Lima, Peru

Astrid y GastónA courtyard under trees, ringed by white arcades

Through an arcade off the street, tables sit under trees with strings of bulbs and bunting above them. The kitchen runs open along one side, and the cooking draws on produce from across Peru.

The restaurant stands at 290 Avenida Paz Soldán in San Isidro, in a house called Casa Moreyra, its door a few steps up from the street.

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PlaceSan Isidro, Lima

StyleA la carte and tasting

KitchenGastón Acurio, Astrid Gutsche

Opened1994

Where the two of them began

Lima, Peru — Contemporary Peruvian cooking.

In 1994 Gastón Acurio and his wife Astrid Gutsche came back to Lima after studying cooking in Paris and opened in an old house in Miraflores. The restaurant later moved to Casa Moreyra in San Isidro, a house whose records of celebrations reach back to Peruvian independence. The two had met in that city, and came home with the same thing in mind: a restaurant of their own.

Tables stand in the courtyard under trees, a ring of white arcades around them, strings of bulbs and paper bunting overhead. The kitchen is open along one side: cooks in white behind the counter, a row of stainless containers in front of them, a wall of patterned tile behind.

Most of the menu is à la carte, with one tasting menu alongside it, and desserts, wine and drinks listed separately. The carte is replaced every season; the edition now printed is marked spring-summer 2027.

The open kitchen: a row of cooks in white jackets and dark aprons plating at the stoves, stainless containers and sauce bottles along the counter, a run of copper-shaded lamps above, an orange-red patterned tile wall behind — Cooks plating against a wall of patterned tile

A still life: a brightly striped woven basket holding bread, thin breadsticks and small purple rolls, two pats of butter and a knife on a white dish to the right, against a beige background — A woven basket of bread beside two butters

A private room: a long wooden table with off-white upholstered chairs, a bunch of flowers and several wine glasses at its centre, a gold radiating panel on the wall, an open wooden door to the right

The wall that radiates

The private rooms are split three ways by size: San Isidro up to ten, Salón de los Espejos up to twenty, Gran Salón Rosado up to fifty. In this one a long wooden table is ringed with off-white upholstered chairs, flowers at its centre, a gold radiating panel on the wall spreading light out from its middle.

The entrance hall: a stone-faced counter in front of a wood-panelled wall with two people standing behind it, a carved wooden door with a four-petal flower pattern at the centre, a patterned carpet on the floor

The two behind the counter

The entrance opens onto a dark wooden wall. The counter is cut from stone in vertical stripes and two people stand behind it talking, and on the wooden door facing them a four-petal flower repeats from the bottom edge to the top.

Inside the shop: walls painted a waxy yellow with green beams crossing under a white ceiling, wooden shelves holding gift boxes and tins in their compartments, a lit glass case of chocolate in front

Yellow walls, green beams

Green-painted beams cross under a white ceiling and the walls are painted a waxy yellow. Lit wooden shelves hold gift boxes and tins in their compartments, and the glass case in front carries chocolate from De Astrid.

The exterior at night: rows of white arcades running one behind another, the facade washed with light, a flight of steps down to paving at the centre, shrubs and red flowers planted to each side

Route

Out of the courtyard, into the street

A meal here takes either the middle of the day or the evening and leaves the rest of it free. The door opens onto a flight of steps down to the street, with cars parked on the open ground below.

The menu follows the produce

The official site puts its position on the front page: produce gathered from across Peru, and everything learned along the way put back into the cooking; respect for history, with room left for invention. On the plate that reads as Cuy Pekinés, guinea pig cooked the way Peking duck is, served with a rocoto seafood sauce and a purple corn crepe.

Conchitas Cantuarias takes its name straight from the street the old restaurant stood on, and is ordered by the piece. Chinese and Amazonian cooking sit side by side on the carte: a crab written as chifa amazónico, a prawn made into Hakaos de chupe under a Sichuan-style chupe sauce. The carte changes once a season.

How the tasting menu runs

The tasting menu is called Menú Agasajo, and this season's edition is given to Lima's mix and to what is in season. It opens with a pisco sour mixed at the table rather than poured before anyone sits down.

After that come six small bites, shellfish, a winter fish, then kid goat from Piura, and a close on dessert. Dish names are rearranged each season, but the order runs roughly this way.

Also worth knowing

How to reach the events desk, how many the garden takes, and where the kitchen will go.

Private hire and events

The events page carries a second number: (+51) 959 844 946.

The garden

The open garden takes between twenty-five and a hundred people. The house chapel stands beside it, and private religious ceremonies can be held there.

Leche de tigre

Leche de tigre is the sour juice Peruvian fish is cured in. Three courses come in a row partway through the tasting menu, each built on a different main ingredient.

Desserts on their own page

Desserts are not printed with the savoury courses but listed apart as Los postres de Astrid. The tasting menu closes on El dulce Edén and a box of chocolates.

The kitchen travels

The events page lists one more thing: the kitchen can be moved to a guest's own venue and cook there for an evening.

The whole house

The house can be taken in full for weddings, parties or company events, up to three hundred people, subject to the restaurant's calendar.

Putting a meal here into a trip

A courtyard, a carta that turns with the season, one tasting menu, and a house with three rooms for groups.

Cuisine

Contemporary Peruvian. A la carte is the main route, with one tasting menu, Menú Agasajo, running alongside it.

Booking

Online through astridygaston.mesa247.pe, or by telephone on 01 4422777. The events desk is reached on a separate number.

Hours

Tuesday to Saturday, lunch and dinner. Sunday lunch only, with the evening free. Closed on Mondays.

Dress and diet

No dress code is listed on the official site. Anything the kitchen should know about diet is best raised with the restaurant when booking.

Plan this into a journey

Tell us the dates and who is travelling, and we can talk through where a courtyard lunch fits into a week in Lima.

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