Maido

About Maido

In 2025, the World's 50 Best Restaurants named Maido the best restaurant on the planet — an honour that felt both inevitable and overdue. Chef Mitsuharu "Micha" Tsumura had been building toward this moment since 2009, when he opened his Nikkei counter on San Martín in the heart of Miraflores and began translating the century-long story of Japanese immigration to Peru into food.

Nikkei cuisine — the fusion of Japanese technique and Peruvian ingredients — was not invented at Maido, but it was perfected here. The tasting menu, which changes with each season, moves across 12 to 14 courses that each represent a different expression of the Japanese-Peruvian dialogue: nigiri of ceviche-cured sea bass; 50-hour short rib with andean potato purée; miso made from Amazonian cacao; rice cooked in tiger's milk. Each dish is conceptually unified yet individually extraordinary.

The dining room itself announces intent. Thick ropes cascade from a double-height ceiling — a reference to the fishing nets that sustained the Nikkei community in Peru's coastal towns. When guests arrive, the service team greets them collectively with "maido" — Japanese for "welcome" — a ritual that begins the ceremony of what follows. The room seats around 50, divided between a long counter looking into the open kitchen and a handful of intimate tables. Every seat has a view of the team at work.

The Tasting Menu

The current menu runs approximately 12 courses, with the option to extend to 14. A non-alcoholic beverage pairing of Peruvian juices, fermented drinks, and Pacific-inspired infusions is available alongside a wine and sake list that spans Japan and Peru's emerging wine valleys in Ica and Moquegua. Expect ingredients from the ocean (corvina, percebes, sea urchin), the Andes (native potatoes, quinoa, kiwicha), and the Amazon (camu camu, paiche, huacatay). The signature dish — a course simply called "50 Hours" — presents a short rib that has been cooked at low temperature for two days, served with Japanese precision on a stone slab.

Why It Works for These Occasions

For Impress Clients, there is no table on the continent that communicates your sophistication more clearly than Maido. This is the world's best restaurant — the equivalent of booking Le Bernardin in New York or Joël Robuchon in Paris. Clients who know food will never forget you booked this table. Clients who don't know food yet will leave knowing they have just experienced something extraordinary.

For Solo Dining, the counter seats at Maido offer some of the most compelling dining-alone experiences in the world. The team engages individual diners with the same intensity they bring to full tables, and watching Tsumura's kitchen operate from four feet away is a masterclass in precision and passion. Come alone if you want to be fully present for every course.

For Close a Deal, the shared experience of an exceptional tasting menu creates the kind of trust and goodwill that no conference room can replicate. The Japanese concept of omakase — surrendering to the chef's judgement — is itself a metaphor for the trust you're building with your guest.