This week, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants releases a new mini-documentary series, 50 Best Explores Peru, featuring local chefs from Pía León to Pedro Miguel Schiaffino and international guests from Ana Ros to Daniela Soto-Innes.
Over four episodes, four international chefs visit four different parts of Peru, accompanied by established and up-and-coming local cooks, to discover a side of Peruvian gastronomy that goes way beyond ceviche.
Watch the trailer:
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Episode 1 – The North
Daniela Soto-Innes, partner and chef at Cosme in New York, joins José del Castillo of Isolina and young chef Francesca Ferreyros of IK Restaurante, both in Lima, on a journey to Tumbes on the north coast of Peru. There they discover sustainable fishing techniques and the labour-intensive process of extracting black clams, the seasonal seafood delicacy so beloved by Peruvians.
Episode 2 – The Amazon
Jock Zonfrillo, the Adelaide chef who runs the Orana Foundation working with indigenous Australians, and winner of the 2018 Basque Culinary World Prize, joins Peruvian cooks Pedro Miguel Schiaffino of Ámaz and Malabar and Matías Cilloniz of Mó Bistro on a trip to the Amazon jungle. There, the chefs stay with an indigenous community and learn about the process of making black yucca paste, or ají negro, from poisonous yucca plants. The group also visits the Mercado de Belén, one of the largest and most exotic fresh food markets in the world.
Episode 3 – The Andes
James Lowe of London restaurant Lyle’s, No.38 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2018 list, embarks on a whirlwind trip of the Peruvian Andes with Lima-based chefs André Patsias of restaurant Statera and Diego Muñoz, former head chef of Astrid y Gastón. After discovering ancient Inca traditions at Machu Picchu and Moray, the group travels south from Cuzco across the Andes aboard the Belmond Andean Explorer luxury train, taking in breath-taking scenery and tasting Muñoz’s creative cuisine aboard the locomotive.
Episode 4 – The Valley
The World’s Best Female Chef 2017, Ana Roš of Hiša Franko in Slovenia, travels across the world to explore Arequipa and the volcano valley in the south of Peru. Guided by chefs Pía León of Kjolle and Central, and Arlette Eulert of Matria in Lima, Roš tastes alternative meats from alpaca to guinea pig and discovers the time-honoured traditions behind the preparation of chicha, as well as the history of the traditional restaurants called picanterías.
Header images: Ana Ros, James Lowe, Daniela Soto-Innes, Jock Zonfrillo
Stay tuned to 50 Best's Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for the full series of articles and videos for 50 Best Explores Peru, in partnership with PromPeru.
