59 Best Restaurants in Peru

Ensconced in an elegant casona with a gorgeous carved-stone portal, this delightful café brings a touch of Argentina to northern Peru. The coffee and baked goods, which include Argentine-style empanadas, are scrumptious, but if you're in the mood for something more substantial, the place also dishes up charcuterie boards, pizzas, and pastas. The inner courtyard, with its creeper-entwined trees and gurgling fountain, is a delightful spot to while away an afternoon. 

Equal parts funky and friendly, this café offers light snacks, hot and cold beverages, free Wi-Fi, and a seemingly endless supply of newspapers and books in English. Warm up by the fireplace on a cold night, or sit on the outdoor terrace with your laptop and sip a fresh-pressed cup of tea.

This laid-back café-bar is the only thing keeping La Casa del Corregidor alive these days. It offers some of the best international food and bar snacks you can find in Puno, as well as a wide variety of craft beers and great coffee drinks. Teas, cocktails, and smoothies—along with sweet treats like cakes and pies—round out the menu. After 9 pm, there's more of a bar scene, with savory food choices like tapas.

In one corner of the Mercado Central, amid stalls selling charqui (dehydrated meat) and rainbow-colored displays of quinoa, you'll find a lunchtime crowd lining up for cebiche frito, a locally famous fried version of cebiche. Chef Roxana Chávez Mestanza has become a local phenomenon for her invention, which here comes battered and topped with a spicy mayo, along with leche de tigre and all the usual cebiche fixings. You can also combine your cebichito with seafood-fried rice or other marine plates. The restaurant has become so popular, it's opened another branch in the La Colmena neighborhood east of the Plaza de Armas. Patience here is key: remember that authentic local traditions are sometimes worth the wait.

Chalkboard menus, shelves piled to the ceiling with locally made wines and piscos, a worn wooden bar, and even a hand-cranked telephone give this venerable institution—a Lima mainstay since 1880—its nostalgic charm. The place serves delicious ham sandwiches smothered in zarza criolla and chilcanos made with pisco bottled in the factory next door, but in recent years has also expanded its menu to include a range of pastas and meat dishes.

Just a block from Plaza de Armas, this hip coffee spot stands out for its facade etched with colorful murals. Proudly vegan, it dishes up meat-free versions of Peruvian mains, plus a plethora of salads, juices, and coffee. Upstairs it functions as a social coworking zone with fast Wi-Fi that can be accessed with a food or beverage purchase. 

This cozy and colorful juice bar with charming white sillar walls serves coffee, fruit salads, smoothies, yogurt, waffles, and empanadas. At happy hour, try one of the reasonably priced pisco sours.

This open-air eatery in Parque Intihuatana is a great spot to grab a crepe, coffee, or fresh juice. Sit at one of the tables that line the back of the park for a sweeping ocean view. There are other branches around the city, including one at Parque del Amor.

This attractive restaurant boasts an extensive international menu packed with European-inspired salads, sandwiches, and entrées, as well as plates mixing local and imported ingredients. Whether it's Thai salad or lomo saltado, panini or Peruvian butifarra (ham sandwich), expect to savor your meal. Relax in the serene dining room, and don't miss dessert—along with, well, a cappuccino.

Sequestered inside the walls of the colonial palace that houses the Museo Larco, this is one of the most charming places in Lima to enjoy a meal. The Peruvian-fusion menu offers everything from empanadas to ravioli stuffed with squash to beef with wild mushroom sauce. Tables on the terrace overlook a lush garden with blazing bougainvillea, ancient statues, and tinajas—Peruvian amphorae.

Pouring some of the best coffee in the city from a special house blend, this café is a Cusco icon; Martin Chambi photos help anchor it in Peru, but the jazz and bohemian atmosphere make it feel more cosmopolitan. It's great for a quick bite, as well as for picking up fliers on current cultural offerings. Try the passion-fruit cheesecake or tiramisu with your cappuccino, and head next door to the Cusco School of Fine Arts to see what's on display.

A great hangout and meeting spot for travelers, this eclectic café with cheery yellow walls and wood-beamed ceilings works with local farming co-ops and has a commitment to organic principles and fair trade. The menu is small, but of good quality. Try the juanes (an egg, rice, herb, and spice mixture, topped with chicken and tied into a bijao leaf), sandwiches, or any of the tempting desserts.

It's best to hunker down for a day or two in Ollantaytambo, but if you've only got time for a pit stop, Café Mayu is conveniently located at the train station. This tiny spot serves big-city-style coffee, quick bites like empanadas, and to-go sandwiches that are perfect for your ride to Machu Picchu. The chocolate chip cookies are as good as they smell, but you can't go wrong with any of the baked goods here.

The green-and-white-striped awning ensures that you won't miss this café, which is a favorite among young couples and harried parents with children in tow. Although its menu includes pastas, sandwiches, and economical lunch specials, most people come here for one thing: ice cream. The more than 50 varieties of gelato include sassy tropical flavors like tamarind, coco (coconut), and the local fruits chirimoya and lucuma.

This is a good spot for a break after visiting the nearby archaeological site of Huaca Pucllana.

Try this wonderfully artsy and hip Italian bistro, café, and outdoor beer garden, filled with chill vibes, colorful mural art, and driftwood furniture. Regulars swear by the lasagna, claiming it's some of the best in Peru. 

This cute coffeehouse serves as a nice break from seafood if you find yourself surfeited by Huanchaco's cebicherías. The Dutch-and-Peruvian-owned pit stop sources its coffee and other organic ingredients from local and regional producers. You can grab wraps, sandwiches, pastries, pies, crepes, and other quick bites here as well.

With a breezy terrace upstairs and a cozy bistro downstairs, this French eatery covers a lot of bases. There are couscous and fondue, as well as hard-to-find local dishes such as grilled alpaca. Don't miss the sumptuous dessert crepes and good wine selection. Added plus: after almost four decades in Peru (the place opened in 1986), chef and owner Patrick Bertrand now offers homemade goodies you can take with you, including liqueurs, jams, mustards, granola, and more.

With an extensive variety of sweet and savory crepes, as well as quality espresso, pisco sours, and craft beers, you could easily spend the day in this artistic, Euro-styled restaurant, little sister to the Zig Zag restaurant on Calle Zela. Check out the terrace for great views of the Monasterio de Santa Catalina and volcanoes. Crepisimo also offers prix-fixe menus for S/30 or S/35 and happy hour specials from 4 to 6 and 9 to 11 pm.

A great place for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the menu here is so vast that even the pickiest eaters will find something to enjoy. Selections include lighter fare such as soups, salads, and grain bowls, as well as heartier mains that include Peruvian favorites, American-style comfort food, international dishes, and plenty of vegetarian/vegan options. Coffee, smoothies, and desserts round out the menu, so no matter what time of day you go to people-watch along the malecón, you will leave satisfied.

With just a handful of tables and a couple of employees, this local patisserie surprises with some of the neighborhood's most delicious homemade pastries, juices, and hot drinks. Savor the local coffees, hot chocolates, and Andino herbal infusions. 

Set on the ground floor of a local casa, this homey vegetarian café is a favorite stop for travelers in search of a satisfying espresso drink and some local knowledge. You'll find organic local coffee, all-day breakfasts, and even some well-prepared Indian fare (think vegan curry, paneer tikka masala, and butter chicken). The café's doors, completely plastered with flyers, also function as a bohemian message board, where you can discover many local activities, including shamanic breath work, yoga courses, and ayahuasca ceremonies. 

Born in a run-down barrio in central Lima in 1960, this chain of sandwich shops has exploded in recent years to become a Peruvian institution. It's a business that focuses all its energies on a single goal: making first-rate chicharrón (fried pork) and turkey sandwiches slathered with zarza criolla. The result is a shining example of Peruvians' genius for turning humble ingredients into culinary art. Look for other locations in Miraflores and Barranco.

Facing the plaza with a great view of the cathedrals, this smart, intimate café serves vegetarian and vegan fare using organic ingredients, from breakfast platters with avocado toast and healthy waffles to caprese salads, hearty lasagnas, and a smattering of Thai staples such as pad Thai. There is, of course, great coffee poured from an imported Italian espresso machine.

This artisanal bakery is a perfect spot for brunch, serving an array of organic breads and pastries, along with sandwiches, quiches, and salads, and no shortage of vegetarian options. You can also choose from a range of wines and cocktails in the evening. The bakery has another branch in Miraflores, but it's a bit far from many hotels.

The welcoming off-white walls and wooden floors of this cool and very Instagrammable San Lazaro coffee spot make it a popular brunch option. The quaint plant-filled courtyard is perfect for escaping the city's hum, and there’s a cute little corner where patrons park their pets.

Conveniently located on the Plaza de Armas, this popular restaurant is a good spot for a light meal, dessert, or fresh fruit drink. The menu includes a selection of sandwiches and salads, tamales, and entrées like chicken cordon bleu, but most people come for the homemade pastries and ice cream flavored with castañas (Brazil nuts) and local rainforest fruits such as aguaje and camu camu. Wooden tables fill the front room next to the display cases, and there is a large patio in back. A Swiss priest known as Padre Xavier opened it, and the profits go to a home for at-risk children in Puerto Maldonado.

This old-world bakery inside a courtyard just off the Plaza Constitución is a Pisac institution and, like the rest of the town, it's had to adapt to the town's growing tourism. The aging cloisters are now filled with trinket shops and even La Waylaca del Horno Colonial, a craft beer shop. Empanadas (S/4, some vegetarian) and homemade breads are delivered from the clay oven and into your hands. Look in the southeastern corner, where a quirky cuy tower holds the critters that, like it or not, are served as food. There's no phone or website.

The empanadas are fantastic, but that's not the only reason to stop by at this classic empanada place. The real hook is a "cuy castle," a sort of Barbie mansion for guinea pigs. But rest assured, there are no cuy empanadas on the menu.