After watching an episode of Chef's Table featuring Central, we were quite excited to visit and booked a reservation for our last night in Lima, Peru.
The venue is new - they recently moved from Mira Flores to Barranco where they now have 3 separate spaces: a bar, the Central main dining room, and a new restaurant upstairs opened by the Executive Chef's wife.
We ordered the 16 course tasting menu with the non-alcoholic wine pairing. The meal for four people was roughly $1,000 USD (including gratuity). We appreciate how the Chef tries to highlight Peruvian ingredients and everything was plated beautifully, however, the food also needs to be satisfying and we universally agreed that this was the most disappointing meal of our trip. Service was clunky with a number of missteps throughout the meal (incorrect courses served, mistakes with our pairing....etc). Also, the venue has no heat which made us uncomfortable during the meal which added to our eagerness to wrap up the 3.5 hour meal as quickly as possible. There were a couple stars during our dinner....but felt the majority of the plates compromised beauty over taste and for that reason alone, I left quite disappointed with the overall experience.
Nevertheless, we had a great time with friends and at least we walked away with a memorable experience of the current World's Best Restaurant (rated #6).
 |
| Entrance |
 |
| Clean and beautiful chef's area |
 |
| Menu for the evening |
 |
"RED ROCKS pure Percebe Clams - 10M"
Exquisite bite - the star of the night; clam filled with a sweet fruit nectar that was unexpected and wonderfully executed |
 |
"EDGE OF THE DESSERT Sargassum Huarango Cactus 180M"
Uni was the star here and very good |
 |
"DARK PURPLE ROOT Mashwa Duck Chichira Leaves 2450M"
Duck tartar served with dehydrated egg. If you like gamey meat, then this is the dish for you. |
 |
"FORREST COTTON Ice Cream BeansUngurahu Arapaima 106M"
This root vegetable served two ways tasted just like unseasoned, fluffy bread. |
 |
| "JUNGLE HIGHLANDS Copoazu Dale-Dale Tree Tomato 1890M" |
 |
"OCEAN FLOOR Scallop Sweet Cucumber Seaweed 25M"
|
|
 |
"COASTAL FOOTHILLS Oca Tumbo Lupinus 450M"
|
|
 |
| "HIGH VALLEY Avocado Kaniwa River Shrimp 2800M" |
 |
"PLANT DYES OF MORAY Tubers Clay Ch'Illka 4050M"
a.k.a. Two small, really dry potatoes |
 |
"AMAZONIAN WATERS Piranha Araza Yuca Root 120M" |
 |
| "JUNGLE PLAINS Churo Cecina Bellaco Plantain 165M" |
 |
| "DEEP SEA CORAL Octopus Squid Sea Lettuce -5M" |
 |
| "ANDEAN SLOPES Goat Olluco Cabuya 3300M" |
 |
| "AMBER WOODS Yacon Root Wrinkled Lemon Coffee 250M" |
 |
| "MOUNTAIN RAIN Cacao Chaco Clay Coco Leaves 2100M" |
 |
| "MIL MEDICINALS Congona Cushuro Qolle 3680M" |
