Cuisine
Lima is one of the best places in the world to eat. Maido was named the number one restaurant in the world in 2025, Central held the same title in 2023, and multiple Lima restaurants sit in the global top 50.
However, it’s not just about the rankings. Almost everything you find here is incredible, from the corner cevichería to the neighborhood bakery, because Peruvians simply care about food. Come hungry.
The Traditions
Comida criolla
Lima’s original fusion cooking and the backbone of coastal home kitchens: Spanish recipes adapted to local ingredients, layered with Indigenous, African, and Asian influence over five centuries. Rich, soulful, and uniquely Peruvian. Look for ají de gallina, causa, and arroz con pato.
Chifa
Peruvian Chinese cooking, born when Cantonese immigrants arrived in the 1800s and adapted their kitchens to Peru. Try arroz chaufa or tallarín saltado, ideally with a glass of Inca Kola, Peru’s bubblegum-gold national soda. It sounds wrong and tastes right.
Nikkei
The Japanese Peruvian tradition, where Japanese technique meets ají amarillo, lime, and cold Pacific seafood. Tiradito and acevichado rolls are the classics, and Peruvian sushi, made from fish bought that morning, will recalibrate your standards.
Must-Try Dishes
Ceviche
The national dish: raw fish cured in lime with red onion and ají. Bright, spicy, and nothing like the tomato-sweet versions elsewhere.
Tiradito
Peru’s answer to sashimi: thin-sliced raw fish under vivid Peruvian pepper sauces, flavorful rather than hot. A tricolor tiradito lets you try three sauces at once.
Anticuchos
Marinated skewers grilled over open flame, traditionally beef heart, which tastes like the best steak you have had, not like organ meat. From street carts to dedicated anticucherías, they are smoky, inexpensive, and habit forming.
Lomo saltado
Beef stir-fried with onion, tomato, and soy over rice, with fries folded in. Chifa technique, criollo soul, and the dish you will find yourself ordering twice.
Pollo a la brasa
Peruvian rotisserie chicken, deeply marinated and roasted over coals. A national obsession and a perfect low-key dinner, since it never sells out the way ceviche does.
Pisco
The national spirit
Pisco is Peruvian grape brandy, produced only in five coastal regions and distilled from a handful of aromatic grapes. The pisco sour (pisco, lime, syrup, egg white, bitters) is the national cocktail, and variations are everywhere: the maracuyá sour with passion fruit, the chilcano with ginger ale, and the creamy algarrobina. The bar at Casona Clark will handle your first introductions on the wedding night.
Meal Culture
How Lima eats
Breakfast is light, lunch (almuerzo) is the main event, and dinner is late and often small. Restaurants in the tourist areas serve all day, though cevicherías are traditionally a lunch outing, since the fish comes in that morning. And when you pass a panadería or pastelería, go in. Peruvians take their breads and pastries as seriously as the French, and you will not regret it.
Our Restaurant List
A starting list of places we love. We will keep adding to it as the date gets closer.
Maido · Miraflores
Mitsuharu Tsumura’s Nikkei dining room, named the world’s best restaurant in 2025. Reservations open about two months out and go instantly. The dining room serves the tasting menu; if you would rather order à la carte, get a group together and ask about booking the private room. If you land a table, cancel your other plans.
Mérito · Barranco
Venezuelan chef Juan Luis Martínez’s intimate two story house, currently number 26 on the World’s 50 Best list. Peruvian ingredients with Venezuelan soul, and some of the most quietly brilliant cooking in Lima.
Demo · Barranco
Mérito’s casual sibling steps away: coffee, exceptional baked goods, and relaxed plates from the same team, with none of the reservation drama.
Clon · Barranco
The third corner of the Mérito family. Urban, easygoing, and sharing the same DNA at friendlier prices.
El Pan de la Chola · Miraflores
Lima’s beloved bakery on Avenida La Mar: sourdough, croissants, fresh juices, and proper coffee. The correct answer to "where should we have breakfast?"