The seaside capital of Lima is home to some of the world's best restaurants and freshest seafood.
If food is your thing, especially seafood, there is probably no better place in South America to enjoy a good meal than in Peru. And what better place to sample the country’s finest than in Lima, the seaside capital. Lima is home to the top restaurants of world-class Peruvian chefs like Gastón Acurio and Virgilio Martínez.
You likely don’t even have to go out of your way to eat here in Lima. When visiting South America you’re going to visit Machu Picchu at some point in your life. To do that you are probably going to fly through Lima anyway and stopover for around 1-2 days. Foodie? Then I’d recommend a few more days so you have time to sample some of the finest foods on earth, without exploding (I met a couple who did 2 back-to-back tastings, one lunch and one dinner.
Below are some of the restaurants that cater to a variety of budgets that I’ve eaten at along with a few more worth mentioning. Most are in or near the Miraflores district of Lima, one of the best areas for a tourist to stay. If you want to eat at a top restaurant like Maido, Central or Astrid y Gastón then definitely have that booked prior to arrival in Peru as some can be booked out weeks in advance.
Maido
Calle San Martin 399, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian-Japanese
Price: $$$$
Website: maido.pe
#7 ranked of the “The world’s 50 best restaurants 2018”, Maido is the flagship restaurant of world-class chef Mitsuharu Tsumura. Maido welcomes your taste buds to a series of blissful delights.
Standout dish: Asado de Tira Nitsuke
This is a braised beef short rib cooked for 50 hours served with fried rice, cecina and benishoga (whatever those last 2 things are).
Service, taste and food presentation was impeccable. I ate here late. My arrival was at around 2.30pm and I waited about 40 minutes as I didn’t have a booking. I had to eat a la carte due to the tasting menu not being served at that time. If I could do it over again, I’d book in advanced the tasting menu, which as of writing costs S/.450 without paired wine (inc. tax and service charge). At the very least, if you do eat a la carte, then bring a friend with a similarly sized wallet so you can share dishes, allowing you to sample much more of the menu.
El Veridico De Fidel
Calle Colón 246, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Seafood
Price: $$
Known for it’s delicious Tigre de Leche, this restaurant has some of the tastiest Cerviche you can find in Peru, at a reasonable price to boot – and the locals know it. Tigre de Leche (Tiger’s Milk) is typically served as a dressing on a traditional Peruvian Cerviche. However, it’s so delicious you can order it as a soup in this restaurant. Don’t let the soup name fool you, it’s like a Cerviche Mixto (mixed seafood) but with more soup than filling. Also, despite what its name may imply, there is no milk (nor tiger) and it’s actually a nice citrusy and spicy (optionally) dressing. The worst thing about El Veridico de Fidel? The waiter straight up pointing out there wasn’t a tip and asking for one despite poor service.
Don Cevichero
Mercado Nº 1 de Surquillo, Surquillo, Peru
Speciality: Seafood
Price: $
Mercado Nº 1 is a short 10min walk from Parque Central de Miraflores just on the other side of the highway from the Metropolitano station: Estación Ricardo Palma. Along with the usual things you can find in a predominantly food market there are several Cervicheria’s here where you will find the locals gorging. Don Cevichero had some of the nicest Peruvian seafood cooked to order. Dishes were around S/.20 maxing out at around S/.40 making it some of the cheapest and nicest seafood you can get your hands on close to Miraflores. I couldn’t help but eat here twice.
Tanta
(Miraflores) Av Vasco Núñez de Balboa 660, Miraflores 15074, Peru
(Jockey Plaza) Av. Javier Prado Este 4200, Santiago de Surco 15023, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian
Price: $$
Website: tantaperu.com
A low to mid-priced Peruvian restaurant owned by top Peruvian chef Gastón Acurio. If you’re looking for a tasty and reasonably priced (S/.25 to S/.50) local dish, you can be sure to find it here. Don’t eat too late however as you may find certain items sold out. There are several convenient locations, with one even at the airport, check the website for all locations. I personally ate at the one in Jockey Plaza.
Panchita
Calle 2 de Mayo 298, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian
Price: $$ to $$$
Website: panchita.pe
Traditional and contemporary Peruvian Creole food. Yet another great restaurant owned by top Peruvian chef Gastón Acurio. Open till midnight on most nights another great choice for the late-night diner. Reservations recommended especially at peak times (2pm/9pm).
Sushi Pop
Calle Manuel Bonilla 112, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Japanese
Price: $$
Website: sushipop.pe
One of world-class chef’s Mitsuharu Tsumura’s (Maido) more wallet-friendly restaurants just a stone’s throw from Parque Central de Miraflores. As the name suggests sushi is the name of the game and while there is a restaurant, it can also be delivered. Other items on the menu do exist which I found myself trying, mainly due to having a Spanish menu (I’m sure they have English) in an effort to help learn Spanish. Turns out translating a sushi menu is much harder than translating a traditional menu. The best thing about Sushi Pop? I got comped my burger because it came out too slow. I didn’t even realise it was slow (I’ve waited much longer for food elsewhere). Perhaps too slow for their own standards?
Punto Azul
Calle San Martin 595, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Seafood
Price: $$$
Website: puntoazulrestaurante.com
Open till midnight on all days except Sunday, a nice choice if you are looking for something still open in the wee hours of the night that isn’t fast food. I’d say this is more of a family restaurant but this doesn’t come as a surprise given it’s proximity to expensive hotels. Memorable was the pre-prepared desserts on a platter that is presented to you for choice if you’re looking for something sweet. Typically comes highly recommended online. In my experience the food was good but when compared to other places, the Cerviche was nothing to write home about, including an in-house variant (see platter style photo).
Las Tejas
Avenida Ernesto Diez Canseco 340, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian
Price: $ to $$
Recommended to me by a local Peruvian, Las Tejas is a cosy restaurant 2.5 blocks from Miraflores Central Park serving traditional Peruvian food at a reasonable price. Has a nice alfresco dining area.
Puerto Norte
Av. España, Cercado de Lima 15001, Peru
Speciality: Seafood
Price: $$
If you find yourself in the area of Parque Juana Alarco de Dammert (near several Museums), this is a nice Cervicheria to eat at. If you’re not in the area then it’s probably too far out of the way to get to. Puerto Norte has tasty and reasonably priced seafood. One of my favourite dishes in Peru that you can also happen to find here is the Trio de Mariscos (pictured) which basically translates to 3 types of seafood. It’s usually a Cerviche, Arroz Chaufa de Mariscos (seafood fried rice) and Chicharron (deep fried fish version). It fills you up and allows you to sample 3 types of Peruvian foods at the same time! This dish is normally found at any good Cervicheria and is sometimes customisable.
Barranco Plaza de Armas Market Stalls
Plaza de Armas, Barranco 15063, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian Street Food
Price: $
On weekends you’ll find the Plaza de Armas in Barranco lined with food stalls selling everything from grilled food to cakes – a hot spot for many local Peruvians. With meals ranging from S/.15 to S/.30, you can’t go wrong, wallet-wise. Not knowing how to read most of the menu, I ordered Parilla Mixta as it sounded like I could try out a bunch of different grilled local delights. I ended up picking out anything that looked like an intestine. A Brazilian guy I met earlier in my trip really recommended trying the local Peruvian Rocoto Relleno (stuffed pepper) which I happened to find here. I suppose it was nice but the way this guy talked it up, it sounded like it would be mind-blowing. But damn it was filling, I barely got through half my Parilla Mixta after it.
Punto Picante/Pizzería Tockyn (Calle Berlin)
Calle Berlin 319, Miraflores 15074, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian, Pizza
Price: $ to $$
Calle Berlin is a short walk from the very touristy strip of restaurants Calle de la Pizzas (Road of the Pizzas). On it, you’ll find a couple of Irish pubs, hostels and a section with some cheap places to eat where you’ll primarily find local Peruvians. For around S/.15 or less you can have a decent Menu del Dia (Menu of the day) for lunch. For those unfamiliar, this usually includes an appetiser, a main and a drink (usually some kind of house drink served from a jug). For a bit more you can eat standard a la carte for lunch or dinner. Unless you want to eat something more boring or plain like a sandwich, this is probably the cheapest you’ll find near Parque John F. Kennedy in Miraflores.
Rustica
CORREDOR, Circuito de Playas, Barranco 15063, Peru
Speciality: Peruvian
Price: $$$
Situated on Playa Barranco (Barranco beach) this is a nice quiet place to eat for dinner at especially if you have a table by the water. Unfortunately, sea spray on the windows can block out some of the views. Be careful if it’s night and you’re walking back but keep in mind Uber/taxi is viable here. There are other locations if this one seems too remote.
Central
Av. Pedro de Osma 301 Lima, Barranco 15063, Peru
Speciality: Contemporary Peruvian
Price: $$$$
Website: centralrestaurante.com.pe
Chef Virgilio Martínez is the culinary mind behind Central, ranked #6 in the “The world’s 50 best restaurants 2018”. His tasting menu takes you on a mouth-watering journey of local cuisines of -20m below sea level to over 4000m in the Peruvian Andes. I didn’t eat at this one but they say if you only eat at one restaurant in Lima, make it this one. Book ahead or be disappointed.
Astrid y Gastón
Avenida Paz Soldan 290 Av. Paz Soldán 290, San Isidro, Lima, Lima 15073, Peru
Speciality: Contemporary Peruvian
Price: $$$$
Website: en.astridygaston.com
Named after the same legendary world-class chef Gastón Acurio and his wife Astrid Gustsche. Astrid y Gastón is ranked #39 in the “The world’s 50 best restaurants 2018”. I didn’t eat here either but needless to say this is another highly recommended restaurant for foodies. As of writing Gastón actually heads up the kitchen in this restaurant but this could change at any time. Book ahead or be dissapointed.
