PeruvifyComing soonThe catalog, ranked by chase
Written by the Peruvify team in Lima, from the catalog of 205 dishes, drinks, desserts and fruits. Last updated .
The best food in Peru is not one plate. Ceviche is the one almost every visitor should eat, at lunch, and then the country splits. The Peruvify catalog marks 85 items common, 81 rare, 34 epic and 5 legendary. Start with the common ones you can get this week. Spend the rare days on a city that cooks something Lima does not.
Three filters, applied in order. The dish is eaten widely enough that a visitor can find it without a private guide. Or it belongs to one place so clearly that the trip is the reason to order it. Or the catalog already marks it epic or legendary, which means you will not trip over it in a food court.
This is not a ranking of restaurants, and it is not a claim that Peruvify is the best app for anything. The rarity words are the same ones the game uses. A common dish is a common catch. A legendary dish is a catch most players will not log.
If the menu has them, you are in the right country. The seven-dish short list overlaps this group on purpose.
CommonCoast (Costa)
Lunch, not late dinner. A full room is the freshness test. UNESCO listed the practices around making and eating ceviche in 2023.
Raw fish cured in lime with chili and red onion.
Ingredients: Fish, Lime, Ají limo, Red onion, Sweet potato, Corn.
CommonCoast (Costa)
Beef, tomato, onion and fries from a wok, rice on the side. This is the plate that shows Chinese technique inside a criollo lunch.
Wok-fried beef with tomato, onion and fries.
Ingredients: Beef, Tomato, Red onion, Soy sauce, Potato, Rice.
CommonCoast (Costa)
Shredded chicken in a yellow chili sauce. Mild, nutty, and the safe order when someone at the table does not want a dare.
Creamy shredded chicken in yellow chili sauce.
Ingredients: Chicken, Ají amarillo, Bread, Milk, Pecans, Rice.
CommonCoast (Costa)
Rotisserie chicken with fries and a green ají sauce. In Lima this is a normal dinner, not a special occasion.
Rotisserie chicken with fries and green sauce.
Ingredients: Chicken, Potato, Ají, Salad.
CommonAndes (Sierra)
Potatoes under cheese and ají amarillo. The catalog recipe has no meat. It shows up far from Huancayo, including on Lima menus.
Potatoes in creamy cheese and yellow chili sauce.
Ingredients: Potato, Ají amarillo, Fresh cheese, Milk, Egg.
CommonCoast (Costa)
Grilled beef heart on a stick, usually at night. Skip it if offal is a no. Do not let anyone tell you it is a sausage.
Grilled beef heart skewers.
Ingredients: Beef heart, Ají panca, Potato, Corn.
These are still findable. They are just bad reasons to stay in the same neighborhood.
EpicAndes (Sierra)
Arequipa. River shrimp, potato, milk, egg and corn in one bowl. Order it when you are actually hungry.
Arequipa's river shrimp chowder.
Ingredients: Shrimp, Potato, Milk, Egg, Corn.
EpicCoast (Costa)
Black clams from Tumbes, on the far north coast. Darker and saltier than the white-fish ceviche in Lima.
Black clam ceviche from Tumbes.
Ingredients: Black clams, Lime, Red onion, Ají limo.
EpicCoast (Costa)
Dried guitarfish from Lambayeque, cured again in lime. A northern chew, not a Miraflores lunch.
Dried guitarfish ceviche from Lambayeque.
Ingredients: Dried fish, Lime, Red onion, Yuca.
CommonAmazon (Selva)
Amazon. Rice and chicken steamed in a bijao leaf. Sunday is the day people buy it.
Rice and chicken wrapped in bijao leaves.
Ingredients: Rice, Chicken, Egg, Olives, Bijao leaf.
EpicAmazon (Selva)
Grilled paiche, a huge Amazon fish. On restaurant menus it is often farmed, which is the version you should expect.
Grilled paiche, giant Amazon fish.
Ingredients: Paiche, Plantain, Yuca.
The catalog has 5 legendary items. None of them is a dare you owe anyone.
LegendaryAndes (Sierra)
Meats and potatoes cooked in a pit of hot stones. You eat pachamanca in the Andes, often with a group, not as a solo snack.
Meats and tubers cooked underground on hot stones.
Ingredients: Pork, Lamb, Potato, Sweet potato, Huacatay, Fava beans.
LegendaryAndes (Sierra)
Cusco at Corpus Christi. A cold platter of guinea pig, chicken, fish roe, seaweed and corn. It is seasonal, so a random Tuesday will not have it.
Cusco's Corpus Christi cold feast.
Ingredients: Guinea pig, Chicken, Seaweed, Fish roe, Corn.
LegendaryAndes (Sierra)
Guinea pig in a red sauce, associated with Ayacucho. If you do not want cuy, say so. It is not chicken.
Ayacucho red guinea pig stew.
Ingredients: Guinea pig, Ají panca, Potato.
LegendaryAmazon (Selva)
Grilled palm grub from the Amazon. It is legendary because almost nobody orders it twice, not because a trip fails without it.
Grilled palm grubs, the bravest Amazon bite.
Ingredients: Palm grub, Salt.
LegendaryAmazon (Selva)
Paca roasted in a barrel, a jungle mammal. You will not see it on a standard hotel menu. When a place serves it, they will say so.
Barrel-roasted paca, a jungle delicacy.
Ingredients: Paca, Plantain, Yuca.
Ceviche is the plate the country treats as its flag. In 2023 UNESCO inscribed the practices around preparing and eating it. You should still eat lomo saltado and ají de gallina. A single national dish is a slogan, not a menu.
Rocoto relleno. The pepper is hotter than the yellow ají in most Lima sauces. Arequipa cooks it stuffed with beef and cheese. Ask for less heat if you need to, and read the Arequipa guide before you act brave.
Ceviche at lunch on day one, if you are on the coast. If you landed in Cusco, eat soup and choclo with cheese first and save the heavy meals for when your head is clear.
No. Cuy is guinea pig, and it is ordinary food in the Andes. It is also fine to skip. The potato dishes, the corn and the soups are not a consolation prize. They are the cuisine.