Best restaurants in Lima 2026: 14 tables worth booking

The best restaurants in Lima in 2026 come down to these 14 tables, drawn from The 50's latest world and Latin American rankings and from the city's cevicherías, anticucherías and sandwich counters, running from a S/1,295 nikkei tasting menu to beef-heart skewers off a Miraflores grill. If you book only one, make it Maido; if you want the highest-ranked restaurant in Lima that can still win on 4 November, make it Kjolle.

Lima hosts The 50 Best Restaurants, formerly The World's 50 Best Restaurants, on 4 November, the first time in the event's 24-year history that it has come to Peru. Four restaurants in the city made the 2025 world top 50: Maido at No. 1, Kjolle at No. 9, Mérito at No. 26 and Mayta at No. 39. None of them appears in the 51-100 list published on 21 October, whose only Peruvian entry, according to La República, is Mil, in Moray near Cusco. Our story on the 50 Best awards coming to Lima on 4 November has the full programme.

The best restaurants in Lima sit in three districts: Barranco for the tasting menus, Miraflores for cebiche and nikkei, San Isidro for the bistros and the grill. For the dishes themselves, from leche de tigre to lomo saltado, start with our guide to what to eat in Lima. Prices below are in soles and come from the restaurants' own menus or from the press reports we cite; where neither gives a figure, we say so.

With Maido and Central out of the ranking, Kjolle, Mérito and Mayta carry Lima on 4 November.

Maido, Miraflores: first of the best restaurants in Lima

Mitsuharu Tsumura's nikkei restaurant at Calle San Martín 399 was named The World's Best Restaurant in June 2025. At this year's ceremony it joins the Best of the Best, the group of former No. 1s that are no longer ranked, so 2026 is the first year it will not appear on the list it topped.

The only menu is the Experiencia Maido: 12 courses at S/1,295 a head without drinks, S/1,985 with the house pairing of New World wines and sake, and S/1,659 with a non-alcoholic pairing of native fruits and teas, according to the restaurant. Bookings open two months ahead, on the first day of each month. It is closed on Sundays.

Central, Barranco

Virgilio Martínez's restaurant at Av. Pedro de Osma 301 was The World's Best Restaurant in 2023 and has been in the Best of the Best since. Its tasting menu runs through 12 Peruvian ecosystems in 32 preparations and lasts about three hours; a longer option adds an immersion in the kitchen and the research behind it, for about six hours in all.

Central does not publish its price online. Forbes Perú put its 14-course Mundo Mater menu at S/1,250 in 2023, before the current format; prices include tax and a 13% service charge. Online bookings for up to six people open four months ahead, for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday. For the thinking behind the menu, read our interview with Virgilio Martínez.

Kjolle, Barranco

Pía León, who rose to prominence as head chef of Central, opened Kjolle in 2018 as her first restaurant of her own, in the same building on Av. Pedro de Osma. It was No. 9 in the world in 2025 and No. 2 in Latin America in December, where it was also named the best restaurant in Peru and won the Art of Hospitality Award.

The nine-course tasting menu cost S/988 in June 2025, with a wine and spirits pairing at S/456 and a non-alcoholic one at S/256, according to Caretas. Kjolle is open from Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, and online bookings open four months ahead.

Mérito, Barranco

Juan Luis Martínez cooks a mix of Peruvian and Venezuelan food at Jirón 28 de Julio 206. Mérito was No. 26 in the world in 2025 and No. 4 in Latin America, the second-highest Lima restaurant on the regional list after Kjolle.

Dishes cost S/55 to S/160 depending on the day, and Caretas estimated the tasting menu at about US$125. Bookings go through the restaurant's website.

Mayta, Miraflores

Jaime Pesaque opened Mayta in 2008 and moved it to Av. Mariscal La Mar 1285 for its tenth anniversary in 2018. The name means noble land in Aymara. It was No. 39 in the world in 2025 and No. 11 in Latin America.

The ten-course Mayta Experience includes cuy with mashua and cushuro, a high-Andean algae, and Pesaque also cooks paiche, an Amazonian fish. The menu price is not published; Caretas listed the wine pairings at S/620 and S/689 and the non-alcoholic one at S/340. There is also an à la carte menu.

Cosme, San Isidro

James Berckemeyer, who cooked at Astrid y Gastón, El Celler de Can Roca and Arzak, opened Cosme in January 2015 at Av. Tudela y Varela 162 and named it after Cerro San Cosme, Lima's first working-class neighbourhood. In December it rose to No. 9 in Latin America and won the Highest Climber Award.

The cooking is Peruvian comfort food: cau cau with prawns and scallops, corn tacos with barbecue ribs, grilled sweetbreads with yellow chilli. A nine-course chef's choice tasting menu is served by reservation only; prices are not published online.

La Mar, Miraflores

Gastón Acurio opened La Mar at Av. Mariscal La Mar 770 as the flagship cevichería of his group, and it has since spawned branches from San Francisco to Dubai. Head chef Anthony Vásquez runs the kitchen, and it was No. 26 in Latin America in 2025.

It opens for lunch only, and the 2026 menu lists more than ten cebiches: the classic with pejerrey costs S/69, with the catch of the day S/86, the Marcona with sea urchin S/98 and a trio S/139. Tables can be booked on its website.

Rafael, Miraflores

Rafael Osterling, a lawyer before he was a chef, opened Rafael in 2000 in an Art Deco townhouse at Calle San Martín 300, on the same street as Maido. He now runs the kitchen with Rodrigo Alzamora, and it was No. 33 in Latin America in 2025.

The menu moves from cebiche to crab linguine and from foie gras to wok-fired prawns with rice. Prices are not published online; book by phone. Osterling's more casual El Mercado is at Av. Hipólito Unanue 203.

Astrid y Gastón, San Isidro

Gastón Acurio and Astrid Gutsche opened Astrid y Gastón in Miraflores in 1994, and it is now at Av. Paz Soldán 290 in San Isidro. It was No. 81 on the extended Latin America's 50 Best list in 2025.

The two autumn-winter 2026 tasting menus, Agasajo and Encuentro, start with a pisco sour made at the table and include Peking-style cuy; the menu does not show a price. À la carte, the cuy pekinés costs S/39 a piece, the sole cebiche S/98 and lomito saltado a lo pobre S/98. It is closed on Mondays and serves only lunch on Sundays.

Osso, San Isidro

Renzo Garibaldi studied butchery in New York and opened Osso in 2013 as a butcher's shop; the restaurant, now at Av. Santo Toribio 173, was No. 44 in Latin America in 2025. In September it opened a branch in Santiago de Chile.

The menu lists seven cuts of beef and six of pork, dry-aged, and the steak tartare made from aged tenderloin is the dish to order. Prices are not published online.

Isolina, Barranco

José del Castillo opened Isolina at Av. San Martín 101 in 2015 and named it after his mother, Isolina Vargas, who founded the restaurant La Red in 1981. It cooks the criollo repertoire in portions meant for sharing.

Lomo saltado costs S/98 to share or S/78 for one, cau cau with sangrecita S/63 or S/51, causa limeña S/58 and pan con chicharrón S/31, the last one served at weekend breakfast from 9am. A second branch is at Av. El Polo 605 in Surco.

Al Toke Pez, Miraflores

Tomás Matsufuji, known as Toshi, cooked cebiche, seafood rice and fried giant squid at a small counter in Surquillo for 14 years before moving, in August 2025, to Calle Manuel Bonilla 113. The new counter seats 12.

It opens from 11am to 5pm, Trome reported. Prices are not published online. Go early: it is a counter, and it closes at five.

Grimanesa Vargas, Miraflores

Grimanesa Vargas, who came to Lima from the Ayacucho region at 18, began grilling anticuchos at a street stand on a corner of Calle Enrique Palacios in Miraflores; her shop is now at Calle Ignacio Merino 466. After it opened she sold at least 300 portions a day, according to Gestión.

Order three skewers of beef heart with corn and potato and a chicha morada. Prices are not published, and listings rate it as a budget address. It opens in the late afternoon, Monday to Saturday.

El Chinito, central Lima

El Chinito has sold sandwiches at Jirón Chancay 894, on the corner of Zepita, since 1960, and now has 15 branches. Pan con chicharrón, fried pork with sweet potato and salsa criolla in a bread roll, is the order.

The chain does not publish its prices online. The original branch in the old centre is the one worth the trip.

Best restaurants in Lima: frequently asked questions

Which restaurant in Lima is the best in the world? Maido was named The World's Best Restaurant in June 2025, and Central held the title in 2023. Both are now in the Best of the Best and no longer ranked; of the Lima restaurants still eligible, Kjolle placed highest in 2025, at No. 9.

Does Lima have Michelin stars? No. The Michelin Guide does not rate restaurants in Peru. Its first Peruvian selection, in November 2025, awarded Keys to 14 hotels, according to Gestión.

How much does it cost to eat at the best restaurants in Lima? The tasting menus run from S/988 at Kjolle, as reported in 2025, to S/1,295 at Maido, before drinks. La Mar's cebiches cost S/69 to S/98, and Isolina's dishes S/31 to S/98.

How far ahead should I book around 4 November? Maido opens bookings two months ahead and Central and Kjolle four, so tables for the ceremony week are likely to be gone. For the counters at Al Toke Pez, Grimanesa Vargas and El Chinito, arrive early instead.

How we chose

We started from The 50's 2025 world list and from Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 with its extended 51-100 list, took ten of the 12 Lima restaurants on them, leaving out Shizen and Clon for a later update, and added four cheaper classics, a cevichería, an anticuchería, a criollo dining room and a sandwich bar, so that the best restaurants in Lima are covered at every price.

Every address, award and price was checked on 25 October 2026 against The 50's pages, the restaurants' own websites and menus and the press reports cited; older prices are dated in the text. We will update this list after the ceremony on 4 November.