The local cusine is a highlight of any trip to Peru - assuming you like potatoes, which I do! While in Lima we ate at a couple of good restaurants. Located in a converted townhouse in Miraflores, Fiesta specialises in north Peruvian cuisine (they refer to themselves as Chiclayo gourmets). Before starting our selected dishes, we were brought a complimentary little pastry spiced meat starter - very nice. We shared an excellent seafood causa (potato salad) for entree. Then a slightly too salty roast goat and a fish dish for mains. All the food was very good.
The decor is subdued and the lighting dim, but bright enough to see our food fine (the lights were turned up during courses and down inbetween). Service was attentive without being overwhelming. This was despite the large number of staff. We visited on a Monday night and only a handful of the many tables were taken. Yet, there were two doormen, at least 4 waiters, a sommelier and then the kitchen staff. The whole meal, including drinks, worked out to around S250 (which is around £50). Excellent value by London standards, but still the most expensive meal we had in Peru by some distance. Worth a visit if you are in Lima.
El Punto Azul (Spanish language website) is another restaurant in Miraflores. It is only open for lunches from 12pm-4pm, Tuesday-Sunday. It is very popular and queues start forming soon after it opens. On our third attempt and arriving just 10 minutes after it opened, we got one of the last tables available. The menu is largely seafood based. We had a seafood soup and the classic ceviche (lime cooked fish). It was very nice, but way too much. It turns out that most of the menu is for sharing among larger groups, not a single person! We were overwhelmed with a mountain of fish. Worth a visit as the food is delicious, but take a Spanish speaker to decode the menu or be careful how much you inadvertently order. The bill amounted to under S50/£10.
