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Every year, the UK media company William Reed has an uphill challenge to not only evaluate restaurants and chefs around the world, but also release their much-anticipated World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. This year, in a ceremony held at Valencia, Spain, the organization announced the list of World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023. This is the 21st edition of the list and featured restaurants across five continent and included 12 new entries.
And the winner this year was Central, a plush Peruvian restaurant in Lima, which replaced Copenhagen’s Geranium, the winner in 2022. Helmed by partners Virgilio Martinez and Pia Leon, Central boasts of a modern Peruvian menu that takes its diners through the South American nation’s rich culinary heritage and prized ingredients. Here is everything you need to know about the restaurant.
The Birth Of A Peruvian Icon
Also known as Central Restaurante, Central in Lima, Peru is the flagship restaurant of Peruvian chef, Virgilio Martinez, who runs the restaurant with his wife, Chef Pia Leon. Born in Lima, Martinez studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa and London and has worked in the restaurant industry for nearly two decades. In 2008, he opened Central with the intention of researching indigenous Peruvian ingredients, the culinary traditions of the country and bring them into the modern era through creative food innovations.
Leon, on the other hand, studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Lima and joined the Central team in 2008 as a member of their cold food stall. Her work was so impressive that within a week, she was made the manager of the cold foods stall. Three years later, she became the Head Chef of the restaurant, and in 2014, she married Martinez. Her work at Central also earned her the coveted position of the World’s Best Female Chef in 2021.
Together, the team of Martinez and Leon have managed to grab eyeballs and the palate of the world towards Peruvian cuisine. This duo was joined by Martinez’ sister, Malena, who runs the Mater Iniciativa, the research branch of Central. The trio travels extensively across Peru to meet producers, taste ingredients and develop new ways to serve them to diners at Central. In 2012, Central was named the Best Restaurant of Peru by their national dining guide, SUMMUM. In 2013, the restaurant earned the 50th position on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and jumped up to rank 15th the very next year. This year’s 1st position therefore comes after many years of hard work.
The Food At Central: Peru On A Plate
Peru is a land of many altitudes with each zone offering many unique ingredients and culinary traditions. The food at Central, described as Contemporary Peruvian, introduces diners to all these altitudes and ingredients found in the country, ranging from the coast to the Andes to the Amazonian rainforests. Some of the most interesting ingredients showcased by the team at Central include:
Cushuru: An edible bacteria from the wetlands of the Andes, it is known as the Caviar of the Andes.
Arracacha: An underrated root vegetable from the Andes region.
Arapaima: A freshwater fish native to the Amazon river in West Peru.
What makes the food at Central outstanding is the beautiful way the team treats not only the ingredients but also the ecosystems they come from. The menu at Central takes diners across 15 different Peruvian ecosystems categorized by altitudes through 15 plates of impeccably presented food. Each of these 15 dishes is truly representative of the ecosystems they come from because all the ingredients on each plate are sourced from each region. Sustainable and holistic, the Peruvian fare at Central is an impressive contemporary representation of the nation’s food.
Central’s current location is in a spacious building in Casa Tupac, which is Martinez and Leon’s family home. Located in the Barranco neighbourhood of Lima, Casa Tupac not only houses Central but also Leon’s solo restaurant, Kjolle. The couple have now become global ambassadors of Peruvian cuisine with multiple restaurants across the world, including the Michelin-starred Lima in London, Olluco in Moscow and Maz in Tokyo.
