2 Best Restaurants in Barranco, Lima

Voted World's Best Female Chef in 2022 by San Pellegrino, Lima-born Pía León is a culinary force to be reckoned with, and this airy bistro right next door to the restaurant Central showcases the full range of her talents. In what amounts to a whirlwind tour of Peru, her nine-course tasting menu fuses ingredients from every corner of the country into inspired, innovative combinations. River shrimp, cacao, different varieties of tubers, sweet cucumbers: the menu whips together whatever happens to excite León in a given month. The result? A brilliant, jazzlike improvisation that serves as a foil to Central's culinary symphony.

What's not on the menu at this eclectic eatery is the standard Peruvian gastro-repertoire. Instead, chef Ricardo Martins fuses Asian, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern accents to create dazzling, taste-bud-popping confections such as grilled pork tomahawk steak in harissa butter or razor clams in Chinese-style yuxiang sauce. Even humble ingredients such as anchovies and red peppers take on new meaning in the hands of this culinary wizard. The vintage cocktails are also inspired, meshing perfectly with the wood-paneled ambience of the restaurant's 19th-century digs. Look sharp: this place shows every sign of becoming a foodie pilgrimage point.