From the Notebook

Lima is the city where the food world's axis quietly shifted. Maido — a Nikkei restaurant on a Miraflores side street — claimed the #1 spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Central and Astrid y Gastón have held top-ten positions for years. This is not a coincidence: Lima is arguably the most extraordinary food city on earth right now, built on a foundation that took five centuries to assemble.

The reason starts with geography. Peru is one of very few countries with three radically different ecosystems — Pacific coast, Andean highlands, and Amazon basin — each with ingredients found nowhere else. Then came the people: Spanish colonists, enslaved Africans, Japanese Meiji-era migrants, Chinese indentured labourers after abolition, Italian settlers. Each wave left a kitchen behind. Ceviche is Indigenous Andean technique meeting Spanish lime. Lomo saltado is an Andean stir-fry cooked in a Chinese wok with soy sauce. Tiradito is Peruvian fish prepared like Japanese sashimi. The food is the history.

One practical note worth knowing: Lima sits at sea level but the leche de tigre in your ceviche will contain ají amarillo — a yellow chilli that looks mild and tastes bright. It has a slow heat. The first bowl is usually fine. The third bowl in one afternoon is when most visitors notice something has changed.