Over the last 20 years, Lima's best restaurants have helped propel Peruvian food onto the world's culinary stage. Chef Gaston Acurio is credited with raising awareness of Peruvian cuisine, most notably ceviche.
He has since built a global restaurant empire on that authority. Younger chefs, many behind the restaurants on this list, continue to innovate, scouring the country for a diversity of ingredients to prepare using modern techniques.
Beyond the United States and Colombia, I've spent the most time in Peru. From 2011 to 2012, I used Lima as a base to explore Peru and other parts of South America. Since then, I've returned every few years to try more of the best places to eat. My list of Lima's best restaurants is based on more than a decade of travel to the Peruvian capital, the City of Kings.
Table of Contents
Lima's Top Restaurants
1. Central
My all-time best meal in Lima was the Mater Elevations menu at the original Central location in Miraflores. Virgilio Martinez's menu showcased ingredients from Peru's three regions: the Pacific coast (desert), the Andes mountains, and the Amazon.
I loved the creative use of ingredients combined with the artistic presentations. Every course was a work of art. Highlights included colorful cactus milk, edible clay, octopus (pictured above), and beef heart (anticucho) with milk.
Martinez trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa and London before working in many high-profile restaurants, including Astrid & Gaston in Bogota and Madrid. He then returned to Lima and opened Central in 2008. He met his wife, chef Pia Leon, and they worked together for several years before marrying. After eating at Central in 2014, the World's 50 Best Restaurants named it the best restaurant in Latin America.
In August 2022, en route to Machu Picchu, I returned to Central for the first time since the restaurant relocated from Miraflores to the bohemian Barranco district. The 14-course Mundo Mater tasting menu was an equally fascinating trip through Peru's ecology and geography.
Over the last ten years, Martinez, Leon, and the team have maintained their place as one of the world's best restaurants. In 2023, Central was named the #1 restaurant in the world, the first time the top spot has been awarded to a place in Latin America.
2. Maido
Another rockstar restaurant is Maido, owned by chef Mitsuharu Tsumura. Chef Tsumura specializes in Nikkei cuisine, combining Peruvian ingredients and Japanese cooking techniques. Maido is the only place on this list of the best Peruvian restaurants I've visited three times.
Highlights of the tasting menu from my third dining experience include:
- Two courses of ceviche
- Cuy (guinea pig)
- Miso-marinated cod
- Tofu cheesecake ice cream
Maido was voted the best restaurant in Latin America by The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023. It ranked #6 worldwide in 2023.
3. Astrid & Gaston
In 1994, Gaston Acurio opened his first restaurant, Astrid & Gaston, with his German wife Astrid, a pastry chef he met at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Together, they grew their restaurant into the number one place to eat in Lima, thus elevating Peruvian gastronomy.
I dined there in 2011, when the restaurant was still in its original Miraflores location. The 11-course tasting menu included highlights such as tubers, a cuy taco, two ceviche courses, wagyu beef with raspberry sauce, and cannelloni with aji (pepper) ice cream.
In 2014, Astrid & Gaston moved to a 300-year-old mansion in San Isidro, where they've continued serving contemporary Peruvian dishes. A former #1, Astrid & Gaston ranked #75 on the 2023 list of Best Restaurants in Latin America.
4. Mayta
Fans of Central will thoroughly enjoy the 12-course Yachay tasting menu at Mayta by Peruvian-born chef Jaime Pesaque. The lush dining room with various plants and building materials offers a contemporary setting; I loved the rough feel of our stone-top table. Innovative dishes from an August 2022 dinner included carrots with yogurt and leaves, creamy corn with quinoa and peppers, and paiche, one of the world's largest freshwater fish.
Chef Pesaque studied the culinary arts in Italy and apprenticed at the former #1 restaurant in the world, El Celler de Can Roca in Costa Brava, before opening Mayta. His flagship restaurant landed him on the same list as the Roca brothers, ranking #47 worldwide for 2023 and #10 for Latin America.
5. Osso
In 2013, following his sustainable butchery training in San Francisco and France, Renzo Garibaldi returned to Lima and opened Osso in the La Molina district. The neighborhood is one of the city's safer and cleaner areas, and it's also less touristy than Miraflores and Barranco near the coast. After gaining success, he opened a second, more convenient location in San Isidro's business district.
This second location is where I dropped in for a tenderloin lunch with a truffled puree of potatoes and rich chocolate fondant cake with vanilla ice cream. Diners can choose from an a la carte menu or a tasting menu. For traditional Peruvian cuisine, try the lomo saltado. An on-site deli offers fresh meats and sausages for purchase, as well as house-made sauces and condiments. In 2023, Osso ranked #33 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants list.
6. Kjolle
Kjolle takes its name from an orange-flowering tree in the Peruvian Andes. The restaurant reflects chef Pia Leon's ever-evolving culinary style. Leon previously worked in Astrid & Gaston and abroad at the Ritz Carlton in New York City. She began working at Central at age 21, contributing to its ascent to the #1 restaurant in Latin America in 2014 (displacing her former employer, Gaston Acurio).
After success at Central, Leon opened Kjolle in Lima's bohemian Barranco district. She continues to showcase Peru's biodiversity through creative a la carte and tasting menus. Kjolle was ranked #7 in Latin America for 2023.
Note: Kjolle is the only restaurant I haven't eaten at personally on this list.
7. Rafael
In the 1990s, Rafael Osterling traded lawyering for chef whites when he attended Le Cordon Bleu. Upon graduating, he worked in kitchens in London and Paris before returning to Lima and opening his eponymous restaurant. Rafael is in a townhouse in the Miraflores district, a block west of Maido.
The menu reflects a confluence of Peruvian, Italian, and Asian influences. Expect excellence, whether you order the ceviche with the fish of the day and avocado or the cacio e pepe gnocchi. I fondly recall the best dishes of my last meal there: roast duck foie gras with toast and peaches, yellowfin tuna with basil emulsion, and chocolate dessert. Rafael ranked #46 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2023.
8. La Mar Cebicheria Peruana
Named after the avenue on which it's located in Miraflores, La Mar Cebicheria Peruana is one of Gaston Acurio's many celebrated restaurants in Lima. Here, you'll find a menu full of Peruvian flavors, including some of Lima's best ceviche and fresh fish. After all, "La Mar" means "the sea" in Spanish.
La Mar is only open for lunch to ensure you get the freshest ingredients. Drop by between 12 and 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday or 12 and 5:30 p.m. Friday to Sunday. I recommend going early as La Mar is a perennial favorite among Lima's residents.
Note: While "cebiche" is typically spelled with a "b" in Lima, I've chosen to use the more common variant outside of Peru, which is "ceviche" with a "v."
9. Osaka
Osaka is a Peruvian chain that specializes in Nikkei cuisine. It serves fresh sushi, tiradito, and Peruvian izakaya. The San Isidro location occupies a below-ground space with a chic outdoor bar, lounge, indoor seating, and sushi bar. For a heavenly bite, try the tuna with foie gras, and I also enjoyed the grilled shrimp with leek and red curry.
Even the dessert I ordered was decadent -- Amazon chocolate dulce de leche with lemongrass ice cream and meringue. Osaka has expanded internationally to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Quito, Bogota, Miami, and London.
Related: Cooking Peruvian Food in Cusco
10. Isolina
Chef Jose del Castillo turned a 114-year-old house in Barranco into Isolina, a traditional Peruvian tavern "where the spontaneous laughs and the freedom to eat as everyone wishes are celebrated." Named after his mother, herself a restaurant owner, Castillo's focus at Isolina is "the forgotten recipes in old notebooks," harkening to a time when family-style meals relied on less costly organ meat.
Expect large portions and intriguing dishes, such as pickled pig's feet and onions, beef brain omelet with nutmeg and parmesan, and beef kidneys in red wine. If offal isn't your thing, other great food options include the suckling pig sandwich based on a family recipe and the short rib stew.
Wrapping Up
The best restaurants in Lima, Peru, range from world-class fine dining to casual, family-style cevicherias. There's a reason I continue to return to Peru's capital city—it's one of Latin America's top culinary destinations. Go to the source for traditional Peruvian dishes, and you'll be richly rewarded.
If you're looking for more ideas of where to eat in Lima, consider these restaurants; they're next on my list of places to try.
