5 Best Restaurants in Cajamarca, The North Coast and Northern Highlands

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. 

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.

Situated in the Costa del Sol Wyndham Hotel, this graceful, white-tablecloth affair serves up better-than-average versions of Peruvian and international classics. The menu rotates, but the quality of the pastas, seafood, and desserts is reliably consistent. Try the anticuchos or arroz con pato.

Surf-and-turf Peruvian style is the focus at this down-to-earth joint that's half cebichería, half parrilla (grill). Expect no bells and whistles here, just top-quality steaks, cebiches (try the mixto), and seafood classics like arroz con mariscos. The prices are a steal for food this good.

On the Plaza de Armas, this is the place to get no-frills, typical food from the region. The menu includes authentic regional specialties such as cuy, perico (a lake fish), and Spanish-style tortillas. There's also an extensive selection of piscos, top-shelf liquors, and wines. Although the furnishings and staff look like they've been there since the restaurant opened in 1947, the food is fresh and delicious.