Our first full day in Peru! Today is officially a work-day (perks of working from home most of the time) so the morning was pretty busy with work calls and emails. The hotel is perfect for our two nights in Lima. Centrally located, modern amenities (US power plugs, free wifi, etc.) but with old-world charm. Our day revolved around lunch, at the now famous, Central Restaurant. We opted for the full experience: 16 courses (24 bites) with local alcohol pairing (all from South America). The other options were for 12 courses and/or no pairing or world-of-wine pairing. The waiter recommended what we ended up getting, and it did not disappoint!
Highlights included: Razor clams served over a bed of barnacles, Sea urchin (Uni) mixed with Cactus Fruit cream, Sweet Cucumber (an Amazonian jungle fruit) served as marinated ribbons, served over scallops, and fried Piranha skins served over Piranha heads (not edible). More details to come in a follow up “Epic Meals” post, but check out our Instagram for a preview.
After lunch, we walked around the Miraflores and Barranco, just kind of aimlessly wandering. Lima isn’t a “big sights” kind of city (unlike Paris, London, NYC, etc.) so it’s nice just to take it all in. Because of the epic lunch, we opted just to have some light bites for dinner. We took an Uber to the Belmond Hotel in Miraflores (gorgeous) and had some ceviche, salad and appetizers in their lounge. After dinner, it was back to our hotel (Country Club Lima Hotel) to rest up for our early morning flight to Cusco!