I’m in the middle of a dental adventure! I discovered I had cracked a tooth on the evening of August 27th, here in Tbilisi Georgia. I called our travel insurance and happily it’s covered! I asked the insurance people if they could recommend an English speaking dentist here, and while they did, the one they recommended is closed till September 10th. Not so helpful. So I went on the local expats forum to ask, and found a recommendation from just a few days ago! Those folks apologized for being closed that day due to the big religious holiday (The Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God) and asked if I could come in the next day at 3pm. I have never gotten a dental appointment that quickly from any of my regular dentists. I’m liking this.

Our friend Elisa, who we met in Lima, introduced us to her friend Coral who does street food tours in La Paz! So we went out last night and even though it was a bit cold and a bit rainy we had a great time. She came by in her car, with her son to translate, and took us to a half dozen street food places. It was interesting that all of the shops and stands are run by women.

Before you go

I always thought that Machu Picchu was only for young fit people. That you had to trek in and walk up a mountain to get there. Not true. Even old less than fit people can easily visit. You don’t have to sign up for an expensive tour either, it’s easy to do on your own as an independent traveller. A cab or Uber from Cusco to Poroy (US$8), a train from Poroy to Machu Picchu Pueblo (US$70 p/p), a comfortable bus to the site itself (US$12 p/p), and leisurely walking around the site (US$50 p/p). All prices are one-way.

Cusco

Cusco is a beautiful World Heritage city. We decided we’d spend some time here on our way from Lima to La Paz. Besides being the gateway to Machu Picchu, it’s the former capital of the Inca empire and arguably the cultural capital of Peru. We stayed for nearly a week not doing much because it’s also at 3400 meters above sea level (over 11,000 feet) and it’s quite hilly. We visited the pre-columbian art museum (artifacts from Larco Museum in Lima) and the natural history museum.

Arequipa

On our itinerary between Lima and La Paz we knew we wanted to spend a few days in Arequipa. It’s sometimes called “the white city” because of the beautiful buildings made from the local white “silla” volcanic rock. The architecture is beautiful in a very Spanish Colonial sort of way, it reminded me of some of the Andalusian hill towns we visited while in Spain.

I noticed our bus company offered a tour to “Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon after the Grand Canyon” which sounded interesting but not compelling. Until I read the more detailed description. Colca Canyon is one of the places you can see Andean Condors. Ok, sign us up!

Nazca

The Nazca “lines” are a group of lines and geoglyphs carved into the desert plain outside the city of Nazca. They’re about 2000 years old and were constructed by the Nazca culture (who also made some pretty awesome ceramics.) Most of them are lines and geometric shapes, but the most famous and most interesting ones seems to be images of animals and people. Monkey, condor, whale, person, hummingbird, parrot, tree, and some harder to interpret. We don’t really know what their significance is, but current consensus is that they had religious significance.

Huacachina

Huacachina is a natural desert oasis, just outside the city of Ica. There’s a small lagoon, surrounded by high sand dunes. There are maybe a hundred residents and thousands of visiting tourists each year. It was once a getaway for Peru’s elite, a secluded garden to enjoy nature and relax. It’s a cup like valley in the midst of massive sand dunes. Most people either ride dune buggies, sandboard, or ski down the dunes. None of those really appealed to us, so we just chilled in quiet nature. I climbed up to the top of the biggest nearby dune to get a view of the surrounding desert, and look down on the lagoon. The hike itself isn’t too bad, maybe a couple hundred metres of elevation gain, but walking on the ridge line was more nerve racking than I expected. Those dunes are tall and steep. It looks like you could easily fall, and if you did you’d tumble all the way to the bottom.

The bus we’re taking, “Peru Hop,” stops first in the town of Paracas a few hours south of Lima. There’s not a whole lot there, a couple of fancy beach resorts, a main strip of restaurants for tourists, and a couple of low and mid-range hotels. Peru Hop promotes a trip out to the Ballestas Islands, a two hour boat tour to islands that are sometimes called “the poor man’s Galapagos” and are primarily known as a source of guano. I didn’t put much stock in the “Galapagos” comparison, but it sounded interesting and it might be a good chance to see some interesting birds. Plus it was cheap, only 50 soles per person - about US $15 for us in 2018.

Lima has an active bakery scene both pastelarias or pastry shops, and panaderías which are bread shops. There’s a standard repertoire that includes alfajores de manjar, a sandwich cookie made from cornstarch and filled with manjar (dulce de leche) caramelized sweetened milk.) The cookie came to Peru from Spain, and came to Spain from al-Andalus. The name comes from the arabic الفاخر, al- fakher. But I digress. There are also tarts, cakes, and pies. The panaderias generally sell a francese roll which is a simple white bread divided in two, a sweet pan de yema which is a soft egg bread, and various baguettes and loaves. There were a few standouts, and one amazing bakery that I saved for last.

The food

The first time we went to Maido we had their “Nikkei Experience,” a multi-course degustation menu. We saw some dishes go by that looked pretty interesting but weren’t included so we decided to go back and try the a la carte menu. (Getting in to the #2 restaurant in South America is a little more complicated than “we decided” but managed.)

We decided to try sashimi, sushi, appetizer, and a main.

The Place

Osso is Lima’s “temple to meat,” a restaurant, butcher shop, and charcuterie. It was started in the suburb of La Molina, about 30-45 minutes from downtown Lima. There’s also a branch in San Isidro close to the financial district but we wanted to visit the mother church. Most tourists don’t venture much past Miraflores, Barranco, and maybe central Lima so this was a nice adventure and opportunity to see more of Lima.

If you’re looking for great bread in Lima, bingo! this is the place. Crusty chewy super-hydrated breads are the reason to come here. The bread then gets used to make their sandwiches, elevating the humble mixto to something extraordinary. The space is bright, open, with wood everywhere. A place you could sit and spend hours relaxing and enjoying the food and a book. Sadly the coffee, while perfectly adequate, can’t match the excellence of the bread.

The place

Amoramar is another gem tucked away in an urban environment. On an otherwise unremarkable back street in Barranco, you go through a door and into an oasis. A tree lined patio with tables under a screened roof. You walk past the big wood fired brick oven where the parrillero is roasting a cochinillo lechal (suckling piglet.)

The place

Cosme is one of the “new, trendy, hip” places on all the Lima food lists. It emphasizes sustainability and is decor is reused, repurposed, and recycled. The ceiling is decorated with disposable soft drink bottles filled with brightly colored water. The walls are decorated with soda bottle caps. The restaurant’s mascot is the local vulture, while not known for its looks it’s an essential part of the ecosystem, scavenging and cleaning up after others.

The restaurant and the cuisine

Osaka has a reputation as one of the best nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) places in Lima. It may not be as internationally famous as Maido, but it’s well known locally. At first my attitude was “I didn’t come to Lima to eat Japanese food” but that was foolish. There have been Japanese in Peru for centuries, using local ingredients to prepare Japanese dishes. There have been high end nikkei restaurants for at least forty years. It’s a distinct cuisine deserving of attention in its own right.

The place

Costanera 700 is one of the oldest Nikkei (Japanese Peruvian) restaurants in Lima. It was founded by nissei Humberto Sato (who passed away in October at 78) and is now run by his son Yaquir Sato. This place is a Lima institution, beloved for over 30 years by politicians, business people, and the artistic elite. The decor reflects both its age and its eclectic history, it’s kitchy and a bit dated but charming none the less. The clientele? In Yaquir’s words (translated) “Now many entrepreneurs come to close deals, especially at lunch time, the average customer is over 40 years old and most of them are male, while 30% come from another country.”

The place

El Mercado is a fancy fish oriented restaurant by Rafael Osterling (the chef/owner of Rafael.) It has a reputation as the best cevicheria in Lima and it regularly makes the lists of the best restaurants in Peru. Sounded like our kind of place.

I don’t know if it’s called “El Mercado” because it has the ambience of a market, or because it’s across the street from the Miraflores mercado, but either way it’s a breezy open space, green and relaxing. The space itself feels very much like you’re in an indoor/outdoor patio set in a tropical forest. An amazing accomplishment given that it’s actually set in a rather ordinary neighborhood of concrete high rise apartments and small mechanic’s shops.

The place

Malabar is one of Lima’s “nice” restaurants. Business people, tourists, people with money, in the financial district. Doing creative things with sustainable Amazonian ingredients. We went because we’d heard good things about the food and ingredients but were a little suprised at the setting and ambience. This seems like a place to take clients.

But the menu is all about the ingredients. The owner Pedro Miguel Schiaffino also owns āmaZ, which also focuses on Peruvian Amazonian food, but Malabar uses those ingredients in the service of fine dining. The emphasis is on the ingredients, not flashy technique, but the technique is still there. The menu includes some interesting ferments both in the dishes and in the drinks. Kombucha with local herbs for example.

Manolo is an old fashioned Lima caféteria (coffee shop) and churreria in the heart of Miraflores. It’s an institution, founded in 1968 and is a comforting favorite of families of all ages. You see grandparents who may have met there, and new families bringing their kids. There’s a huge menu of sandwiches, pastas, seafood, and desserts

The portions are big, the crema volteada (“turned over” cream, like a flan) nearly covered the plate. The meals are family sized because this is a family place. While there are tourists here, there are plenty of ordinary people enjoying an old favorite as well.

The Chef

Rafael Osterling didn’t start off to be a chef. He was going to be a lawyer. As the son of the leader of one of Peru’s political parties he was trained to be a diplomat. Though he always had a love of cooking and a talent for it, his family discouraged it so he always expected to go into public service. Then came Fujimori’s 1992 autogolpe and everything changed. With his father under house arrest, and tanks outside of their house, a diplomatic career seemed less likely and he was free to pursue his first love.

The restaurant

IK restaurant is one of the fancy “modern Peruvian” restaurants in Lima that is not part of the Gastón Acurio (Astrid & Gastón) and Virgilio Martínez Véliz (Central) axis. When we arrived our immediate impression was of understated and quiet elegance. IK has dimly lit stone and wood with patterned pools of light on each table. IK has windows onto the kitchen, which we like, and it appears that half of the chefs are women including the head chef (Francesca Ferreyros) which was a pleasant surprise.

La Mar is one of the fanciest, and most expensive, fish places in Lima. La Mar is known for having a great selection of fresh fish, and for preparing it well. Since we wanted to get a good idea of how ceviche was supposed to be prepared, and because La Mar didn’t need bookings, we decided to go for lunch. When we got there, there was no wait at all which was a pleasant surprise. As we walked in we walked past a display of fresh whole fish on ice, which piqued our interest.

Kjolle is the sister restaurant to Central, the most famous restaurant in Lima. It’s the project of Pia León, co-chef and partner with Virgilio Martínez in Central. Despite being co-chef and partner, she usually doesn’t get as much credit. With Kjolle she will hopefully get the showcase she deserves.

It’s a more intimate space, light and airy, and a menu that includes both a la carte and a tasting menu. Apparently she was originally not going to offer a tasting menu at all but I’m glad she did. We got to try a lot more of her dishes. The techniques are impeccable but it feels more personal - the chefs come out to introduce some of the dishes and there’s less pomp and more personal attention. It felt friendlier and welcoming.

Panchita is a criollo restaurant, it serves traditional creole Peruvian dishes. Those are typically “people’s” food derived from the food slaves and their descendants ate. There’s a classic repertoire, and it includes a lot of offal and offcuts. Panchita is a bit larger than your typical criollo place, a bit higher quality, but with a tiny bit less character than some of the smaller quirkier places. It’s good for getting an idea of how these dishes “ought” to be made before trying some more interesting places.

Central is a high-end restaurant in Lima, well known for being on the San Pellegrino “Worlds 50 Best Restaurants” list. It’s supposed to be one of the most difficult reservations to get in Lima, but we managed by walking over during the day and asking at the front desk if they had anything open in the next two months. They found a lunch for us in the next week so off we went!

Astrid y Gastón is the third of the “Pellegrino Top 50” restaurants in Lima, and felt the friendliest and was the most “fun.” It’s in a magnificent colonial building, with a big garden out front filled with vegetables, herbs, and flowers attracting bees and birds. A lovely place to wander around.

Inside it’s much larger than you might think at first, with three separate kitchens (hot, cold, and pastry) and multiple rooms that can seat 200 people for dinner. Lunch is served in the blue room facing the hot kitchen, a bright airy space with hanging plants.

Maido is Lima’s most famous “Nikkei” style restaurant. Nikkei cuisine is the food of the Peruvian Japanese. Is 500 years long enough for food to stop being “fusion” and become its own thing? Peru has been home to Japanese and Chinese immigrants since the 1500’s and has embraced both cuisines and integrated them into Peruvian cuisine.

Maido is another one of the “Top 50 Restaurants” in Lima, and is just a few blocks from where we’re staying. It has a calm Japanese feel inside, and diners are greeted with a shouted “Maido!” as they enter. There is a traditional sushi bar and tables under a hanging forest of rope.

Just had lunch at the Essaouira fish market. There’s a bunch of little grills just off the main Fish Market where you can go and bring your fish or just sit and have lunch.

The Place

Osso is Lima’s “temple to meat,” a restaurant, butcher shop, and charcuterie. It was started in the suburb of La Molina, about 30-45 minutes from downtown Lima. There’s also a branch in San Isidro close to the financial district but we wanted to visit the mother church. Most tourists don’t venture much past Miraflores, Barranco, and maybe central Lima so this was a nice adventure and opportunity to see more of Lima.

If you’re looking for great bread in Lima, bingo! this is the place. Crusty chewy super-hydrated breads are the reason to come here. The bread then gets used to make their sandwiches, elevating the humble mixto to something extraordinary. The space is bright, open, with wood everywhere. A place you could sit and spend hours relaxing and enjoying the food and a book. Sadly the coffee, while perfectly adequate, can’t match the excellence of the bread.

The restaurant

IK restaurant is one of the fancy “modern Peruvian” restaurants in Lima that is not part of the Gastón Acurio (Astrid & Gastón) and Virgilio Martínez Véliz (Central) axis. When we arrived our immediate impression was of understated and quiet elegance. IK has dimly lit stone and wood with patterned pools of light on each table. IK has windows onto the kitchen, which we like, and it appears that half of the chefs are women including the head chef (Francesca Ferreyros) which was a pleasant surprise.

La Mar is one of the fanciest, and most expensive, fish places in Lima. La Mar is known for having a great selection of fresh fish, and for preparing it well. Since we wanted to get a good idea of how ceviche was supposed to be prepared, and because La Mar didn’t need bookings, we decided to go for lunch. When we got there, there was no wait at all which was a pleasant surprise. As we walked in we walked past a display of fresh whole fish on ice, which piqued our interest.

Just had lunch at the Essaouira fish market. There’s a bunch of little grills just off the main Fish Market where you can go and bring your fish or just sit and have lunch.