We ate in the best restaurant in the world in Lima: Central

Le Central de Lima was voted the best restaurant in the world. We undertook the culinary journey from the Pacific to the Andes directed by the famous Peruvian chef Virgilio Martínez.

Susanna Petrin / ch media

4200 MASL. That’s what it says on the menu next to a dish of corn, kiwicha and sweet potato leaves. Is this the price of a dish at “Central”? No, because the Peruvian currency is the soles, abbreviated to SOL; 4200 soles would correspond to approximately 985 francs. It would be expensive for one of fourteen dishes on a tasting menu, even in the best restaurant in the world – and Central in Lima has that title. For several years, gastronomic critics have ranked it at the top of the 50 best restaurants in the world.

4200 MASL means 4200 meters above sea level. In 2012, the chef of Central, Virgilio Martínez, had the idea of ​​adapting his Peruvian cuisine according to the different degrees of altitude and therefore the ecosystems. His reasoning: at the same altitude, plants and animals should also provide an interesting symbiosis in terms of taste. “From the bottom of the sea to the top of the mountains, we want to present Peru vertically,” he says in the award-winning Netflix series Chef’s Table.

Tasting at different altitudes

In Switzerland, a cook would have difficulty finding usable ingredients at 4,200 meters above sea level. But Virgilio Martínez is lucky to live in one of the richest and most diverse countries in the world. In Peru, all kinds of plants, animals – and even people – still thrive at more than 5,000 meters above sea level. For millennia, farmers have been grazing their alpacas up to the highest altitudes of the Andes. They grow corn, quinoa, amaranth, tomatoes, potatoes and all kinds of other tubers. It is said that there are 3,500 varieties of edible potatoes and 600 varieties of corn in Peru. But Peru doesn’t just have mountains, it also has the Pacific Ocean, the coast, the desert, the rainforest and the cloud forest. The country is home to 28 of the world’s 32 climatic zones.

At Central, it is therefore a question of literally going beyond culinary boundaries. The tasting menu fluctuates between fifteen meters below sea level and 4200 meters above sea level – a taste journey full of ups and downs. Most tastes and consistencies are new, some really require a period of adaptation.

The best chef in the world shows his customers all the colors. He wants them to taste the real Peru, the earthy tubers of the Andes, the warm sea currents of the Pacific, the black rocks in the surf, the fruity and humid taste of the Amazon. The emerald-hued algae that Martínez found in Andean mountain streams look like marbles. The top layer of a shrimp dish is colored black by charred and pulverized squid skin. Spirulina algae adorn a bright blue dish. The sea urchin has a harsh sea taste, the yacon tuber syrup is sweet. The chef himself comes to the table to serve this honey-like liquid in one of the small hand-made pots to accompany a flying potato (papa voladora). We are now at 1350 meters above sea level, in a high altitude rainforest.

Is it still cooking or already alchemy, or even art? The restaurant includes a research center called Mater Iniciativa. His team explores the country in search of potential new foods to discover their edibility and potential. Researchers work closely with the local population, usually indigenous. Virgilio Martínez and his sister Malena, the scientist who heads this center, traveled around Peru for several years, living, cooking and working with local people.

_{Permanent assault on all taste buds}

Before being able to rediscover his country in this way, Martínez had to leave it. The Peru he grew up in was not a safe place. The attacks by the far-left group “Shining Path” were fought by an army only slightly less ruthless. Virgilio wanted to leave. He found work abroad as a kitchen helper, then as a cook. He thus traveled around the world, especially in Japan. And the cuisine of this country had a profound impact on him.

Ten years later he returned, ready to establish himself as a cook in his own country, now somewhat peaceful. He started in the traditional way, but was quick to experiment. It was too much for his chef, and Martínez opened his first establishment.

When customers told him they felt like they were in a great restaurant in New York or Tokyo, he didn’t take it as a compliment, quite the contrary. He wanted them to feel like they were in Peru. He took a sabbatical to travel for a year, this time through his own country. He then embarked on a new and daring path. Now 46 years old, he owns several restaurants. His wife, Pía León, was also voted best female chef in 2021 with her own establishment.

Half of the ingredients on Central’s menu are unknown to ordinary tourists – and even Peruvians. The fourteen-course menu is a veritable explosion of flavors, a constant attack on every taste bud. They are served in bowls and plates handmade by local artists using traditional pottery techniques. The cutlery is also hand carved or molded, the menu is presented on homemade paper and the decoration is made from plants and organic materials.

_{A Swiss woman offers a special cocoa experience}

It was the dessert that struck us the most: chocolate. But at Virgilio Martínez, it’s not just an ordinary chocolate mousse. He uses a whole range of techniques, from smoking to fermentation to infusion. Unusual parts of the cocoa fruit, such as the shell and pulp, are also incorporated. Because the seeds, which are roasted and transformed into chocolate, only represent 15% of the fruit. Martínez even hired his own cocoa research team, headed by Swiss Mimi Hengelhaupt, who studies everything related to cocoa and similar species of cocoa. Theobroma.

The cocoa dessert brings together a good selection of these chocolate experiences. It is at this point at the latest that each customer achieves what Virgilio Martinez wants to offer them during a visit to his establishment for around 400 francs: transcendence. (aargauerzeitung.ch)

Translated and adapted from German by Léa Krejci