[Peru: Lima] Kjolle by Pia Leon - World's Best Female Chef

August 01, 2024

[Peru: Lima] Kjolle by Pia Leon - World's Best Female Chef

Rating: 4.5/5

It would be a mistake to simply think of Kjolle as a sister restaurant to Central Restaurante - it’s so much more than that. Named after a yellow Andean flower, Kjolle is the first solo restaurant of 2021 World’s Best Female Chef Pia Leon - former head chef of Central and wife of Virgilio Martinez. While the two restaurants share the same location, Kjolle differs from Central as it focuses only on the ingredient and is not restricted by the same altitude on each dish. Striving the preserve the natural flavors of the products, the dishes here are a vibrant and colorful showcase of Peru’s biodiversity.

Both a la carte and tasting menus are available, and we opted for the latter. We knew that we were in for a tasty treat right away from the first course of bread and butter - the sweet silky butter was simply irresistible! Throughout the meal, we tasted the rainbow with the many colorful and delicious courses. My favorite dish was definitely the signature Many Tubers - a gorgeous plate of various tubers and roots tied together with a cream of purple sachapapa. Don’t miss the non-alcoholic pairing here with nectars, fruit extracts and infusions - it’s really one of the best I’ve ever had!