Lima became one of the food capitals of the world without ever stopping being Lima. These are the seven places that justify the trip on their own, and the thing that really matters: how far in advance you have to move to get a table.
First, the awkward part: at the restaurants near the top of this list, you do not get a table the same day. Nor the same week. The most sought-after kitchens in Lima open bookings in blocks, fill up in hours and after that there is no way in. That is why we have ordered the list by difficulty, not by preference.
1. Central, in Barranco
Virgilio Martínez and Pía León’s place. A menu that climbs through the ecological tiers of Peru, from the sea to the Andes, plate by plate. It is not a meal: it is three and a half hours of travelling.
It is the hardest of them all. Bookings open months ahead and fly. If Central is the reason for the trip, the date of the trip is decided after you have the table, not before.
2. Maido, in Miraflores
Nikkei: the cooking born of the meeting between Japan and Peru, in the hands of Mitsuharu Tsumura. If you had to explain Lima in one dish, it would come from here.
Same logic as Central: months, not weeks. And it is worth having a second date ready.
3. Kjolle, by Pía León
It shares a building with Central, in Barranco, but it is a kitchen of its own and not its little sister. Peruvian produce worked with a different hand, and a good deal more colour on the plate.
It can be had with weeks of notice, not months. If Central was out of reach, this is the move.
4. Astrid y Gastón, in San Isidro
Gastón Acurio’s house, in a seventeenth-century hacienda. It is the restaurant that opened the way for all the others, and it is still on form.
Two or three weeks is usually enough. In high season, more.
5. Mayta, in Miraflores
Jaime Pesaque working Amazonian and Andean ingredients you will not see anywhere else. Less ceremony than the first three, the same ambition.
A couple of weeks’ notice.
6. Isolina, in Barranco
A criollo tavern. Sharing portions, Peruvian home recipes done seriously, no tweezers and no foams. After two tasting menus, walking in here is a relief.
It does not always take bookings and it fills up. The answer is to go early, especially at the weekend.
7. La Mar, the cebichería
Lunchtime only, as a cebichería should be. And by house rule they take no bookings: you turn up, put your name down and wait with a drink.
If you go on a Sunday, get there before midday. After one o’clock the wait is long.
What we have learnt building these trips
Three things. First: do not put two tasting menus on the same day, because you will not enjoy the second. Second: always leave one night free for whatever is recommended to you at the hotel or on the street, which in Lima is usually the best of the trip. And third: booking policies change, and the lists of the world’s best get reshuffled every year.
That is why we would rather you did not chase the tables yourself. When we design a trip to Lima, the bookings are included: they are requested with the notice each kitchen asks for and confirmed before you leave. Tell us when you want to go and we will take care of it.
