Mayta

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Vision Rooted in Peru

Founded in 2008 by chef Jaime Pesaque, Mayta was built on a single conviction: that Peru's extraordinary indigenous ingredients, handled with contemporary technique, could stand among the world's great cuisines. Pesaque had already honed his style running his first kitchen at Al Grano before betting on his own flagship in Miraflores — a restaurant that is as much a research project as it is a dining room.

On its tenth anniversary in 2018, Mayta moved to new premises with a redesigned interior and an entirely reimagined menu. The timing proved decisive. By 2019 the restaurant had entered Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants, claimed the Highest Climber Award in 2020, and in 2022 made its debut on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list — a position it has held and strengthened every year since, reaching No. 39 in 2025.

The Mayta Experience

The centrepiece is a nine-course tasting menu that reads like a careful survey of Peru's ecosystems. Corn arrives alongside chullpi and quinoa flower; ribs are paired with potatoes, cushuro (a blue-green algae harvested in Andean lakes) and chincho, a local herb. Presentation is precise and deliberate — thinly sliced paiche fish shaped into an intricate rose, colourful native produce placed front and centre on every plate. For those who prefer to explore à la carte, options such as Amazonian ceviche and a muña tart with passionfruit ice cream and white chocolate offer a more flexible path through Pesaque's Peruvian cuisine.

Sustainability as Practice

Pesaque's relationship with paiche, an Amazonian fish whose population must be managed to prevent ecological damage, is emblematic of how Mayta approaches sourcing. During the pandemic the chef extended this thinking further, launching the Yachay project to help recover the biodiversity of Peru's Ica region. Traceability of native ingredients is not a marketing posture here — it is embedded in how the kitchen is run.

Beyond Lima

Pesaque's ambition to carry Peruvian cuisine beyond Peru's borders has led to restaurants in the United States, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Lima ventures including Sapiens, which centres on open-flame cooking. Mayta remains the origin point of all of it — the place where the ideas are tested and the standards are set.