with the name of this tiny patisserie in a non-touristic part of Barranco – an allusion to a nineteenth-century tradition of street vendors announcing their dulces for a little 11am sweet sin. Owners Michelle Gamardo and Felipe Garzón basically work in the same trade, rediscovering historic desserts like champús (cooked maize with fruit), limón de convento (candied lemon with caramel) or ranfañote (toasted bread with nuts, milk, and honey, here available also as a layered puff pastry that keeps on giving). And they’ll always happily explain what is what on their growing menu, too.
Carnaval
San Isidro, amongst Lima’s poshest and prettiest districts, is home to dozens of top-notch restaurants and bars, but few have had such a lasting impact as cocktail lounge Carnaval. Founder Aaron Díaz made over-the-top presentation a non-negotiable across town, the crazier the better – smoke, mirrors, colourful chemical reactions, and some of the most wicked glass and cup designs ever seen. The drinks’ execution is generally excellent, too. After eight years, Díaz left Carnaval in April this year to soon open two new bars in Miraflores. They’re set to be the talk of the town.
Ciclos Café & El Cacaotal
Miraflores and Barranco are full of excellent coffee shops, both on the cosy-cute and the ‘V60 or Chemex?’ ends of the spectrum. What makes Ciclos stand out is both the sheer quality of everything they put in front of you, and how well they understand combining coffee with the other great gift of the gods: cacao, to which they dedicate specialty shop El Cacaotal, in the same small space in Barranco. Their crossover made in heaven is a liqueur they produce in cooperation with Valle Sagrado-based distillery Salqa, which they also put in their Espresso Martini, far and away the best in Lima.
Honesto
The heart of why Peruvian food tastes so good really is the quality of its ingredients – the lemon, the chili pepper, the palta (don’t call it ‘avocado’ unless you want to be profiled immediately) simply taste better here than anywhere else. Still, there is a small market for Peruvian delicatessen, and Honesto, a fairly new shop on lovely alley Jirón Domeyer in Barranco, is a good place to find them. Highlights include orange wines made from pisco grapes, selected spirits and bars of ‘El Ganso’, named the world’s best dark chocolate at last fall’s International Chocolate Awards. Honesto has a small menu and a few tables outside, too.
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