no alt text

Travel bucket list idea:

Last updated: 18 March, 2024
Expert travel writer: Alex Robinson

If there’s one reason to stop over in Lima it’s the food. The city has some of the finest restaurants in the world – with chefs like Virgilio Martínez, Jaime Pesaque and Gastón Acurio ranked in the World’s ‘Fifty Best’ on the exclusive San Pellegrino list.

What makes Lima chefs so exciting is their virtuoso fusion of unique national ingredients with Asian and European techniques. Star chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino has a plate on his degustation comprising only potatoes arranged to look like beach pebbles – all from different Andean locations with astonishing, divergent flavours.

Peruvian-Japanese Micha Tsumura serves fiery tiger milk tuna tiraditos alongside river-fish sushi, and 50-hour-cooked Amazonian beef.

You could spend a week in the gastro-hub suburbs of San Isidro, Miraflores and Barranco and get a mere taste of the exciting scene. But be sure to dine in Astrid y Gaston – the pioneer of Lima gastronomy and Central, by Michelin-starred Virgilio Martínez.

For a sense of the huge variety of ingredients Lima’s top chefs draw on visit Mercado No1 de Surquillo – packed with exotic fruit, vegetables and medicinal plants. It’s also a good spot to sample simple ceviche, but don’t focus on the street food – Lima’s all about fine dining.

Recommendations

7

Astrid y Gaston

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

No Image Available for this listing

Lima’s pioneer gourmet restaurant, founded by cordon bleu-trained, multi-award-winning team Gaston and Astrid Acúrio who invented Novoandina cuisine in the 1990s.

Adult price: £50

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Central

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

Close up of a ceviche dish

The flagship restaurant of one of Lima’s most famous chefs, Michelin-starred Virgilio Martínez who has restaurants all over the world.

Adult price: £50

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Kjolle

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

A fish dish from the restaurant

Pía León honed her skills at Astrid y Gastón and Central. Her food focuses on the breadth of Peru’s ingredients – with a degustation for vegetarians and another with sea bass and razor clams, Peruvian tubers including yucca, olluco and potato, quinoa-like kañiwa and duck, and duck cured with squid ink.

Adult price: £50

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Maido

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

A dish from the tasting menu at the restaurant

Astonishing Peruvian Japanese fusion or Nikkei cooking from Micha Tsumura. Three-times winner of the best restaurant in Latin America.

Adult price: £70

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Maras

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

A dish from the restaurant

Probably the best hotel restaurant in Peru, helmed by Cordon Bleu and triple Michelin-star El Celler de Can Roca-trained Rafael Piquera who is famous for his seafood and causa salads.

Adult price: £50

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Mayta

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

Ceviche with avocado and plantain.

Famous for its ceviches and with a legendary Pisco Sour cocktail bar and run by rising star Jaime Pesaque, who has an empire of restaurants around the world.

Adult price: £50

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Osso

Lima, Lima Region, Peru

Rib Steak with Asparagus Carrots and Chilli Pepper on slate platter

Renzo Garibaldi’s award-winning butcher’s deli come restaurant is for carnivore’s only – with a meaty restaurant and a much-celebrated degustation menu served for 12 at one table.

Adult price: £50

Best for ages 18+

Website >
More details >

Logistics

Price from: £35
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around

Getting there & doing it

Lima’s gastronomic scene is vibrant – with new openings every month. Book tables before you arrive in the long-established favourites like Astrid y Gastón, Central, Tsumura’s Maido and Pedro Miguel Schiaffino’s Amaz. All are in the southern suburbs between San Isidro, Barranco and Miraflores where the scene is hottest. Book a hotel there and ask the concierge for the latest. The excellent Westin hosts Rafael Piqueras’s seafood restaurant Maras.

There are street food tours in Lima – offered in many cheaper hotels and hostels. It’s worth visiting Mercado No1 de Surquillo to see the exotic ingredients, sample a streetside- ceviche or lunch on a Butifarra pulled-pork sandwich. But don’t focus on the street food when you can eat at one of the best restaurants in the world for the price of a mediocre meal back home. Lima is all about world-class, contemporary cooking.

Who to go with: organised tours

5

Our selection of the best Viator tours of this attraction or activity

Lima Ultimate Peruvian Food Tour

Lima

Lima Ultimate Peruvian Food Tour
Discover one of Lima’s most interesting neighbourhoods – artsy and bohemian Barranco and sample more than 15 Peruvian foods and drinks. Meet with our local hosts to learn how to prepare the famous ceviche and pisco sour during these two interactive workshops. Enjoy your lomo saltado with an amazing view over the Pacific ocean. Learn the history and culture behind each dish that you will have the chance to taste during this 4-hour walking food tour of Barranco. Please note that depending on the day, the itinerary and/or food served can slightly change.

Price: $89

Min age: 0

Rating 4.95 / 5 [494 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

Viator Logo

Lima Gourmet Food Tour: Evening Experience

Lima

Lima Gourmet Food Tour: Evening Experience
The best of Lima in one evening: from a trendy beachfront cocktail at sunset, a lush garden stop amid an eclectic mix of art and architecture accompanied by a local chef's signature dishes, see the sights and taste the flavors of Peru’s history and culture through its cuisine. Try exquisite local recipes below the stars amid illuminated pre-Incan ruins and walk the bohemian streets of the Barranco district. Hands-on, laid back, and chic you’ll get a feel for a different side of Lima.

Price: $145

Min age: 0

Rating 4.93 / 5 [272 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

Viator Logo

Lima Gourmet Food Tour: Daytime Experience

Lima

Lima Gourmet Food Tour: Daytime Experience
This is the ultimate food and city tour. It includes exclusive restaurants, trendy districts, top must-see attractions and hands-on activities. Make the most out of Lima in one day. Enjoy 5 stops spread between 3 districts that include a visit to an organic, Peruvian coffee roasterie, and a fruit tasting and tour at a local market. Have fun with a pisco tasting, hands-on cocktail class and cebiche class with a professional chef, and end the day with a gourmet lunch and dessert at a top restaurant in Lima with views of pre-Incan ruins.

Price: $145

Min age: 0

Rating 4.97 / 5 [271 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

Viator Logo

Street Food & Old Taverns Tour in the Historic Center of Lima

Lima

Street Food & Old Taverns Tour in the Historic Center of Lima
During this walking food tour, discover Lima's main historical sites such as the Plaza de Armas or the Monastery of San Francisco while sampling 13 different types of foods and drinks, which are all very popular on-the-go options among locals.

Price: $69

Min age: 0

Rating 4.88 / 5 [226 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

Viator Logo

Food & Art: Lima Colors and Flavors Walking Tour

Lima

Food & Art: Lima Colors and Flavors Walking Tour
This 4-hour experience will take you to enjoy the best traditional Peruvian dishes from our 3 regions: Coast, Andes, and Amazon. You will get to know the most emblematic local markets while delighting your palate with the best of Peruvian gastronomy. Also, you will visit the colorful district of Barranco, the famous 'Bajada de los Baños' walkway, the romantic 'Bridge of sighs' and enjoy a visit of one of the various local galleries which Barranco is famous for. In addition, you should know that our company mission is to support our nonprofit sister organization, Reciprocity NGO. With the profits from our tours, Reciprocity NGO is able to implement social projects that improve the quality of life for the communities living below the poverty line.

Price: $60

Min age: 0

Rating 4.95 / 5 [186 ratings]

Tour supplied by:

Viator Logo

Destination guides

2

Destination guides including or relevant to this experience

Lima

Lima Region, Peru

Pale yellow painted cathedral in Lima, viewed from below

Peru’s capital, while not the most appealing of cities, does offer stately colonial architecture, fascinating museums of Peru’s empirical; history and world-class dining.

Peru

Peru

Peru

A land of spectacular deserts, high mountains and rainforests that teem with wildlife, Peru is also home to an array of dramatically situated pre-Colombian ruins, including Machu Picchu.