Restaurants in Peru
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Los Toldos
A local favorite for abundant cheap eats, this rotisserie restaurant features a worthwhile salad bar (try the black olive sauce). Most people can’t go past the Peruvian classic cuarto de pollo (quarter of a chicken), done here to perfection.
reviewed
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Jack’s Café
- Cuzco, Peru
- Restaurants › Cafe
A line often snakes out the door at this Western-style, Australian-run eatery. With fresh juices blended with mint or ginger, strong coffee and eggs heaped with smoked salmon or roasted tomatoes, it’s easy to get out of bed. Also has nice cafe food, soups and good service.
reviewed
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Granja Heidi
- Cuzco, Peru
- Restaurants › Cafe
A cozy Alpine cafe serving healthy fare, some of it provided from the small farm of the German owner. In addition to Peruvian fare (rocoto relleno is served vegetarian, with stuffed chili and peanuts), there are crepes and huge bowls of soups and salads. Save room for dessert.
reviewed
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California Café
Run by Tim, from California no less, this hip pad does breakfasts at any time, plus light lunches and salads – it’s a funky, chilled space to while away many hours. You can spend the day listening to the sublime world music collection or reading one of the hundreds of books available for exchange. Wi-fi is a godsend to laptop junkies and rich espressos and dozens of herbal teas will keep you sipping till closing time. Tim is active in the development of ecotourism in the Cordillera Huayhuash and is a goldmine of information on that area. He organizes ‘ultimate Frisbee’ games every Friday.
reviewed
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Restaurant Huaca Pucllana
This sophisticated establishment overlooks the illuminated ruins at Huaca Pucllana. The menu consists of a skillfully rendered and beautifully presented array of contemporary Peruvian dishes (from grilled cuy to seafood chowders), along with a smattering of Italian-fusion specialties. Save room for the pisco and lemon parfait come dessert.
reviewed
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Fez
Have you been craving authentic falafel ever since you landed in South America? Step up to the counter here and order yourself a sandwich dripping with juicy goodness. Crêpes are equally delicious. Garden tables are out back.
reviewed
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Green’s Organic
With all-organic food and a bright farmhouse feel, Green’s Organic oozes health. Inventive salads with options like roasted fennel, goat cheese, beets and spring greens are a welcome change of pace and the heartier fare includes pastas and alpaca dishes. Come early (or late) as it fills up fast and service is notably slow.
reviewed
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Aldea Yanapay
The stuffed animals, board games and decor perfectly evoke the circus you dreamed of running away with as a child. Aldea Yanapay is pitched at families but will appeal to anyone with a taste for the quixotic. Food includes burritos, falafel and tasty little fried things to pick at, and there’s a whole separate menu for vegetarians.
Profits go to projects helping abandoned children. Highly recommended.
reviewed
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Cicciolina
On the 2nd floor of a lofty colonial courtyard mansion, Cicciolina has long held its position as Cuzco’s best restaurant. The eclectic, sophisticated food is divine, starting with house-marinated olives, continuing with crisp polenta squares with cured rabbit, huge green salads, charred octopus and satisfying mains like squid-ink pasta and tender lamb.
The service is impeccable, and the warmly-lit seating will make any laid-back globetrotter feel at home. Highly recommended.
reviewed
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Juanito’s
With the griddle hopping, this sandwich shop churns out made-to-order numbers. Vegetarians get big fried-egg sandwiches and new combos like chicken and walnuts prove tasty.
reviewed
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Los Leños
Pizzas for homesick travelers are baked in a wood-burning oven that adds warmth to the laid-back atmosphere. Rock music is the only soundtrack. If you’re more impressed by the food than we were, add your personalized scribble to the already-covered-with-graffiti walls.
reviewed
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Crepisimo
A cozy place to get your caffeine fix, this cultural cafe has a crackling fireplace, balcony tables, board games and more than 100 kinds of sweet and savory crêpes filled with everything from Chilean smoked trout or wild Swiss mushrooms to exotic South American fruits.
reviewed
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La Bajadita
This is the place to sink your sweet tooth into some great cakes, including tiramisú, pecan pie, brownies and the ever-popular apple pie. They also do small meals and all-day breakfasts here.
reviewed
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Trotamundos
This coffeehouse has a dead-on view of the cathedral and sells a bit of everything, with especially good coffees and baked goods. It's also a popular late-night bar-cum-café.
reviewed
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Maikhana
A friendly, comfy place to enjoy excellent, good-value renditions of all the Indian classics, including a long list of vegetarian dishes.
reviewed
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Restaurant Típico La Fiesta
A quality top-end choice, La Fiesta is in the Residencial 3 de Octubre suburb, about 2km west of central Chiclayo. If you want to experience the best of this region’s world-famous cuisine, Fiesta is the place to splurge. The pisco sours constructed tableside and elegant meat dishes, such as rack of lamb with risotto and sirloin with poached quail egg, are worth every nuevo sol. Or try the farm-raised duck, which must be a black-feathered quacker not a day over three months old. There is a sister restaurant in Lima.
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Matsuei
None other than the venerated Japanese super-chef Nobu Matsuhisa once co-owned this diminutive sushi bar, now situated on a San Isidro side street. Don’t let the modest appearance fool you: Matsuei serves up some of the most spectacular sashimi and maki (sushi rolls) in Lima. A must-have: the ‘acevichado, ’ a roll stuffed with shrimp and avocado, and then doused in a house-made mayo infused with ceviche broth. It will make your brain tingle in all the right places.
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Detrás de la Catedral
This well-run, attractively presented place exudes a woody, warm feeling and has garnered plenty of regular patrons with its broad menu selection – helped by a user-friendly picture menu decoder. Enjoy filling burgers (veggie or carnie), specials like asado catedral (barbecued meats done in house style) and tasty desserts like chocolate-drenched pionono helado (pastry with caramel filling). Surrealist paintings grace the walls.
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Vista al Mar
When the smell of garlic hits your nose on a Pacific sea breeze, you know you will dine well. Built into the clifftop and with its balcony dangling out over the sea, Vista al Mar is an elegant, modern restaurant serving a variety of meals and snacks. Fish and ceviche are wise options. It also does a great breakfast buffet at weekends. Watch for the occasional paraglider floating past along the cliffs.
reviewed
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Café Andino
This modern top-floor cafe has space and light in spades, comfy lounges, art, photos, books and groovy tunes – it’s the ultimate all-day hangout and meeting spot. You can get breakfast anytime (Belgian waffles – yum!) and this place is serious about its coffee, roasting its own. Ask Chris, the US owner, about information on trekking in the area and check out the message board for local info.
reviewed
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Chan Chan
Run by Italian chef Udo, this Italian eatery has a cozy atmosphere and lots of bright, white, curving adobe walls smartly decorated with tasteful art. The food here is great, the pizzas look like the real, thin-crust deal and the service is very attentive – it’s well worth the splurge. Get here early for a breezy patio seat. To find it, look out for the palm-frond-concealed frontage.
reviewed
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El Cordano
A Lima institution since 1905, this old-world dining hall has, at some point or another, counted practically every Peruvian president for the last 100 years as a customer (the presidential palace is right across the street). It is known for its skillfully rendered tacu tacu (pan-fried rice and beans) and butifarra (French bread stuffed with country ham).
reviewed
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Pachapapa
Invoking a rustic highland ambience, this open courtyard with wooden tables serves up well-prepared Peruvian classics, cooked over a wood fire or in clay pots. It’s also livened by a harpist on weekends. It’s a good spot to try buttered corn in herbs, aji de gallina or oven-fired trout. Cuy should be ordered in advance.
reviewed
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Mixtos
Tucked away in the alley behind the cathedral on the Plaza de Armas is this popular and quaint restaurant that serves mainly Italian and criollo (spicy Peruvian fare with Spanish and indigenous influences) seafood dishes. Try the enormous and flavorful sudado de pescado (fish stew) while enjoying the view from the outdoor balcony.
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La Rosa Nautica
Location, location, location. Though you can get the same (or better) seafood elsewhere for less, the views at this eatery on the historic pier are unparalleled. Go during happy hour (5pm to 7pm), when you can watch the last of the day’s surfers skim along the crests of the waves. Take a taxi to the pier and walk the last 100m.
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