Cusco Restaurants and Dining

(Cusco / Cuzco, Peru)

When it comes to the world of dining, Cusco is certainly a very cosmopolitan city, with a huge range of restaurants catering well to the seasonal demands of hungry sightseeing tourists. During the high season, the very best restaurants in Cusco will likely become fully booked, so if you have a venue in mind, do book your table.

There is a plethora of restaurants littering the Plaza de Armas in central Cusco, although these really do simply target the tourist market and tend to feature fairly unimaginative dining menus, with a definite lack of Peruvian flair. A little better are the eateries found close by, around the Plateros, while if you head uphill to the San Blas neighbourhood, you will discover an exciting and rather trendy dining scene has begun to establish itself.

What to Eat

Dining out in Cusco is likely to be a very memorable part of your holiday, particularly if you decide to sample the roasted guinea pig (cuy), which is considered to be nothing short of a local delicacy. Other popular restaurant dishes include:

• Beef-heart shish kebab (anticucho de corazon)
• Corn dough filled with meat (tamales)
• Cured lamb or alpaca (chalona)
• Fried pork crackling (chicharrones)
• Locros (stews)
• Spiced pork stew (adobo)
• Suckling pig (lechon)
• Tarwi soup (crema de tarwi)

Cusco's restaurants will often suggest that you accompany your meal with a glass of the famous 'chicha', a very low-alcohol corn beer that will only serve to enhance your Peruvian dining experience. Those suffering a little from altitude problems should try a cup of coca-leaf tea (mate de coca).

Fresh fruit juice and soft drinks such as the bubble-gum flavour 'Inca Kola' will also be available. If you are heading from Cusco to Machu Picchu, you will find little in the way of dining, other than the buffet-style restaurants and bar at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, which stands at the very base of the Lost City of the Inca Empire.