We had one night for dinner in Lima at the beginning of our week long stay in Peru and we knew month ahead where we wanted to go. CENTRAL is considered the top dining spot in South America and one of the top rated restaurants on earth! We headed there and we fell in love as we were escorted through the magnificent garden past a table with all kinds of ingredients that were explained to us(and were included in the meal) to a small private dining room where our wonderful server, Jesus, asked about of dining preferences and needs and we settled in for one of the most fascinating and exiting dining experiences ever! the space was elegant with fine linens and top quality crystal(Italesse & Riedel), but very sparsely decorated. Any decoration in the dining rooms was food itslef!
I was happy that the menu was brought to us and it is called MUNDO MATER and offers 14 courses each from a different region of Peru that Chef Virgilio Martinez curates down to each and every ingredient. The menu read several ingredients, the altitude and region and you really do TASTE every corner of Peru in this magnificent journey.
We made sure that Sam would be accommodated with a vegetarian menu and it was no less exciting and he declared it one of the best fine dining experiences of his life; we agreed.
We decided to take the wine pairings as well and I will try to keep a clear concise record and relay this fabulous dining experience and journey as best I can. I am using a course numbering system to keep it a bit clearer as well. Remember that many photos are on my Facebook page!
1)Black Rocks (10 meters below sea level):Yuyo Seaweed, Clams, Squid
The Black rocks were "Spheres" of crab and Charella(a white fish) had clam emulsion in a ceviche like preparation with Squid crackers. It was paired with Mauzvac 2017 sparkling wine from Domaine Plageolets
2)Dry Valley(55 meters above sea level): Shrimp, Loche Squash, Avocado was a Crawfish alone and an amazing squash with ash on top all paired with a Rainer Wess Gruner Veltliner from Austria
3)Upper Jungle(1350 meters above sea level):Cocona, Papa Voladora, Yacon
The cocona was presented at the table first and while a fruit, it looks like a giant mushroom turned to stone. A bread was made from the heart of the fruit and a yogurt with yacon was for dipping. The cocona skins were combined with cheese and made another dipping delight. More Gruner Veltliner arrived.
4)Extreme Altitude(4200 meter above sea level):Corns, Kiwichas, Sweet Potato Leaf
was paired with Tatty Bogler Pinot Noir 2016 from Waitaki, North Otago which was one of the best Pinot Noirs ever(yes!!) with an intense nose, forward fruit and a feel of very hi alcohol in the mouth, despite it not being the reallity.
White corn was served with purple kiwicha(cereal) and mashua as well as quinoa(yellow) and a green sweet potato leaf!!
5)Murike Grouper had a fried crispy beer dough topping with artichokes, capers and peas--easily the best grouper ever and was paired with Jurancon Sec Vitatge Vielh(old vines) from Jean-Bernard Larrieu 2017.
6)Amazon Connection(148 meters above sea level):Cecina, Arapiama, Yuca
the pork air-dried cecina was salted and served with the famous huge Arapaima fish of the Amazon with turmeric and fish salt. The Jurancon Sec continued.
7)Sea Ground(0 meters): Scallops, Sargasso,Cucumber
Scallops were raw with with coral and emulsion with sargasso seaweed and pickled cucumber--a dream dish indeed, paired with Fita preta 2019 from Antonia Macanita, a funky wine that was not our favorite.
8)Octopus was in a broth with onion, seaweed, chamomille, quinoa, leaves and sea lettuce and was paired with Vajra Nebbiolo 2020, a very young wine I am familiar with and found odd with octopus, but it worked. The real shock was that a young guy in dirty pants served the dish and then we realized this was Chef Virgilio himself..HOW EMBARRASED I was not to recognize him; he looks like a twenty-something year old and hard to believe he has created the greatest food empire in South American cuisine!!
9)Mil Cento(3750 meters above sea level): Native Potato, Chaco Clay, Altitude Leaves
The chaco clay was brought with the potatoes(camutello) and it was explained how they are roasted with herbs and served with a dipping sauce of uchucuta(herbs) cream. OMG--you will never have a baked potato in the US again and not think how awesome this was. The Nebbiolo was really great with this as well.
10)Amazonian Water (190 meters above sea level):Pacu, Watermelon, Coca Leaf
Pacu is like Pirana fish and is served with Lulo juice, watermelon, lime, awesome spices with a kick and it resembled ceviche. The wine was an Orahovica Silvanac Zeleni(Croatian Silvaner)--that's as out of the way as it gets!!
11)Pork Belly came with fermented carrot, tentacle mushroom(you have to see the Facebook picture) and popcorn in an out of this preparation paired with Vina Bosconia 2008 Rioja which was to die for....you know I love my aged wines and this a pairing that I will never forget.
12)Forest(Loma) (810 meters above sea level): Goat's Neck, Diverse Roots, Tomato
So our adorable server Jesus brought the goat neck to the table and then served this dish with the same 2008 Rioja I was in love with (no complaints there). It was tasty and had beets and that is all I can remember and glean from my notes.
13)Sacred Valley(2700 meters above sea level):Cabuya, Chirimoya, Muna
The dish was the ashes of cabuya(agave) with chirmoya(fruit) and muna(mint) .It was a crunchy cookie delight paired with a dry Riesling from the Moselle 2018 Markus Molitor (Ockfener Bockstein Spatlese)--not my favorite dessert wine, but great with the chocolate,
14)Cacao Cruncho (1800 meters above sea level):Mucilage, Seeds, Shells was the final course of our journey with a hot cocoa infusion and a fluffy cake paired with sauces that we could have fun with mixing up how we prepared it ourselves, We adored the paired Mistela a Peruvian wine fortified with Pisco that was akin to Madeira. I had extra and we all left thrilled that we finally got to Central after trying to plan a visit 4 years earlier that got thwarted by a flight delay and closed airports. WE MADE IT...and if we return to Lima, we will return again for sure for this insane UMAMI experince.
