Lima City Map

Lima is Peru’s capital, one of the largest cities in South America, and one of our all-time favorite food destinations. This city was our top travel wish on our bucket list for years, and we finally got the chance to visit for the first time in 2022. Chefs Virgilio Martínez and Pía León have created a fine dining restaurant empire worth traveling for, helmed by their world renowned restaurant Central which celebrates Peruvian cuisine. Lima offers a whole new world of culinary adventures and ingredients, and is a must-visit destination for any traveling food lover.

In this foodie map, we have gathered all our Lima favorites. You’ll find everything from ambitious fine dining restaurants, to specialty coffee shops, award-winning cocktail bars, and, of course, all the ceviche you can eat. Navigate the map easily either by scrolling through the list on the right or by clicking the points on the map. Places are listed in a geographical order.

Virgilio Martínez and Pía León have created an out-of-this-world, mind-blowing food experience that instantly soared into the top meals of our life. Central's tasting menu showcases ingredients at different altitudes in Peru. You start below sea level, you journey into the Amazon, and you climb to the top of the Andes mountains. The coast provides incredible seafood, the jungle introduces you to new fruits, and the extreme altitude allows the discovery of new varieties of potato and corn. Ranked no. 1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023, Central deserves all the recognition it's received, and more. This is, without a doubt, one of the most groundbreaking and innovative restaurants in the world.

Kjolle, the solo venture from Pía León, might be located in the same building as Central, but it has a personality all its own. The style is a bit lighter and more delicate, more feminine, named for a yellow/orange flower that is used for making natural dyes. They use this flower in the food and drinks at the restaurant. The menu showcases Peruvian ingredients, but it’s a slightly shorter menu than Central and not focused on the altitudes. A signature dish here is the tuber tart, with a crust made of a Peruvian cereal (like quinoa seeds), a custard of potato & cassava, and raw and cooked tubers (ollucos) on top. Kjolle is ranked no. 28 on The World's 50 Best List 2023.

Mérito is a must-visit restaurant in Lima. Chef Juan Luis Martínez previously worked at Central before opening his tiny, two-story restaurant. If you want to watch the action, sit at one of the four counter stools in the open kitchen, and order the whole à la carte menu. There are plays on traditional Peruvian dishes, like a ceviche and tiradito, as well as some nods to Juan's Venezuelan roots as well (pork belly arepas, anyone?). The presentations are stunning, and the food is delicious. The vibe is fun and laidback, with a great playlist and an intoxicating energy from the kitchen. And the bar program is insane! Fresh and punchy cocktails are made with local fruits like passionfruit and lulo, and Peruvian spirits. If we could bring any restaurant back home with us as a souvenir, it'd be Mérito.

The best pastries we found in Lima were at Demo, the bakery from the Mérito team, located next door to the restaurant. Demo serves an artistic take on avocado toast, a cruffin filled with dulce de leche, a lemon wave pastry (inspired by Collective Bakery in Copenhagen), and other sweet treats. There are also fresh juices and espresso drinks. This is a must-visit for pastry lovers!

For the best ice cream in Lima, visit Blu, a small shop in Barranco that makes handmade gelato. Blu serves only local Peruvian flavors and fruits like passion fruit, muña (mint), cherimoya (soursop), lucuma (creamy egg fruit), and quito quito (kiwi/lime). Try them all to get a real taste of Peru!

Siete might look like just a simple wine bar, but, in addition to drinks, they’re also serving some tasty dishes. Chef Ricardo Martins formerly worked at restaurant Rafael before opening Siete, a dark and intimate space in the heart of Barranco. The menu is seafood-focused; we loved the clams with chimichurri, the grilled langoustines, and the tiradito. Save room for the chocolate and salted caramel tart for dessert.

For traditional Peruvian food, Isolina should be your first stop. This cozy tavern served us our all-time favorite pisco sour, and incredible food alongside it. We loved the ceviche, the chicharron sandwich, the papa rellena (stuffed potato), the arroz tapado (Peruvian beef and rice dish), and the dulce de leche flan. Portions are big, so come hungry!

You can’t make a reservation at Canta Rana, but this simple Peruvian restaurant is worth lining up for. The venue is charmingly rustic, with tables spilling out of the dining room and into the side alley outside. You’re going to want to order their signature ceviche with avocado, causa (potatoes) with shrimp, gratinated scallops with parmesan cheese, and tacu tacu (Peruvian beans and rice). Wash it all down with a pisco sour… or three!

Calling all coffee nerds! For the best cup of coffee in Lima, you’re going to want to visit Ciclos Café. Award-winning baristas prepare both pour-overs and espresso-based drinks using some of the world’s best coffee beans, which are roasted in-house. We’ve never had such light-roasted Peruvian coffee before! Upstairs, you can taste your way through different varieties of Peruvian cacao at El Cacaotal, the craft chocolate bar.

Hotel B is part art gallery, part hotel, and one of the most luxurious places to stay when in Lima. The building is a restored mansion built over a century ago, and the walls are lined with over 300 exquisite pieces of art. Added bonus: the rooftop bar has fantastic cocktails, as well as one of the best views for watching the sunset. Breakfast is included for all guests, in both a downstairs buffet as well as on the rooftop, where à la carte options are available.

Chef Mitsuharu Tsumura’s restaurant Maido opened in Lima in 2009, and has been high on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants lists ever since. (It’s ranked no. 6 on The World’s 50 Best 2023 list, and no. 3 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022.) Tsumura combines Japanese technique with local Peruvian ingredients to craft a Nikkei-style tasting menu. The stand-out bite was the bluefin tuna belly, which was sliced tableside, quickly marinated in a ponzu sauce, put on top of rice and torched to heat the fish slightly. The result was a melt-in-your-mouth, fatty flavor bomb!

Lady Bee is a fresh face on the Lima bar scene, from former Carnaval bartender Alonso Palomino and his partner Gabriela Leon. Sustainability is in focus here – cocktails are made with local Peruvian ingredients, and the goal is zero waste. We enjoyed the Copoazú with pisco, mandarin, lime, and cinnamon, and the Palillo with cana alta (spirit), lemon and mint.

Tomo is a casual restaurant in Lima serving Nikkei cuisine. The chefs formerly worked at Maido, where they learned to apply Japanese techniques to Peruvian ingredients. Highlight dishes from our meal included the tiradito with garlic and yellow chili, and the scallop and shrimp nigiri with loche squash and truffle. And don’t miss the cocktails – they’re fresh and extremely easy to drink!

Amarena Café Urbano is a great spot if you’re looking for a cup of coffee in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima. The shop is run by former Central and Kjolle employees, so you can expect a high level of food and service with a smile. Both espresso drinks and pour-overs are available, and they also serve brunch all day, including egg sandwiches topped with caramelized onions and avocado.

Gastón Acurio’s chain now has locations around the world, but the one in Lima is the original, and it showcases the best of Peruvian seafood. We ate our all-time favorite ceviche of the trip at La Mar, and, in general, adored our meal here. From the raw seafood platter with razor clams, scallops, clams, and various leches de tigres, to the fried oysters, to the tiradito, to the cheesecake for dessert, every dish was an explosion of flavor. This is a required lunch spot when in Lima.

One of our favorite coffee shops in Lima is La Teoría de los 6 Cafés, which is located in the Miraflores neighborhood. The café is small, more suited for take-away coffee, but there are benches outside in the sun where we enjoyed a delicious Peruvian pour-over. Espresso drinks and donuts are also available.

Too pretty to eat? Many dishes on the menu at Mayta beg this question. Chef Jaime Pesaque creates food art, each presentation more stunning than the last. A highlight dish was the loche squash fettuccine, with huacatay, and aji amarillo. We also loved the yellow flower dessert: a crunchy loche squash caramel shell, filled with pecan cake and algarrobo tree ice cream (which tastes similar to maple syrup and honey). Mayta is ranked no. 47 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023.

The best bar in Lima is Carnaval, no. 44 on The World’s Best Bars 2022. Exceptional service meets creative presentations at this Peruvian hotspot – the Zombie uses dry ice and a skull-shaped jelly to create a ~killer~ impression, the multi-colored Carnaval signature cocktail floats into the bar inside an illuminated lantern, and the Mojito comes with shards of ice sticking out of the glass, like a neon ice castle.

Chefs Gastón Acurio and Astrid Gutsche were Peru’s original restaurant power couple. They opened their eponymous restaurant back in 1994, and it’s still a quintessential Peruvian restaurant today. We adored the venue, a historic old hacienda that has been transformed into a stunning restaurant space with an open-air patio. Head chef Jorge Muñoz’s take on his grandmother’s corn humita with lamb neck cooked in lamb fat is worth a visit alone. The dish is similar to a tamale, with a cake batter-like consistency, and a rich, caramelized flavor.