Peru Restaurant Voted Best in the World

Lima, Peru, on April 24, 2020. Stringer/Getty Images

A restaurant in Lima, Peru has been named the best restaurant in the world by more than 1,000 restaurant industry experts, including food writers and chefs, in this year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants rankings.

Central, located in Lima’s Barranco District, was opened in 2008 by married chefs Virgilio Martínez and Pia León who had a “vision to create a fine dining experience rooted in Peruvian ingredients and cooking techniques,” according to a press release.

The menu takes diners through “15 different Peruvian ecosystems, categorized by altitude – from 15 meters under the Pacific Ocean to 4,200 meters up in the Andes,” according to the release, which notes that each of the dishes served at the restaurants reflects the origins of its ingredients.

Set menus at the restaurant cost up to 1,045 Peruvian nuevo sol per person ($287) and include ingredients like sweet potato leaf, watermelon, sea lettuce, and “altitude leaves,” according to its website.

It marks the first time a South American restaurant has earned the “World’s Best” title.

“Thanks to everyone here: peers, colleagues, and mentors; thanks to Valencia, this beautiful city, and to 50 Best,” said Martínez at the ceremony announcing the winner, which was held in Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences Spain on June 20.

“This is not about being No.1, this is not about competition or being the best, it’s about doing what we love every day, keeping on achieving our beautiful goals and just looking for the truth,” Martínez added.

Elsewhere, León’s solo restaurant, Kjolle, also made it to number 28 on the list.

Disfrutar in Barcelona scored the second spot as well as the title of Best Restaurant in Europe, followed by Diverxo in Madrid, Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain, and Alchemist in Copenhagen.

Americans Spending Less on Restaurant Dining

American restaurants didn’t rate quite so highly on this year’s list and only two made it to the top 50 overall.

Atomix in New York, a 14-seat basement restaurant located on the edge of Koreatown in Manhattan, made it to eighth place and also ranked the Best Restaurant in North America.

Fish-focused restaurant Le Bernardin, also in New York, made it to 44 on the list. The restaurant has been run by decorated chef Eric Ripert for more than 20 years.

The latest results come as data from OpenTable show that fewer Americans are dining out amid soaring inflation, with dining figures down 2 percent year on year for the week ending June 19.

“It’s not just food inflation or restaurant inflation but just inflation across the board. [It] has really started to wear on consumers’ ability to go dine out.,” R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, told Yahoo Finance in April.

However, many experts, including the National Restaurant Association, remain “cautiously optimistic” that restaurant dining foot traffic could rise this summer.

“I think operators are still hopeful for a good summer boon in foot traffic and sales ... but I think on the consumer side, they’re more hesitant,” Huy Do, research and insights manager at Datassential, a market research firm, told CNBC.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list was compiled from votes by 1,080 restaurant industry experts, representing 27 separate regions around the world, and is organized each year by UK-based media company, William Reed.

Previously Copenhagen had taken the top spot in 2022, with Geranium, and in 2021 with Noma.