The Best Restaurant in the World Is Central in Lima

[Judi Lynn]

Kate Krader and Will Farley, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- The best restaurant in the world is Central, in Lima. The dynamic tasting menu restaurant from chef Virgilio Martinez features ingredients from Peru’s diverse landscape and notes the latitude of each dish, from potatoes sourced at the heights of the Andes mountains to sea urchin from the ocean.

The pronouncement from World’s 50 Best, an independent organization, moved the restaurant world’s epicenter away from Copenhagen, which had claimed the top spot for the last two years: In 2022 with Geranium, an ambitious Scandi restaurant whose home is a football station. The year before, it was the reincarnated Noma, which had won the No. 1 ranking five times.

It was a very good night for Lima: The Peruvian capital had four spots on the top 50 list, including two in the top 10. Maido came in at No. 6; Kjolle was No. 28, and Mayta No. 47. Likewise, Spain—the country that hosted this year’s awards, in Valencia—had reason to celebrate: Six restaurants in the country made the top 50 list, including Disfrutar at No. 2. The Barcelona restaurant is run by chefs Oriol Castro, Mateu Casañas and Eduard Xatruch, who are all alumni of the famed El Bulli restaurant.

. . .

Central’s Martinez credits World’s 50 Best for building a Latin American community of chefs over the past few years. “We were having all these Latin American celebrations in Merida, Buenos Aires and Lima, so we started to get to know each other and now we are sharing our love,” he said in an exclusive first interview with Bloomberg following his win. “It’s hard to articulate about all these beautiful cultures, all this complexity that makes the colors of Latin America.”

More:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/the-best-restaurant-in-the-world-is-central-in-lima-1.1935745

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Footage reveals what it's like to dine at the restaurant named as the world's best, with tree-growing potatoes served with a dip, wine poured from clay bottles... and a PIRANHA course

By TED THORNHILL, MAILONLINE TRAVEL EDITOR

UPDATED: 10:33 EDT, 25 June 2023

'Central' restaurant in Lima, Peru, has earned the title of the World's Best Restaurant 2023 – and incredible new YouTube footage reveals what it's like to dine there.

It was shot by Alexander Varga, the co-owner of one-Michelin-starred restaurant '42' in Esztergom, Hungary, who describes eating at Central, which is set in a beautiful botanic garden, as 'an adventure that will warm your soul'.

Central doesn't have a Michelin star - its inspectors don't cover Peru - but Alexander has eaten at over 50 three-star restaurants and tells MailOnline Travel that it 'certainly deserves the title of world's best'. So, if they ever get there, three stars could well be on the cards.

Alexander's fascinating video explains that the philosophy of Central's chefs - Virgilio Martinez and wife Pia Leon - is to present courses that each showcase a Peruvian ecosystem at a specific altitude.

'The menu is really something to marvel at,' Alexander says.

. . .

More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-12223133/Inside-restaurant-Peru-named-worlds-best.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Inside The Newly Anointed Best Restaurant In The World

BY ELISE TAYLOR

22 June



Gustavo Vivanco Leon

There are plenty of good restaurants in the world, and even many great ones. But there’s only one that can now claim the title of “the best”: Central. On Tuesday, the Lima, Peru, establishment was officially named the number one restaurant in the world by The World’s 50 Best organisation – an authoritative body of 1,080 culinary experts. What put it at the top? Its 17-course tasting menu focused on indigenous ingredients sourced from the Amazon rainforest, the Andean Highlands, and the Peruvian coastline.

Dishes at Central can feature everything from native staple crops like corn and sweet potato, to tropical fruits like copoazu, to sometimes even piranha fish. “We worked hard to create our own interpretations of the ecosystems of Peru,” chef Virgilio Martínez says, who runs Central along with his wife, Pía Leon. (Leon was awarded Latin America’s Best Female Chef in 2018 and runs Central’s sister restaurant, Kjolle.)

Their food is, yes, delicious, but also pushes the boundaries of the culinary arts. First, in its use of high-altitude cooking: “We offer dishes from the extreme altitudes of Peru, dishes we prepare at 3,650 metres above sea level,” Martínez explains. “For these dishes, we gather ingredients that we harvest from our farms at this altitude, and that we forage from areas 4,000 metres above sea level, to create our interpretation of those places.”



Then, there’s their commitment to showcasing biodiversity. “There are also dishes that represent the preservation of a few ingredients,” Martínez explains. “We offer a dish that represents the harvest of different varieties of corn, or the different varieties of quinoa and other pseudo-cereals. Or we may present a dish showcasing the special and unique vegetables from the altitudes of the cordillera from the Andes, or another highlighting the fishes from the Amazon ecosystems.” Martínez and Leon also have their own research centre that studies the wide variety of edible plants and fruits of Peru, as well as from across South America.

More:
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/best-restaurant-in-the-world

[Judi Lynn]

2. Lima's Central restaurant named world's best in boost for Peruvian cuisine

Lima’s Central restaurant named world’s best in boost for Peruvian cuisine
Peruvian eateries have been a fixture in top 50 list for close to a decade and now one has claimed the crown

Dan Collyns in Lima
@yachay_dc
Fri 23 Jun 2023 00.00 EDT

While Peru’s archeology heritage began in the 20th century to attract millions of tourists to locations such as Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines, the country’s cuisine remained one of South America’s best-kept secrets.

But in the last two decades, Peru’s food – a product of its rich range of crops, ecosystems and a particular history – has become a global brand, with restaurants opening in cities from San Francisco to Sydney.

Now, after years of plaudits and prizes, Central restaurant in Lima has been voted the world’s best, crowning the global conquest of Peruvian cuisine. It is the first South American restaurant to win the title, and three other Lima restaurants were in the top 50, meaning the Peruvian capital took more slots than any other city.

Central’s fine dining menu showcases Peru’s unique spread of biodiversity by taking diners through “15 different Peruvian ecosystems, categorised by altitude – from 15 metres under the Pacific Ocean to 4,200 metres up in the Andes,” according to World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/23/limas-central-restaurant-named-worlds-best-in-boost-for-peruvian-cuisine