If you’re a foodie and you find yourself in Lima, Peru, your journey is not complete without experiencing Central, the Best Restaurant In Latin America. Tucked away in Barranco, the bohemian district of Lima is a restaurant that explores and celebrates the unique ecosystems, history and traditions of Peru.
Run by the husband-and-wife team of Virgilio Martínez and Pia León, Central has won the title of The Best Restaurant in Latin America from 2013 to 2021 and currently sits at number 4 in the World’s 50 Best. Maybe you’ve also seen Central on Volume 3 of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table”.
The restaurant explores and captures the incredible biodiversity in Peru, from coastal deserts up to the Andean mountains and down to the Amazon rainforest. Central’s research arm, Mater Iniciativa, explores these landscapes of Peru by discovering unique ingredients. Through experimentation in their lab, they design food experiences that honour the ecosystems and cultural identity of the Peruvian people.
Table of Contents
The Menu
Central offers 2 different styles of tasting menus; the Experience Mundo Mater and the Menu Creatividad Mundo. Both of these have an 11-course and a 14-course variant. Experience Mundo Mater is the main curated tasting menu, showcasing dishes from different altitudes in Peru. On the other hand, Menu Creatividad Mundo offers different dishes based on what’s available that day.
Being our first time at Central, we had to go for the 14-course Experience Mundo Mater. Each dish presents ingredients from a specific altitude, taking you from the seas of Peru at 10m below sea level (MBSL) all the way up to the extreme altitudes of the Andes at 4200m above sea level (MASL).
As with these tasting menus, there are usually quite a few ingredients that you’ve never heard of. But, Central, takes this to another level. I tried so many different foods for the first time here, just because of how unique Peru’s ecosystems are. Despite this, the waiters were happy to explain each dish thoroughly and the techniques used in constructing them.
1 – Black Rocks – 10 MBSL
Yuyo Seaweed, Clams, Squid
The experience began under the sea with 3 dishes. Balls filled with clam and squid cream and dusted in seaweed powder, large yuyo seaweed crackers and a bowl filled with thinly sliced clams and squid, dressed in a zingy sauce.
2 – Dry Valley – 55 MASL
Shrimp, Loche squash, Avocado
Next up we’re in the dry valleys of Peru with two dishes that celebrate the river shrimp, Loche squash and avocado. A creamy sauce made from avocado, shrimp and chiles, filled the bottom of a hollowed-out squash. Covering the sauce was a squash pulp puree with a dusting of two powders. The green powder was made from the skin of the squash and the yellow from the pulp. The second dish was a shrimp head, stuffed with a mixture of head juices and the chopped-up tail. The idea was to pull the golden spoon out of the shrimp halfway through eating and add the chunks to the squash for the perfect blend of seafood sweetness from the shrimps and rich earthiness from the squash.
3 – Upper Jungle – 1350 MASL
Cocona, Papa Voladora, Yacon
We’ve now arrived at the bread course – with a twist. This bread was made entirely out of a funky fruit from the jungle called the flying potato. Named such because it looks like a potato and hangs from a tree. The first bite (right), made from the pulp of the fruit, tasted like a really fluffy sourdough toast. You could dunk this into the yellow dip, made from cocona, also known as the “Amazon tomato”. The second bite (left), made from the skin of the flying potato, had a rich and slightly cheesy flavour. Accompanying this was a yoghurt dip topped with yacon syrup. The savouriness of the potato contrasted with the sourness of the yoghurt and the sweet molasses flavour from the syrup.
4 – Extreme Altitude – 4200 MASL
Corns, Kiwichas, Sweet Potato Leaf
Peru is famous for its corn, and with 55 different varieties, it’s easy to see why. This dish rightfully puts corn in the spotlight with a rich and silky corn puree made from multiple corn varieties. Black and orange roasted kiwicha grains similar to quinoa, red corn textures and crispy sweet potato leaves topped the dish. This was one of my favourite dishes on the menu, simply because I didn’t realise how good corn could taste. The textures and flavours balanced perfectly to create a really comforting dish.
5 – Murike Grouper
This dish took a break from the altitude format of the menu by combining ingredients from all over Peru. It was like a Peruvian take on the classic fish and chips, using the Murike grouper coming from northern Peru. A crispy texture made from fish skin and beer topped the fish with a decoration of fried capers and sweetpeas. Digging into the fish, uncovered a zingy and fishy broth made from razor clams and lime and thickened with a potato called muraya.
6 – Amazon Connection – 148 MASL
Cecina, Arapaima, Yuca
Following the fish course, was an unassuming dish from the Amazon and one of the standouts of the night. At the base of the dish was a rich and smoky sauce with chunks of an arapaima, an Amazonian fish and cecina – a smoked meat. Savoury potato and smoky yuca foams covered the mixture, along with a spicy powder of fish and cecina.
7 – Sea Ground – 0 MASL
Scallops, Sargasso, Cucumber
If you like scallops you’re in for a treat. In the centre was the sweetest and freshest scallop you’ll ever taste, topped with a rich and creamy sauce made from scallops. Finishing the dish were orange and green crackers made from scallop’s roe and seaweed, as well as purple pickled cucumbers.
8 – Octopus
Again, breaking away from the confines of a specific altitude we have what Central calls an octopus’s garden. Sliced steamed octopus sat in a hot, creamy and aromatic garlic-spirulina sauce. A wide variety of house-grown herbs and purple corn oil added a spicy freshness.
9 – Mil Centro – 3750 MASL
Oca, Chaco Clay, Altitude Leaves
This dish represented the huatia, a traditional Andean way of cooking where an oven is built out of rocks and an edible clay called Chaco clay. The waiter broke the clay oven to reveal two potatoes, still coated in some of the clay. To go with these potatoes was a black dip, made from the ash that you’d typically find inside the huatia. The other orange potatoes were baked with salt from the Maras salt mine, and they were simply just really good potatoes.
10 – Amazonian Water – 190 MASL
Pacu, Watermelon, Coca Leaf
Next up was a refreshing plate of pacu, a type of piranha that actually eats fruit. Underneath the slice of watermelon was a mixture of pacu and dura, an orange-flavoured fruit from the Amazon. A powder made from the pacu’s skin garnished the dish, along with a swirl of sour coconut sauce and coca leaf oil.
11 – Pork Belly
Ok, we’re on to the final savoury dishes, and with these Central went all out in creating the richest and meatiest dishes possible. First, was a pork belly, slow-roasted with a smoky red chilli paste and mushrooms and finished with crispy, fermented carrots. With all the fat perfectly rendered, the meat was so tender you could eat it with just a spoon.
12 – Forest (Loma) – 810 MASL
Goat’s Neck, Diverse Roots, Tomato
Continuing the trend of rich and meaty was a goat’s neck that had been roasted for 28 hours with tomatoes and tubas. Pickled, fermented and roasted tubas garnished the dish. Tableside, the waiter poured a smoky and savoury sauce made from roasted tomatoes, tubas and juices of the goat’s neck.
13 – Sacred Valley – 2700 MASL
Cabuya, Chirimoya, Muña
We’re now onto the dessert courses, with a dish from the sacred valley made from chirimoya. If you haven’t had chirimoya before, also known as custard apple, it tastes like a creamy mix of tropical fruits. In the bowl were chunks of chirimoya, sprinkled with ash made from the cabuya plant and pieces of muña – Andean mint. At the table, the waiter poured a cabuya syrup over the chirimoya. Accompanying the dish was a small bowl of shaved muña ice, acting as a refreshing palate cleanser from the sweetness and strong flavour of the chirimoya.
14 – Cacao Chuncho – 1800 MASL
Mucilage, Seeds, Shells
The final dish. Pure chocolate overload. This dessert highlighted the entire cacao fruit, rather than just the seed from which we usually get our cocoa powder and butter. The first bite was like a sweet, white marshmallow made from the membrane that covers each individual seed inside the cacao pod. The orange-coloured dish was shaved ice, made from the shell of the cacao pod. Then the next two dishes were different presentations of the seed. Firstly, a paste made by blending the seed with butter and sugar, and secondly, a ganache topped with chocolate wafers. Finally, to wash it all down was a drink made from the hull of the cacao pod after it had been roasted and fermented. The waiter recommended trying everything individually, before mixing it all in the bowl in front of us, which contained a chocolate sponge. Chocolate heaven.
The Drinks
As said, there were three different pairings available and I opted for the non-alcoholic option. This came with 8 drinks overall, some of which just paired with one course and others with two courses.
The highlights of the pairing were definitely the drinks that incorporated the fresh herbs of Peru, like the beverage made from green apple, cilantro and oregano that paired with the chirimoya dessert and the beverage made from quince fruit and lemon verbena that paired with the goat’s neck.
The Experience
The whole place was so zen. As you walk through the gates of Casa Tupac, you pass through a neat garden that grows some of the herbs and vegetables used throughout the tasting menu. Entering the building, you hear meditative music playing as you walk past huge displays of dried leaves, flowers and beverages and are escorted to your table.
The service was ridiculously smooth. We were given an explanation of each dish as it came, sometimes from the waiters and sometimes from the chefs. With a lot of weird and new ingredients, it can be hard to visualise what exactly you’re eating. But, Central tackles this problem by bringing out the raw ingredients. For example in the final course, they brought out a whole cacao pod and used it to explain the different parts of the pod used in each dish.
My only issue with the entire meal was the drinks. Some of the beverages were so good, I just wish they poured a little bit more into the glass, especially when some are meant to last for two or three courses. But then again, maybe I just drink a lot.
Closing Thoughts
Ok, Central is pretty amazing and definitely deserving of all the awards and recognition it has got so far. The menu takes you all across Peru from the thick Amazonian rainforest up to the heights of the Andes mountains before taking you down to the depths of the ocean floor. Each course had been expertly crafted to both honour the natural beauty of that altitude as well as the cultures and traditions of the people that have lived there.
More often than not, you’ll probably be trying foods that you’ve never heard of and chances are the regular Peruvian people haven’t heard of them either. And that’s down to the research arm, Mater Iniciativa, exploring and discovering rare foods from all over Peru and bringing them back to Central.
Each dish was a work of art and tasted great. But for me, my top three dishes would have to be Extreme Altitude which put corn centerstage, Amazon Connection which coated your senses in such a rich and smoky cecina and arapaima broth, and finally the beautifully fresh and herbaceous Octopus.
A trip to Lima is not complete without going to Central, the Best Restaurant in Latin America. Just make sure you book it in advance as reservations go fast!
On a side note – we also had the chance to eat at Kjolle, Pia Leon’s solo venture. Check it out here!
Pricing and Details
“Experience Mundo Mater” (14-course tasting menu): £131 / $180 / s/695
Non Alcoholic Pairing: £37 / $50 / s/195
Address: Av. Pedro de Osma 301, Barranco 15063, Peru
Book here: https://centralrestaurante.com.pe/en/reservations.html
Looking for Accommodation near Central?
There are 2 main neighbourhoods that we recommend staying in when visiting Central and Lima; Barranco and Miraflores.
Barranco Recommendations
The bohemian district of Lima is filled with vibrant street art, cliff-side bars and boutique hotels. Central is located in Barranco, making this a great choice.
- Budget: Kokopelli Hostel Barranco – Mixed Dorm, S/.56 / £12 / $15
- (Note: Kokopelli has multiple hostels in Peru and offers discounts if you stay at other Kokopellis. So, if you stay at Barranco’s Kokopelli, you can get a discount at Cusco’s Kokopelli).
- Mid-Range: Casa Fanning Hotel – 1-Bed Apartment, S/.140 / £30 / $37
- Luxury: 3B Barranco’s B&B – Standard Double Room, S/.233 / £50 / $62
Miraflores Recommendations
The upscale neighbourhood of Lima. You’ll find luxury hotels, beautiful parks lining the cliffs and high-end shopping experiences here.
- Budget: Llaqta Wasi – Mixed Dorm, S/.37 / £8 / $10
- Mid-Range: Hotel Andesmar – Queen Room, S/.160 / £34 / $42
- Luxury: JW Marriot Hotel Lima – Deluxe Room with Ocean View, S/.990 / £210 / $260
Thanks for reading!
