"Peru has the most biodiverse landmass on earth. Schiaffino is its most committed interpreter. At Malabar, the Amazon is not an aesthetic — it's the entire premise. Camu camu, paiche, cushuro, sacha inchi: ingredients you've never encountered, prepared with the precision that makes you realise you've been eating a narrow slice of the planet's possibilities."
About Malabar
Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino has spent his career travelling the Peruvian Amazon and Andes in search of ingredients that Lima's restaurants have never seen. At Malabar, his flagship on Camino Real in San Isidro, he brings them back and shows the world what they can do. The menu changes several times a year — not as a marketing exercise but as a genuine reflection of what Schiaffino's network of Amazonian suppliers is harvesting — and every iteration is built around a simple editorial principle: show the ingredient at its truest.
The dining room in San Isidro's financial district is elegant without being austere. Dark wood panelling, soft lighting, tables spaced for private conversation, and a bar — run by Schiaffino's father — that serves some of Lima's best cocktails: Pisco sours made with camu camu, Amazon-fruit infusions, rare-grape piscos from Peru's southern valleys. The space communicates the same message as the kitchen: this is a serious restaurant that has nothing to prove beyond the quality of what it puts on your plate.
The à la carte menu runs alongside a multi-course set meal, both of which draw on ingredients from the coast, Andes, and Amazon simultaneously. A course might pair sea urchin from Peru's northern bays with aguaje palm fruit from the jungle. Another might juxtapose a highland lake fish with a reduction of unripe camu camu. The effect is of a country seen whole — its ecosystems brought together in a single meal, connected by a chef who has spent years building the relationships necessary to bring the ingredients to Lima alive and seasonal.
The Amazon Programme
Schiaffino's sourcing is not incidental — it is the centrepiece of Malabar's identity. He works directly with indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon, many of whom have never sold their harvest commercially, to bring paiche (the world's largest freshwater fish), aguaje, ungurahui, sacha inchi, and dozens of other Amazonian ingredients to his kitchen. The relationships have developed over fifteen years and represent a genuine alternative model to importation. Dining at Malabar is, among other things, an act of support for this supply chain.
Best Occasion Fit
For Impress Clients, Malabar offers something that Maido and Central cannot: a conversation anchor. The Amazon sourcing story, the unfamiliar ingredients, the geographical scope of the menu — clients who haven't eaten here will leave with a new frame of reference for Peru. For Close a Deal, San Isidro's financial district location means arriving with a client from their office is effortless, and the room's quiet luxury is built for focus. For a Birthday, Malabar's tasting sequence delivers the kind of memory that marks a milestone rather than just marking an evening.
Secure Your Table at Malabar
Open for lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday. The bar opens earlier — one of Lima's finest for pre-dinner cocktails. Book one to two weeks in advance for dinner.
Reserve a Table →Address
Camino Real 101, San Isidro, Lima, Peru
Price Range
$$$$ — Approx. $100–150 USD per person with wine pairing
Cuisine
Amazonian Peruvian — Amazon-to-table with Andean and coastal elements
Dress Code
Smart casual to business casual — San Isidro financial district context
Hours
Lunch: Mon–Sat 12:30pm–4pm; Dinner: Mon–Sat 7:30pm–11:30pm (midnight Fri–Sat)
Reservation Difficulty
Moderate — book one to two weeks ahead for dinner; lunch often available with less notice
Recognition
Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants; multiple years on the list
Chef
Pedro Miguel Schiaffino
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What Guests Say
Brought a client from Singapore who had eaten everywhere. He spent the first course trying to identify what he was tasting. The paiche was unlike any freshwater fish he'd encountered. By the third course, he was asking questions I couldn't answer — and he left with more respect for Peru than he'd arrived with. Malabar does this to people.
Closed a significant deal over lunch at Malabar. The room is quiet enough for real conversation, the service is attentive without intrusion, and the cocktails at the bar before lunch set exactly the right register. The Amazon sourcing story gave us a natural opening for a broader conversation about sustainability that carried into the business discussion. I'll use this room again.
My husband took me here for my birthday and ordered the tasting sequence. The camu camu dessert was the most unusual thing I've ever eaten — bright, acidic, intense in a way that no other fruit I know can produce. Schiaffino understands the Amazon better than anyone who isn't from it. This is the restaurant Lima deserves.