Summer Menu challenge 2025

About the Restaurant “Mayta”

A Peruvian Ode to the Land, the Memory, and the Future

In the heart of Miraflores, Lima, Mayta is more than a restaurant—it is a living, breathing canvas of modern Peruvian gastronomy. Founded by Chef Jaime Pesaque in 2008, Mayta (which means “noble land” in Aymara) has grown from a bold culinary experiment into a flagship of Peru’s fine dining revolution.

Crowned Latin America’s Best Restaurant in both 2023 and 2024 by the World Culinary Awards, Mayta stands as a beacon of Peruvian culinary artistry. Since its debut on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2022, it has continued to earn a place among the globe’s most celebrated dining destinations, rising through the ranks with each passing year. Here, ancient biodiversity meets refined expression—a restaurant that doesn’t just tell Peru’s story, but continually rewrites it.

Its concept is rooted in reinterpreting Peru’s native ingredients, ecosystems, and ancestral techniques, through a lens of innovation, sustainability, and emotion. The tasting menu is an edible geography lesson, travelling from the Amazon basin to the Andean heights, the Pacific coastline to the desert valleys—all while honouring the farmers, gatherers, and traditions behind each product.

But what truly sets Mayta apart is its culinary activism. Pesaque’s team works closely with small producers, indigenous communities, and local farmers to source endemic and often forgotten ingredients—from wild herbs like muña to ancient grains like quinoa and chullpi corn. This model isn’t just sustainable—it’s regenerative.

Mayta is both a destination and a declaration. It defines what Peruvian cuisine is today and dares to imagine what it could be tomorrow.

“Cooking in Peru is a privilege. We’re not just working with ingredients—we’re preserving stories, landscapes, and identities.” – Jaime Pesaque

About the Chef – Jaime Pesaque

Born and raised in Peru, Jaime Pesaque graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and earned a Master’s in Italian Cuisine from ICIF. But it was in the Michelin-starred kitchens of El Celler de Can Roca and leading establishments across Italy and Spain that his vision crystallized: a culinary identity rooted in Peruvian terroir, expressed through global techniques.

Pesaque’s international career has taken Peruvian cuisine to the United States, the Netherlands, and beyond. At home, he has expanded his vision through celebrated restaurants like Sapiens, 500 Grados, and Callao. Yet Mayta remains the heart of it all.

Recognised by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants since 2022, and crowned Latin America’s Best Restaurant in both 2023 and 2024, Mayta is a reflection of Pesaque’s dual mission: elevate Peru’s ingredients and honour its cultural mosaic.

The Summer Menu Challenge – A Tasting of Territory

For the All4Chefs Summer Menu Challenge 2025, Chef Pesaque presents a 10-course menu titled simply: “Mayta experience.” But its simplicity ends at the title.

It’s a textural, sensorial, and symbolic exploration of Peru’s biodiversity, from Amazonian river fish to Andean grains, from jungle fruits to native roots like mashua and tunta.

The storytelling in the menu is quiet but insistent. Dishes are layered with memory and region. Paiche meets tucupí and chonta. Cuy finds comfort among andean herbs and cushuro. Even the desserts—built around cocona, lulo, and lucuma—feel native yet new.

Pesaque doesn’t simply plate ingredients. He orchestrates landscapes.