La Calesa

Address: Manuel Bañón 255, San Isidro
Phone: 440-5568, 441-4192
Web page:
Description:

This is a comfortable restaurant and bar that offers criollo and international dishes but it is best known for its bar. Samuel Díaz (Sammy), its barman with more than 35 years experience, is well known among pisco sour fans because he prepares one of the best pisco sours in Lima. The restaurant now has a second bar where you can find Sammy´s son. They close around midnight, so go early in order to have time to enjoy your drinks.
Price Range: Moderate
Peruvian Restaurants

Maury and Salón de los Espejos

Address:
Jr. Ucayali 201 - 217, Cercado

Phone:
428-8188, 428-3185, 428-8174

Web page:
http://ekeko2.rcp.net.pe/hotelmaury/

Description:
Hotel Maury is an old historic hotel located in downtown Lima, very close to the Plaza de Armas (Main Plaza), includes in its facilities the Salón de los Espejos Restaurant and the Maury Bar.

Salón de los Espejos is a restaurant that offers criollo, international and chifa dishes. On Fridays they have a criollo buffet.

Maury is a pretty famous bar because, according to urban legend, here the Pisco Sour was created many years ago by its barman Graciano Cabrera T. You can order a simple, double or catedral (really big and tall glass) Pisco Sour.

Price Range: Moderate to expensive.
Peruvian Restaurants

La Casa del Pisco

Address: Germán Schreiber 144, San Isidro
Phone: 440-5272, 9954-2562, 9933-4200
Web page: www.lacasadelpisco.org
Description:
This restaurant opens at lunch time and offers criollo dishes like tacu tacu, lomo saltado, seco and adobo.
On Friday nights it opens as a bar and peña criolla where you can enjoy a criollo show (live criollo music and poetry) while drinking pisco prepared in several ways. If you order Golpe Criollo (kind of a stylish version of a res) you will get a jar of pisco, another one of soda, some lemon juice, syrup and ice in order for you to prepare your own Chilcanos (see Pisco).
Price Range: Inexpensive to moderate
Peruvian Restaurants

T´anta

Address:
Pancho Fierro 117, San Isidro
Prolongacion Primavera 692, Chacarilla, Surco
Av. 28 de Julio 888, Miraflores
Pasaje Nicolás de Rivera el Viejo 142-148, Cercado
Phone:
421-9708 (San Isidro)
372-3528 (Surco)
447-8377 (Miraflores)
428-3115 (Cercado)
Web page:
Description:
This is another endeavor of Gastón Acurio, currently most renown Peruvian chef, and his wife Astrid Gutsche . The place is not easy to define, it is a mix of an upscale cafe, bistro and deli market. Here you can find the best national and foreign oils, sauces, breads and culinary delights, as well as cookbooks. It is decorated in a modern and casual style with lots of glass and windows.
In T´anta (which means bread in Quechua) you can have a light meal consisting in tapas, salads, empanadas, or sánguches (Peruvian sandwiches) or desserts, which are inspiration of Astrid and are very good. If you are in the mood for something bigger you can go for a main course and have some Peruvian traditional dishes presented in innovative ways.
Price Range: Moderate to expensive
Peruvian Restaurants

Antigua Taberna Queirolo

Address: Av. San Martín 1090, Pueblo Libre
Phone: 460-0441
Web page: antiguatabernaqueirolo.com
Description: Very old and traditional restaurant and tavern. Opened in 1880, it is located in the heart of the historic downtown of Pueblo libre. Although they offer seafood and criollo dishes like cebiches, escabeches, rocoto relleno (stuffed hot chili pepper), cau cau (stew of beef tripe and potatoes) and tamales, they are probably better known because of their sandwiches and drinks. You can get roasted pork, ham and cheese sandwiches.
They sell their own wines and Pisco (Santiago Queirolo). You can order a pisco sour, a chilcano or even a res, i.e. a whole bottle of pisco, soda (ginger ale), lemon, plenty of ice and some syrup, in order for you to prepare your own chilcanos (see Pisco).
Price Range: Inexpensive
Peruvian Restaurants

Mi Causa

Address: La Mar 814, Miraflores
Phone: 222-6258
Web page: www.micausaperu.com
Description: Small restaurant that is specialized on causa (a traditional criollo dish that usually has two layers of spicy and sour mash potatoes and some chicken, crab, tuna fish or other stuffing between them). They offer a great variety of different and innovative causas like lomo saltado, Misti, tuna tartar, among many other. They can take a while to prepare your dishes so you it is better to call previously to make your reservation and order. While waiting, they treat you with a small order of their own version of escribano (see Rocoto).
Price Range: Moderate
Peruvian Restaurants

El Bolivariano

Address: Pasaje Santa Rosa 291 (block 5 of Av. Sucre), Pueblo Libre
Phone: 261-9565, 463-6333
Web page: http://www.elbolivariano.com/
Description:
This restaurant and bar has several spacious dining rooms decorated on a old colonial style. They offer a wide variety of criollo (creole) dishes like anticuchos, causa, rocoto relleno (stuffed red hot chili pepper), chicharrones de chancho (deep fried pork), as well as traditional seafood dishes as cebiches, tiraditos and chicharrones. They have different piqueos for two, three or more people that include varieties of cold or hot dishes so you can sample a mix of different dishes and share them with your friends and family. On Sundays there is a criollo buffet where you can eat as much as you can for a fixed price.

During evenings and nights it works more as a bar and besides pisco sour, wine, beer and other drinks you can can get a res, which is a local way of serving and drinking pisco. When you order a res you get a bottle of pisco, soda (ginger ale), lemon, plenty of ice and some syrup, so you can prepare your own chilcanos (see Pisco). You can also order half a res (half a bottle of pisco).
Price Range: Moderate

Tradición Morena

Address: Av. Benavides 2392, Miraflores
Phone: 273-6666
Web page: www.tradicionmorena.com
Description: This restaurant is decorated in a traditional coast style, ressembling an old traditional hacienda from Ica . They offer criollo dishes, specially from the coast of Ica and Southern Lima (with African influence), like carapulcra, carapulcra chinchana, mancha pecho, sopa seca, pancita (tripe), chinchulines (guts) and anticuchos. They also offer traditional criollo desserts like arroz con leche, mazamorra morada, arroz zambito and picarones, as well as chicha morada as a refreshing drink.
Price Range: Moderate

Nuevo Pildorín

Address: Av. Javier Prado Oeste 583, Magdalena del Mar
Phone: 461-7303, 460-2041, 461-2980
Web page:
Description: This restaurant has big and comfortable facilities. They are located a few blocks from Av. Brasil. They offer criollo dishes as well as traditional seafood dishes like cebiches and chicharrones (deep fried seafood). They also offer Piqueo Criollo, which is a dish for four people that includes several criollo entrees (anticuchos, fried yucas, chicharrones de chancho - deep fried pork-, etc.), and Fondo Criollo, a dish for one that includes carapulcra, patita con maní, ají de gallina and cau cau. Credit cards are welcome.
Price Range: Moderate to Expensive

Cordano

Address: Jr. Ancash 202, Cercado
Phone: 427-0181
Web page:
Description:
This old and traditional bar and restaurant was opened in 1905 by Italian immigrants. It is located in the heart of downtown, in the corner of Jirón Carabaya and Jirón Ancash, a few steps away from Lima´s Main Plaza, across the street from Palacio de Pizarro (Government Palace) or Estación de Desamparados (an old train station). It is part of a very old building and the furniture and decoration are the same when it was first opened. The waiters have worked there for decades. This place is a must when visiting downtown.

It is an interesting place to have lunch and taste criollo dishes like cebiche, lomo saltado, tacu tacu, among others. You can also go for cofferr or a drink (their pisco sour is good). or have a sandwich, their butifarras (a sandwich with pork or ham, onions and lettuce) are well known. Credit cards are welcome.
Price Range: Moderate

El Rincón que no Conoces

Address: Bernardo Alcedo 363, Lince
Phone: 471-2171
Web page: elrinconquenoconoces.com
Description: This is an almost 30 years old traditional and popular criollo (creole) restaurant. Their specialty are the frejoles (beans), but you can also get arroz con pato (rice with duck) and seco de cabrito. If you are really hungry you can get the cuádruple criollo, which brings four dishes in a big plate (beans, seco de cabrito, carapulcra and cau cau). On Wednesdays they have a buffet. It is closed on Mondays and no credit cards are accepted.
Price Range: Moderate

El Cascajal

Address: Francisco Lazo 2495, Lince
Phone: 222-2251
Web page: www.elcascajal.com
Description: Restaurant that offers a good criollo buffet every day at lunch time, which includes a good variety of entrees like cebiches, tiraditos, tamales, anticuchos, rocoto relleno and others, as well as main dishes like arroz con pollo, ají de gallina, cau cau (a tripe stew), carapulcra, lomo saltado, seco de res, adobo de chancho, tacu tacu, picante de mariscos, etc. and traditional desserts like mazamorra morada, arroz con leche, crema volteada and picarones, just to mention some. After 8:00 pm it is grill time. Enjoy your lunch with criollo live music and on weekends and holidays you can also watch live traditional dances.
Price Range: Moderate

El Señorío de Sulco

Address: Malecón Cisneros 1470, Miraflores
Phone: 441-0183, 441-0389
Web page: www.senoriodesulco.com
Description: This fancy restaurant has a very nice view because of its is location at the seafront in Miraflores. The restaurant is beautifully decorated with traditional Peruvian motifs, masks and antique traditional cooking vessels hanging from the walls. They offer a great variety of criollo dishes not only from Lima but from all around the country. The Huatia Sulcana (beef stewed in a clay pot and covered with fresh aromatic herbs) deserves a special mention because this pre-Hispanic recipe is the product of the studies, recovery and preservation efforts of the owners. You can order a la carte or, if you prefer to sample the great variety of dishes they offer, you can go for the buffet at lunch time. Another great way to sample is to go for the Piqueo Marino (a mixture of seafood hot appetizers) or the Piqueo Señorío de Sulco (a mixture of tarditional criollo hot appetizers), each of them having enough food for two people.
Price Range: Expensive

Brujas de Cachiche

Address: Calle Bolognesi 460, Miraflores
Phone: 446-6536, 447-1883
Web page: www.brujasdecachiche.com.pe
Description: The menu includes classic Peruvian criollo dishes, such as ají de gallina, as well as fresh fish and shellfish and fine cuts of meat with interesting twists and unusual accompaniments.The buffet includes a great variety of traditional criollo appetizers, main dishes and desserts. The Huaringas Bar is a place where you can enjoy Pisco in several ways, like Pisco Sour, Maracuya Pisco Sour and Brujo Sour (prepared with Pisco macerated with coca leaves).
Price Range: Expensive

José Antonio

Address:
Bernardo Monteagudo 200, San Isidro
Av. La Floresta 124, San Borja
C.C. Sur Plaza Boulevard, Panamericana Sur Km 97.5, Asia
Phone:
264-3284, 264-0188 (San Isidro)
372-6782, 372-6868 (San Borja)
Web page: www.joseantonio.com.pe
Description: Probably the best and most renowned restaurant offering comida criolla. It is beautifully decorated in rustic colonial splendor with paintings of the Cusco School. Ask for the Piqueo José Antonio and you will get a sample of several traditional appetizers like anticucho (skewer of beef heart), stuffed potato, crispy yucca, corn tamale, deep fried pork, corn, and fried sweet potato. Don´t forget to accompany your food with a Pisco Sour.
Price Range: Very expensive