City, Peruvian Restaurant Guide

“Unsurprisingly, not as flashy as the one in Marbella” – and with siblings nowadays from Montecarlo to Mykonos – the Mayfair original of Arjun Waney’s vibey Peruvian chain (motto ‘Find your inner Inca’) is still, say fans, “a great place for something different”, although even a reporter who judged its crudos, salads, skewers and grills provided their best meal of the year still thought the meal “came at an excessive price”. There’s also a new spinoff in the City, behind the Bank of England.

“Fun but fully priced” would be a fair overview of this funky fusion duo – outposts of a glossy US-based chain that started in NYC. The original is found at the top of one of West Europe’s fastest lifts, whisking you to the glamorous 38th floor of the Heron Tower (adjacent to Duck & Waffle, see also), complete with a stylish cocktail lounge and outside terrace. Its newer sibling opened in 2018: “it’s above the market in Covent Garden which is a great location/space (regardless of what currently occupies it!)”. In both spots, all reports agree its luxurious Latino-meets-Japanese bites are super-moreish and “consistently good”. Prices though are OTT, especially as “you can feel like you are in a machine, and they churn out huge numbers of covers so service feels rushed. And it’s big, it’s loud, feels like a bun fight!!” (“Sushi Samba was my 18-year-old daughter’s choice and was not as bad as I feared, but not particularly stand-out either”.)

2023 Review: Nowadays just in Spitalfields (with Soho, Shoreditch and Notting Hill branches opening and closing over the years), this Peruvian-inspired haunt received mixed reviews this year, linked with one or two incidents of “awful” service. Feedback on its Latino fare, which majors in ceviches and salads (but which is also accompanied by a selection of larger and mostly meaty ‘classic dishes’) is more consistent, though, and fans say it’s “still a cracking place, even after relocating”.

2022 Review: Impress your friends on Instagram with enviable scenes from the lush outside terraces at this very good-looking boutique hotel in Fitzrovia. Not as many reports as we’d like on its interesting restaurant – where the cuisine comes with a South American accent – hence, for this year, we’ve left it unrated.

2022 Review: Hidden beneath Smith’s Bar & Grill in the Paddington Basin development – a spring 2020 Peruvian newcomer named for the Ayllu community of the Inca Empire, and serving Peruvian-Japanese fusion dishes and cocktails.

Hip import from Booklyn, which is the latest incumbent on the gorgeously decorated rooftop of Shoreditch’s ‘Hoxton Hotel’, where the city-fringe viewscape is of The Barbican and Square Mile. The press have by-and-large raved since it touched down in autumn 2023, with The Evening Standard’s Jimi Famurewa hailing the “thrilling new context” given to its Peruvian dishes, and The Telegraph’s William Sitwell branding it “the best thing to come out of Peru since Paddington”. But our annual survey is less impressed, noting that – especially at the price – its Nikkei/Latino dishes can seem “disappointing”: “a great social media campaign doesn’t make a great restaurant!”

2024 Review: Despite tons of money thrown at its numerous incarnations, the site of the former Strand Dining Rooms, just off Trafalgar Square, has never really cut through in recent years. Maybe this new Nikkei (Japanese/Peruvian) operation – a ‘Coming Soon’ as we go to press – will break the mould, which will feature a sushi counter and bar named Lima; a main open kitchen called Osaka; and an outdoor terrace.

On quite a prominent site near St James’s Palace that used to be Avenue (RIP), this new entertainment-led venue is part of a nightlife group with operations in London and Mykonos. Here, we are promised Nikkei cuisine, with ‘hero’ dishes such as Butter Roasted Chilean Sea Bass with Coriander Shiso Ponzu and Lamb Chops Anticucho with Aubergine Purée, Aji and Amarillo Yoghurt.

2024 Review: This high-street Nikkei hangout’s first Chelsea branch opened in 2021 and shut in mid 2023 in favour of a new Marylebone location. No feedback as yet on either site, which purveys a trendy fusion of sushi, tacos, ceviche and robata bites, and of course pisco sours, sakes and cocktails aplenty.