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.