Was in Lima back in mid October and was able to secure a reservation at Central. Rated the #1 restaurant in the world by San Pellegrino.
Overall, the experience was not overly enjoyable. Obviously there were high expectations and tried to take that in to consideration. The concept overall, I thought was really cool. The menu was divided to showcase Peruvian ingredients organized by altitude. Sea level to 4,000m. It was 14 courses give or take. The room is very nice with a huge glass walled kitchen with what seemed like 30+ cooks. Lots of spaces between tables.
Unfortunately I found the food similar course to course to course. Almost every single course is served in a bowl with a spoon. Lots of fermentation, pickling, sauces, algae etc. While some of the courses were good it became very repetitive and palate fatigue set in quickly. It was a struggle to get through the menu. In some courses there were so many ingredients it was impossible to figure out what we were eating. I really wanted something I could use a knife on. The wine list was OK but opted for the pairing as there were some unique cocktails that were promised. These were quite good. Wine pairings were fine. Service was fine nothing to call out our complain about. All in the menu for 2 was about $1000. Not worth it. I would not go back and cannot recommend.
Sorry to hear that about Central. We will be in Lima in December and are planning to hit Mayta, Merito, and El Mercado (lunch). Was looking at Kjolle as well, but decided to go with the others instead.
We really didn’t have much time in Lima so unfortunately didn’t get to go to any other big names. Did have a great lunch at Tomo Cocina Nikkei. https://tomococinanikkei.mesa247.pe
We did stay at the Belmond Miraflores which was really an excellent hotel all around. Especially the service.
I visited several years ago and while I found it an enjoyable experience, Maido is what I’m still thinking about when I remember fine dining on that trip.
Thanks so much for this post. Heading to Lima in April to spread dad’s ashes, and my siblings and I thought we’d try to get reservations at Central one of the nights. Looks like there are other places that may be worth exploring as well. Will definitely research before we travel south.
We will be there in January. Reservations seemed pretty open at Central - which I suppose was a little concerning. Decided to skip it. This thread confirms that plan. Eater appears to have a decent list of suggestions. Most of which won’t run $1,000+ for two.