Things to See, Eat, and Drink in Lima and Paracas
There’s honestly only one word to aptly describe my November visit to Lima, Peru’s coastal capital.
Delicious.
I had to pinch myself, constantly, to make sure I was actually awake as I inhaled the incredible flavors of Peru like oxygen. The intersection of Amazonian and Andean ingredients and the Pacific Ocean, plus the influence of immigrants from Japan (in the 1900’s), China (in the 1800’s), the colonization by Spain of the Incan empire (in the 1500’s) and the enslaved Africans they brought over as laborers and plantation workers, helps explain the layers of complexity of the native cuisine, known as Criollo.
Here are a few tasty tips for your next visit:
Table of Contents
Dine Locally, Eat Criollo
Lima offers a rich, deep food culture that is accessible to visitors in its many wonderful restaurants. Don’t be afraid of touristy spots. Wherever we dined, we found a lively mix of tourists and locals enjoying Limeño favorites like lomo saltado, the ubiquitous savory stir-fry of beef, soy, tomatoes, and onions served with rice and french fries, and causa, native potatoes (there are thousands of varieties grown in the Andes) mashed with ají amarillo chile paste and citrus, and stacked with a salad of chicken or shrimp dressed with mayonnaise.
We loved the criollo menu and ambience at the insanely popular Isolina in Barranco. Like at Casa Tambo, a great place for lunch when touring Centro Historico, the vibe is traditional, and the creole food really hits the mark–a dive into either menu defines the genre.
Have a Sandwich
Don’t sleep on Peruvian sandwiches. Typically served for breakfast, but available at any time of day, sandwiches like the Pan con Chicharron and the Butifarra represent fine examples of Lima’s love of porky goodness. At Juanito de Barranco, a taberna that opened in 1937, the cooks slice the juicy jamón del norte right at the counter, ready to be piled on french rolls smeared with salsa criolla. Grab a tall chilcano, the traditional pisco refresher made with fresh lime and ginger ale, or a mug of Cristal beer on tap and you’re set.
La Lucha Sanguchera might look like a fast food joint, but this Latin American chain bakes their own bread, hand-cuts purple-skinned Andean huayro potatoes for their fries, and roasts chicken and pork daily for their delicious sandwiches, made to be enjoyed with a cup of traditional chicha morada (a purple corn drink), also made in house, or freshly squeezed fruit juice.
Eat Ceviche Every Day
When in Lima, chowing down on ceviche should become your daily lunch ritual. The national dish features fresh raw chunks of white fish cured in lime juice and tossed with red onions, ají amarillo and rocoto chiles, choclo (Andean corn), and sweet potato. The flavorful juice that results from the quick marination, known as leche de tigre, is synonymous with Lima’s culinary reputation. Enjoy it at any local cevicheria you come across.
Have Lunch Amidst Pre-Incan Ruins
Miraflores, an upscale oceanfront district in Lima, offers incredible dining and drinking options and a long malecon high above the water to stroll on and soak in the views. The path leads directly past Larcomar, a shopping mall built below street level into a cliff that overlooks the Pacific which has to be seen to be believed, and offers some wonderful spots for a sunset cocktail. We were hosted at the cheerful and convenient Aloft Lima Miraflores.
A bit inland, you’ll find the wondrous Huaca Pucllana, the partially restored ruins of a fifth-century ceremonial pre-Incan pyramid smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Dine at the adjacent restaurant with the same name, whose elegant patio gives an incredible view into the historic site, and serves outstanding elevated local fare–you might even decide to skip the tour after that immersive lunch.
Splurge on a Tasting Menu
Lima’s culinary scene is well known on the world’s stage, and several of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants attract diners from all over the globe. We chose the tasting menu at Mérito, from Venezuelan chef Juan Luis Martínez, and were wowed by the contemporary, unique, and totally satisfying parade of dishes, presented in a relaxed, dim space peppered with natural design elements. We particularly loved the “cornbread,” a tender loaf cleverly presented in a charred cornhusk, but also really dug being introduced to so many unfamiliar ingredients, like sanky, a tart Andean fruit used here to cure scallops, ceviche-style.
Drink World Class Cocktails
Equally renowned, Lima’s cocktail bars lead the way with their forward-thinking mixology. Make a reservation at Lady Bee, a serene and welcoming spot in Barranco, with sublime cocktails based on seasonality, plus native ingredients and spirits. I enjoyed the Sachatomate, a savory martini-style cocktail with gin, tamarillo and cumin, while my companion loved the Apple & Fennel, a tall pisco-based drink enhanced with a beautiful oblong ice cube served with an artful apple sorbet.
Our host hotel in San Isidro, the five-star Westin Lima, has its own speakeasy, Alphonse Bar, hiding in plain sight, complete with a password for entry, an Al Capone theme, and outstanding cocktails. Another night, we had a fun happy hour at Limaq, also in the San Isidro district. We loved the Limaq Punch, a fruity but not sweet and cool pisco drink topped with a cloud of pineapple air.
Try Nikkei Cuisine
Nikkei cuisine, a blend of Japanese technique with native Peruvian flavors, takes “fusion” off the dirty word list–its a must-try. We had a wonderful Nikkei-style lunch at Tomo, which specializes in a long list of fish and shellfish in raw preparations like nigiri, sashimi, and tiraditos. We shared some elaborate maki and the house version of seafood fried rice topped with a slice of seared roast pork glistening with oyster sauce.
Visit Paracas
We headed South for a few days to the Pacific shore town of Paracas, hosted by the Hotel Paracas, for a bit of sunshine and resort-style relaxation. After gorging ourselves daily at the excellent breakfast buffet, we walked the beach toward the National Paracas Reserve, catching views of the massive rugged desert, and hundreds of native shore bird species.
We took a morning boat ride to the Ballestas Archipelago, home to penguins, boobies, pelicans, and sea lions chilling in their gorgeous natural habitat. Back at the resort, we enjoyed the aquatic circuit at the spa, and walked into town for a lovely dinner at Cristina, a friendly local spot.
The hotel’s Ballestas Restaurant offers, by advance reservation, a wonderful multi-course sustainable tasting meal called “Travesía Marina.” The menu, which translates to “sea journey,” presents Chef Miguel Cabrera’s homage to the Paracas fishing community. Ballestas and the hotel’s dockside restaurant, Chalana, are committed to a km-0 approach to sourcing seafood, and celebrate the marine biodiversity of the bay. We went crazy for the fish and shellfish served at both our breezy outdoor lunch at Chalana and the tasting menu experience at Ballestas.
Discover Pisco
Paracas is just south of the province of Pisco, where the grape spirit of the same name was invented. Bar Lounge, at our hotel, offers a pisco tasting experience that can be enjoyed indoors by the fireplace or outdoors overlooking the bay, where we learned that the history of Peru’s national spirit dates back to the Spanish conquistadores, who planted wine grapes in the late 1500’s in this sunny province. The locals used the excess wine to make a clear aguardiente brandy, and its popularity took off.
Lots of folks sip the spirit neat, but we loved trying pisco sours everywhere we went in Lima and Paracas, and never found a version of this tart, foamy cocktail we didn’t like, especially when maracuya (passionfruit) was in the mix. A little spirits knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Clearly, I highly recommend an eating trip to Lima and Paracas to enjoy the region’s unique, vibrant cuisine. You’ll be able to eat well whether you spend lots of money on an upscale tasting menu or a humble meal of street food in a local market. I recommend doing both–plus everything in between.
Read Next:
