The cuisine of Lima and coastal Peru

Although Lima's dining scene is cosmopolitan and ranges cuisines from all the world, it is criollo restaurants and cevicherías (traditional seafood restaurants) that best represent local cooking.

No experience in Lima -or any other coastal city- is complete without ceviche: raw fish (or shellfish) diced in 2cm cubes and marinated in lime juice and hot peppers, served with raw onions, sweet potato and corn. Ceviche (or cebiche), Peru's flag-dish, is the epitome of fusion: Inca hot peppers, Spanish limes and onions, and Japanese approach to preparing fish.

Tiradito is a subtler, younger version without onions and with fish cut pretty much like sashimi.

Another fresh dish usually served as appetizer is causa, a cold pie of mashed potatoes, spiced with hot peppers and filled with seafood. Three fusion dishes stand out among the many main courses: Creole ají de gallina, chicken stewed in a spicy milk, bread and hot peppers sauce; Chinese-inspired lomo saltado, sautéed beef and potatoes with hot peppers and soy sauce; and African tacu-tacu, an ingenious and mouth-watering dish that uses rice and leftover beans, and is usually served with fried eggs and bananas.

A last word for versatile anticuchos, that can be eaten either as appetizer, snack or main course: skewered beef heart, marinated in a hot pepper sauce and grilled.