Top Food Drink Destination Lima Peru

Though Lima started out as the richest and most beautiful colonial settlement in the Americas, by the 1980s and '90s it had become one of its most sprawling and disorderly cities. Travelers in a hurry to get to Cusco and Machu Picchu often landed and blitzed right past the capital. But recently this coastal city has been riding a wave of growing fame for its gustatory pleasures. Lima is now drawing a new flock of visitors who travel all the way to Peru just to eat.

Lima's cultural miscegenation -- a rich stew of Spanish, African, Chinese and Japanese -- is reflected in its culinary fusion. Limeño cuisine encompasses spicy creole dishes, Nikkei (2nd-generation Japanese), and chifa (a Peruvian twist on Chinese). The long Pacific coast is notable less for its beaches than the endless bounty of fresh seafood that makes it to markets and restaurant tables.

Lima's signature dish, ceviche, is a tangy plate of raw fish and shellfish marinated in lime juice and ajíes, or hot chile peppers. Limeños crowd lunch-only cevicherías or neighborhood holes-in-the-wall -- known locally as huariques -- like Canta Rana for their ceviche fix. Superstar chef Gastón Acurio, at La Mar, and other innovative chefs have created sleek, modern takes on tradition that are the city's gastro hotspots.

Drop into Bar Huaringas or Picas, in seaside Barranco, to sample pisco, the indigenous white-grape brandy that's the main ingredient in the pisco sour -- Peru's national cocktail. The frothy concoction, made with egg whites, is delightful, though the trend is toward mixologists pouring newfangled variations on the classic cocktail, such as a coca, maracuyá or lúcuma sour, and rosters of artisanal piscos for connoisseurs.

Neil Edward Schlecht is the author of Frommer's Peru and the forthcoming Peru Day by Day.