17 Best Restaurants in Lima, Peru

The flagship restaurant of Peru's most celebrated chefs, spouses Gastón Acurio and Astrid Gutsche, occupies a meticulously restored colonial mansion named Casa Moreyra. Dishes are available à la carte, but the big event here is the 16-course, prix-fixe tasting menu, which takes you on a journey through Peru's culinary regions in the span of two hours. The menu changes with the seasons to ensure fresh ingredients, but expect a good mix of meat and seafood, plus a chocolate apocalypse at the end. Reserve tables at least two weeks ahead.

Even if you don't have a reservation, you can try to get a table on the patio, where you can order from the à la carte menu.

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.

This reinvention of the traditional cebichería by chef Gastón Acurio is one of Lima's most popular lunch spots. The decor is minimal, but the menu offers a kaleidoscopic selection of delectable seafood dishes, including a trio de cebiches (various types of fish or seafood marinated in lime juice) and delectable causas (mashed-potato appetizers with seafood-and-mayonnaise fillings). Also try the arroz con mariscos (sautéed seafood and rice in a spicy cream sauce) or one of the catches of the day. The servings tend to be large, so you may want to share. The restaurant consistently ranks on San Pellegrino's list of Latin America's 50 best.

Reservations aren't accepted, so arrive before 1 or you'll wait an hour for a table.

This rambling, Victorian-style complex perched over the Pacific at the end of a breakwater has long dished up good seafood with spectacular views, complete with surfers riding the waves as the sun goes down. In 2023, however, renowned Peruvian cuisinier Pedro Miguel Schiaffino took over the kitchen, and the quality restaurant's food is now commensurate with the splendid location. Classic dishes such as sea bass are still on the menu, but Schiaffino has added his takes on clams au gratin, parihuela (mixed seafood in a spicy broth), and more.

On sunny afternoons, the restaurant is a great place to watch the sunset.

Mitsuharu Tsumura is one of Lima's most innovative chefs, and his exquisite Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) creations have earned Maido top slots on San Pellegrino's Best Latin American Restaurants list for nearly 10 years running. Tsumura changes things up frequently, but his menus always include cebiches and nigiris (sushi with Peruvian flavors), plus cooked dishes such as asado de tira mitsuke (braised short ribs with pickled ginger and fried rice), cod misayaki (marinated in miso with sweet potato and Brazil nuts), and sanguichitas (a plate of unique sandwiches). Seating is on the second floor, at wooden tables beneath hundreds of hanging ropes, plus a few spots at the sushi bar. This place is much sought-after, so be sure to make reservations at least two months in advance.

Set inside the Westin Lima Hotel, this elegant restaurant is a good place to try a Peruvian tasting menu without breaking the bank. For S/240, chef Rafael Piqueras regales diners with 14 courses of delicacies, including charbroiled arapaima (an Amazon fish) and short ribs with lentils and Iberian sausage. You can also order most of the courses à la carte, for reasonable prices. The desserts here are especially scrumptious, and there's a heated outdoor terrace for romantic outings.

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.

In a city where chifa, Peru's version of Chinese food, is ubiquitous, with cheapo order-by-number establishments on practically every corner, Titi towers above the competition. This is a kitchen that works magic with even the simplest ingredients. Tallarín saltado with chicken and pork is subtly smoky and crackling with fresh vegetables, while kru yoc, the most requested plate, dresses crisp pork slices with a delicately sweet glaze. Chinese immigrants to Peru say the cooking here holds its own against heavy hitters in Beijing and Shanghai.

One of Lima's surprisingly few waterfront dining options, this elegant eatery has an impressive selection of dishes to complement its ocean vistas. The Peruvian-fusion cuisine ranges from crab ravioli in seafood soup to quinoa-crusted salmon and tenderloin with mushrooms, quinoa, and spinach. You can also order from the sushi bar. The dining room is upstairs, with a wall of glass on the ocean side and tables on a narrow balcony above the rocky beach.

After years working in some of the best kitchens of Europe and Asia, superstar cuisinier Virgilio Martínez returned to Lima to launch this chic, airy venue for his culinary talents—and quickly garnered a reputation as one of Latin America's most innovative chefs. He and his wife, María Pía Leon, change their menu constantly, but each iteration celebrates the country's edible biodiversity as it thematically explores the different altitudes of the Peruvian landscape, from sea level to the peaks of the Andes. There's no à la carte here, only 12- and 14-course menus which take your taste buds on a journey through Peru's coastal, Andean, and Amazon regions. The restaurant reached its apotheosis in 2023, when it was voted the world's best by San Pellegrino.

This is currently one of the world's hottest restaurants, so it's imperative to reserve tables at least three months in advance.

Cebiches and arroces (rice dishes) made with sustainably sourced fish are the focus at this red-hot seafood emporium from Rafael Osterling (of Rafael fame). The open kitchen and interior-patio design complement the lightness of the recipes, which frequently incorporate Asian accents. Don't overlook the cooked dishes: the pulpo a la parrilla (grilled octopus) is ridiculously good.

The multiperson parrilla, a grilled-meat apocalypse native to Argentina and Uruguay, is merely the most flamboyant of the specialties at this top-notch steak house on a quiet Miraflores corner. No less scrumptious are Uruguayan platos típicos, such as the pamplona de lomo (beef rolled with ham, bacon, cheese, and peppers) and el chivito (a terrifyingly prodigious mound of meat and eggs heaped atop a plate of French fries). Chef Pablo's hospitality is always on display, whether his guests be international soccer stars or Peruvian locals.

Proximity to the adjacent 1,500-year-old ruins is reason enough to dine at this classic Miraflores eatery, but the sumptuous Peruvian and international cuisine that comes out of its kitchen seals the deal. The best tables are outside, with a view of the huge Huaca Pucllana pyramid, which is spectacularly floodlit at night. The Peruvian-fusion menu includes such treats as Chinese-style pork belly with sweet potatoes and paiche (an Amazon fish) with palm hearts and a spicy cocona (jungle fruit) sauce.

Located just steps outside Miraflores near the Mercado No. 1 in Surquillo, this rustic tavern harkens back to Peru's picanterías (country restaurants) of old. The drill is simple: sit down on one of the wooden benches, choose your fish (or shellfish), and tell the waiter how you want it prepared. Fried, grilled, as a cebiche, or as a delicious sudado (soup) or estofado (stew): it's all good. The menu has a few landlubber entrées, but make no mistake: it's the seafood that makes this joint a regular on 50 Best lists.

This old-fashioned Swiss eatery first flung open its doors in 1936, and little has changed since. It still serves a selection of quality European and Peruvian cuisine in a refined atmosphere, with ornately painted wooden details on the doors and along the ceiling that evoke the Old Country. Rösti (grated potatoes with bacon and cheese) and three kinds of fondue are among the traditional Swiss options. The kitchen also offers breakfasts and a range of sandwiches, and the glass case is filled with eye-popping pastries. The front terrace, which faces the busy Óvalo de Miraflores, is a great people-watching spot.

Venezuelan and Peruvian flavors dance an exquisite pas de deux at this tiny, brick-walled tavern on a Barranco back street. The choreography is provided by chef Juan Luis Martínez, a Central veteran who renders homage to his Caracas roots while making expert use of Peruvian ingredients, including scallops, huacatay (black mint), and cocona (an Amazon fruit). Among the recent standouts on the ever-changing menu: roasted Peruvian corn in yellow chili and glazed pork belly with arepas. In 2023, the restaurant made San Pellegrino's list of Latin America's 50 Best, so reserve well in advance if you want a ground-floor seat to watch the open-kitchen pyrotechnics. 

This wildly popular Japanese-fusion eatery is renowned for its sushi bar, but its Peruvian tiraditos and Chinese seafood dishes like broiled scallops braised in a spicy sauce are equally masterful. Settle into one of the low tables and sink your teeth into quinua maguro (seared tuna medallions served with mashed lucuma fruit and crunchy quinoa), or grilled sirloin and sautéed mushrooms atop miso mashed potatoes. The attentive service here truly sparkles.