What better place to enjoy a Pre-Columbian meal than at the edge of ruins in the Andes. Virgilio Martinez, owner of the Michelin star award-winning restaurant, Central in Lima, plans to open a new restaurant 11,500 feet above sea level. At 39 years of age, Martinez owns the fourth best restaurant in the world, and is considered one of Latin America’s best chefs.
His new restaurant will be called Mil (or thousands, a reference to altitude), and the restaurant will be built on the edge of Moray, an Inca ruin in the Andes Mountains. In an interview with Bloomberg, he disclosed the eatery would be a 45-minute drive into the mountains, after you’ve taken an hour flight from Lima to Cuzco.
Mil will include a food lab that will focus on researching and growing ingredients native to the land. The restaurant will have a small staff of 10 that will include a botanist, an anthropologist and artist, among others. Virgilio will only use ingredients found 11,500 feet above sea level and will stay exclusive to indigenous techniques.
Along with Mil, his restaurant Central is moving to a bigger space to meet the demand of a growing crowd. His wife, Pia, the reason customers keep flooding the restaurant, is also opening a restaurant next door.
Mil is set to open in 2017, so make sure you add that spot to your Latin America to-do list.