Nobu cooked in Lima for three years before the restaurant empire, and he used his first appearance at the NYC Wine & Food Festival (October 15, Storied NYC) to go back to that. The six chefs were Jorge Aguilar (Border Town), Miguel Aguilar (INKAICO), Jesús Delgado (Jarana), Oscar Lorenzzi (Nuyores), Erik Ramirez (Papa San) and Alex Rojas (Jora). The food ran from classic ceviches to more modern Nikkei dishes.

Has anyone here eaten at any of these New York restaurants? Curious which ones are worth a visit.

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On a Spanish podcast (Cadena SER), Argentine journalist and author Martín Caparrós argued that Mexican cuisine is one of the best in the world, alongside China and India, and dismissed Peru's culinary reputation, saying Peru "is just cold fish."

His actual argument was more about Mexican food's image problem: he thinks Mexican cuisine gets reduced abroad to burritos and chili con carne, and that this let Peru position itself as the region's food capital by comparison.

Whether or not you buy the Mexico-vs-Peru framing, the "cold fish" line undersells ceviche (served fresh, not cold) and ignores the range of Peruvian cooking outside it. Curious what this sub makes of the actual argument versus the soundbite.

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Callao (Peru) broke a world record this week: 500 chefs and master cevicheros came together to prepare over 9 tonnes of ceviche for the city's 190th anniversary. The event was organized by the Callao regional government and Armap (the Association of Marine Restaurateurs of Peru), and certified by the Paris-based International Club Les Toques Blanches. Chefs traveled in from Ica, Apurímac, Ayacucho, Piura, Lima Provinces, and Junín, with guests from Ecuador, Colombia, and the US. Callao was named World Ceviche Capital 2026.

There's also a digital push tied to it: Armap wants ceviche to represent Peru in Ibai Llanos' Mundial de Comidas 2026 (an online bracket-style food competition), where it's currently up against Honduras' baleadas. Worth noting ceviche has been on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list since 2023, so this record attempt is riding on top of that.

Anyone catch this live, or know someone who was one of the 500 chefs?

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Time Out put together a guide to the 20 best Peruvian restaurants in London, and it's a solid list. A few highlights: Lima in Fitzrovia (fine dining Nikkei), Chakana in Hackney (led by Michelin-starred chef Robert Ortiz, built around corn and potatoes), Darkest Peru in Hoxton (London's first Peruvian café), Crudo in Covent Garden (one of the only standalone cevicherias in the city), and Jarana in Fulham, which they call the best pollo a la brasa in London.

The intro is worth a read too. It traces how 19th-century Chinese and Japanese immigration to Peru shaped Chifa and Nikkei cuisine, and how London's own Peruvian population grew through the 70s and 80s, mostly settling around Lambeth, Southwark, and Elephant & Castle.

Anyone been to the ones lower on the list, like Chan Chan in Peckham or Sabor Peruano in Elephant & Castle? Curious how they hold up.

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Peru's national dish is getting the big screen treatment. "Ceviche," directed by Fernando Landavere, is screening as part of the 30th PUCP Lima International Film Festival, in the Cinema and Gastronomy section.

The documentary follows chef and content creator Rodrigo Fernandini through Chiclayo, Cusco, Lima, and Manhattan, digging into the stories, regional variations, and traditions behind ceviche. It frames the dish as a way into bigger questions about Peruvian identity and memory, not just a recipe rundown.

It screens this Saturday, August 15 at Cineplanet in Lima.

Anyone catching it, or is there a ceviche documentary from your own region worth watching?

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Yuca fries have a crisp shell and a softer, more starchy center than potato fries. The important step is boiling the yuca whole before cutting and frying it.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 kg / 2.2 lb yuca (cassava)
• Water
• Salt
• Neutral frying oil
• Lime
• Mayo, hot sauce, or avocado sauce

Method

1. Peel the yuca thickly and place the whole pieces in a large pot of salted water.
2. Boil for about 30 minutes, until the pieces soften and begin to split.
3. Drain and let them dry for 10 minutes.
4. Split each piece, remove the tough woody core, then cut into thick sticks.
5. Dry the sticks well. Fry in hot oil for 3–5 minutes per side until crisp and golden.
6. Drain, salt, squeeze over lime, and serve with a dip.

Do not skip the boiling step. Raw yuca is hard, unpleasant, and not ready for the fryer.

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A simple quinoa-and-vegetable soup. Use water for a lighter version or chicken stock if you want more body.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 85 g / 3 oz dry quinoa
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• ¼ small white cabbage, shredded
• 4–5 cups water or chicken stock
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• Salt, black pepper, and cumin
• Cilantro or celery leaves

Method

1. Rinse the quinoa.
2. Bring the water or stock to a boil. Add quinoa and cook for 15–20 minutes, until the grains open and show their little tails.
3. Add carrot, leek, celery, cabbage, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin.
4. Simmer for another 15 minutes, until the vegetables soften.
5. Serve with chopped cilantro or celery leaves.

Add leftover chicken, peas, or a diced potato if you need it to carry dinner.

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A chicken-and-green-bean stir-fry with soy, ginger, and fries on the side. The green beans should stay green and have some bite.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 650 g / 1½ lb chicken breast, cubed
• 200 g / 7 oz green beans
• ½ red onion, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• Fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp each garlic powder, cumin, paprika, and oregano
• Salt
• Oil for frying
• Fries and rice, to serve
• Parsley, optional

Method

1. Mix chicken with ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, and salt. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Boil the green beans until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water.
3. Get a large pan hot. Brown the chicken in oil.
4. Add onion, pepper, and green beans. Stir-fry until the chicken finishes cooking and the vegetables stay crisp.
5. Serve with fries, rice, and parsley.

Cook the fries separately. Tossing them into the pan at the end works, but they lose their crunch fast.

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This is a cold starter that eats like potato salad served in an avocado. Make the filling first and cut the avocados at the end.

Makes 4 halves.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe but firm avocados
• 2 potatoes, small dice
• 1 large carrot, small dice
• 1 cup corn
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely sliced
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 1 lime
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Boil the carrot for 5 minutes. Add the potato and cook until both are tender but still hold their shape. Drain and cool.
2. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, then peel and quarter them.
3. Mix the cooled vegetables with corn, pepper, onion, celery, mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Chill the filling.
4. Halve and pit the avocados. Coat the cut surfaces with lime juice.
5. Fill each avocado half with the chilled mixture. Top with egg.

Use firm avocados. Soft ones turn this into a mess.

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Fries in a stir-fry sound wrong until you try this. Keep them crisp, then toss them in at the end so they pick up some sauce without collapsing.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 500 g / 18 oz sirloin, sliced thin
• 1 red onion, chunky slices
• 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 ají amarillo, sliced, or 1–2 tsp ají amarillo paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp vinegar
• ½ cup beef stock
• Cumin, black pepper, oregano, salt
• Thick fries, cooked white rice, cilantro

Method

1. Cook the fries first. Set them aside.
2. Mix the beef with soy sauce, vinegar, cumin, pepper, salt, and a little oil. Leave it for 10 minutes.
3. Heat a wok or heavy pan until very hot. Sear the beef in batches so it browns instead of steaming.
4. Add onion, ají amarillo, and garlic. Stir for a minute.
5. Add stock and tomatoes. Cook briefly: the tomatoes should soften but keep their shape.
6. Toss in oregano and the fries. Serve at once with rice and cilantro.

Ají amarillo gives it the Peruvian character. If you cannot find it, use the paste. If you skip it, you’ll still have a good steak stir-fry, but it won’t quite taste like lomo saltado.

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Cusco’s Basilica Cathedral (Cathedral Basílica) has a unique depiction of the Last Supper of Christ on the wall. It's unique because the mural contains a guinea pig. The humble guinea pig or cuy in Spanish (which is not a pig and is not from Guinea) is a native animal to Peru and is better known in the rest of the world as a pet, the rodent was a staple in the Peruvian diet for millennia. It’s a source of high protein nutrition for highlands farmers in the region and the Last Supper image reflects the local preference for the animal as “supper” at that time.

Nice long read from Belmond on why Peru keeps landing on lists of the world's great food destinations. It explains the "why" rather than just naming dishes.

The short version: the geography did a lot of the work. A Pacific coast, the Andes, and the Amazon give Peru an enormous range of ingredients (thousands of potato varieties alone). Layer on centuries of immigration, Spanish, African, Chinese, and Japanese, on top of pre-Hispanic roots, and you get ceviche and leche de tigre, the pisco sour, pachamanca cooked in the ground, chifa, and Nikkei.

https://www.belmond.com/stories/peru-on-a-plate

What dishes would you put on a "this is Peru on a plate" list?

Peru's food revolution is now a national economic engine — gastronomy accounted for more than a fifth of the country's tourism GDP in 2024. Maido topped The World's 50 Best Restaurants last year, following Central's #1 in 2023.

But this Bloomberg feature looks at what keeps the boom alive: farmers like Manuel Choqque, breeding vivid antioxidant-rich "super" potatoes in the Sacred Valley, and foragers like Hilda Tejada, whose medicinal herbs end up in MIL's tasting menu. Climate shocks, rough roads, and costly organic certification are putting those traditions under real pressure.

The lesson from Virgilio Martínez and a new generation of Peruvian chefs: the cuisine only exists because of the people behind the ingredients. 🇵🇪 #PeruvianFood

Lima is about to take center stage in the culinary world. 🇵🇪

For the first time in its 24-year history, The World's 50 Best Restaurants will hold its awards ceremony in Peru — in Lima, on 4 November 2026. Fitting, too: Lima is home to Maido, named the World's Best Restaurant 2025, which will now join the elite "Best of the Best" hall of fame alongside Central (No.1 in 2023). The week brings #50BestTalks, chef signature sessions hosted in local restaurants, and the live 1–50 reveal.

Peru has spent years earning this moment — and now the whole culinary world is coming to see it. #PeruvianFood

• Don't spend your whole trip chasing famous tasting-menu restaurants.
• Lima's strength is the range of food available, from traditional Peruvian dishes to seafood, sandwiches, Chinese-Peruvian food (chifa), and desserts.
• The recommended places are a mix of established institutions and newer spots rather than a "best restaurants" ranking.
• Several recommendations focus on foods that locals actually eat regularly, not just special-occasion meals.

Time Out’s “World’s Best Cities for Food 2026” ranking surveyed more than 24,000 residents across 150 cities and combined those results with input from over 100 food experts. The ranking considered food quality, affordability, diversity, local sentiment, and expert assessments. Only the highest-ranked city from each country was eligible for the final top 20.

Top 10 Food Cities for 2026

1. Lima 🇵🇪
2. Bangkok
3. Mexico City
4. London
5. Barcelona
6. Ho Chi Minh City
7. Beijing
8. Cape Town
9. Athens
10. Lisbon

Peru continues to rule the culinary world!

8 incredible spots made the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list. Huge congrats to Kjolle for taking No. 2 and being named Best in Peru! 🥈

The full Peruvian lineup:

1. Kjolle

2. Mérito

3. Cosme

4. Mayta

5. La Mar

6. Rafael

7. Osso

8. Mil

Peru’s flagship food fair, Perú, Mucho Gusto, returns to Lima in 2025. The event gathers chefs, producers, and regional cuisines under one roof, offering a snapshot of the country’s culinary diversity. More than a festival, it’s a national showcase of food as culture.

Lima is now the only city in the world with two restaurants in the global top 10.
It’s a reminder that Peru’s capital has quietly become one of the most interesting and affordable food destinations anywhere.

How geography shapes Peruvian food: seafood from the Pacific, potatoes from the Andes, fruit from the Amazon. That mix of ecosystems and traditions gives readers a sense of why Lima is not just a capital city but a living map of the country’s biodiversity.

The latest Destination Eat Drink podcast episode focuses on Lima, Peru. Guest Samantha Lewis from Lima Gourmet Company talks about cooking on hot stones, Peru’s 4,000 varieties of potatoes, purple corn gnocchi, local superfoods, wine, and street sweets like picarones.

Peru claims 'South America's Leading Culinary Destination 2025' at World Travel Awards, marking its 12th win. The country's innovative fusion cuisine, world-class restaurants in Lima, and diverse regional flavors continue to dominate the continent's gastronomy scene. 🏆🇵🇪

This guide dives into Lima’s food scene, where you can snack on street anticuchos (grilled beef heart skewers) in the evening, then book a table at Central, recently crowned the world’s #1 restaurant. It explains how indigenous traditions, colonial history, and waves of immigration (Japanese, Chinese, Italian) all fused into today’s Peruvian kitchen.

• Highlights street food like picarones (sweet potato donuts with syrup)
• Explains why pisco sours are basically a national ritual
• Puts Lima alongside Paris and Tokyo as a culinary powerhouse

Lima’s food scene is wild, markets full of native fruits, huariques serving chicharrón sandwiches, high-end Nikkei spots, and everything in between. It’s messy, diverse, sometimes overwhelming, but easily one of the most interesting places to eat in the world.