The Peruvian chef, whose restaurant has been voted one of the world's best for two consecutive years, on capturing biodiversity on the plate, his foraging experiences and why it's important to reconnect with food from the soil
When he isn’t wearing his chef’s hat, Virgilio Martinez says he likes to paint. Most diners at Central—his fine-dining restaurant located in the Peruvian capital of Lima—would contend that, even in the kitchen, Martinez remains no less of an artist. His 14-course menu (which will set you back by PEN 1,590, a little over Rs35,000) represents the ecological diversities of the 14 altitudes housed within the Latin American nation—from the Pacific coast to the Andean peaks via the jungles of the Amazon. Perhaps no surprises that the restaurant, which opened its doors in 2008, has been voted as one of the world’s best for two consecutive years—Rank 2 in 2022 and Rank 1 in 2023—by the prestigious World’s 50 Best list.