Menu to Taste

Mérito

Venezuelan-Peruvian · Lima · San Isidro · Chef Juan Luis Martínez

Ranked No. 26 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, Mérito in Lima showcases chef Juan Luis Martínez's Venezuelan-Peruvian cuisine. Operating in the Barranco district, the restaurant combines South American produce with Venezuelan recipes, highlighting dishes such as glazed pork belly with arepas.

Prolongación Salaverry 2310, San Isidro, Lima 15036, Peru, Lima

  • #4 Latin America's 50 Best 2025
  • #26 World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025

Menu

Dishes

  • Cinnamon Spice — Venezuelan Canela Cake, Andean Flower Ice Cream (32) — Canela (cinnamon) dessert drawing on Venezuela's deep tradition of spice use in sweets — inherited from Spanish colonial and African culinary traditions — paired with ice cream made from Andean edible flowers collected at altitude. Venezuelan spice meeting Peruvian high-altitude botanical.
  • Glazed Pork Belly — Arepas, Papelón Glaze, Andean Herbs (91) — Slow-cooked pork belly glazed with papelón (Venezuelan unrefined cane sugar, the equivalent of Peru's chancaca) — a preparation that uses the sweetness of raw Venezuelan cane to lacquer the pork's rendered fat. Served alongside Venezuelan-style arepas and Andean highland herbs that connect the dish to Martínez's Lima training. The pork-papelón-arepa combination is pure Venezuelan; the herb selection is pure Peruvian.
  • Cachapa — Venezuelan Sweet Corn Pancake, Queso de Mano (42) — Cachapa — the Venezuelan fresh corn pancake made from ground sweet corn, thicker and more flavourful than any corn tortilla, cooked on a budare griddle — served with queso de mano (Venezuelan hand-pressed fresh cheese, lightly elastic, mild). The cachapa is made daily from fresh Venezuelan-style corn and represents the most direct expression of Venezuelan corn culture at Mérito.
  • Asado Negro — Venezuelan Black Caramel Beef, Andean Corn Polenta (78) — Asado negro — Venezuela's great beef preparation, a whole eye of round or beef cheek glazed black with papelón (raw cane sugar) caramelised to the point of bitterness, then braised slowly in red wine and spices until extraordinarily tender — served with an Andean corn polenta (made from native Peruvian corn varieties rather than standard polenta corn). A Venezuelan heirloom preparation meeting the best of Peruvian native grain.
  • Lamb Shoulder — Slow-Cooked, Mole Negro, Ají Amarillo (72) — Lamb shoulder slow-cooked until the meat pulls from the bone, served with a mole negro that incorporates Venezuelan dried peppers and Peruvian ají amarillo — two distinct chili traditions combined in a sauce of great complexity. The mole tradition is technically Mexican but the dried chili ingredient set here is entirely Venezuelan-Peruvian.
  • Octopus — Smoked, Potato Causa, Ají Mirasol (58) — Pacific octopus smoked over native wood and served with a causa (Peru's emblematic yellow potato terrine, seasoned with ají amarillo) and ají mirasol — the dried version of ají amarillo, with a deeper, fruitier heat. The causa roots the dish in Peru's most classic preparation; the smoke and ají mirasol add a complexity the traditional causa lacks.
  • Beef with Arracacha — Short Rib, Arracacha Root, Huacatay Sauce (68) — Beef short rib braised with arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) — the Andean root vegetable with a flavour combining carrot, parsnip, and celery, fundamental to Peruvian highland cooking — and a huacatay sauce (Andean black mint, deeply aromatic, without equivalent outside South America). A deeply Peruvian preparation that reflects Martínez's training at Central rather than his Venezuelan roots.
  • Hallaca Mérito — Venezuelan Tamale, Andean Adjustments (58) — The hallaca — Venezuela's most revered festive dish, a tamale-like preparation of corn masa stuffed with a complex stew of beef, pork, chicken, raisins, olives, and capers, wrapped in banana leaf and boiled — reimagined by Martínez with Andean adjustments: native Peruvian corn masa, Andean spices in the filling, and cushuro algae as garnish. A seasonal preparation that appears during Venezuelan holiday periods.
  • Cacao Ceremony — Venezuelan Criollo and Peruvian Chuncho (45) — The closing chocolate preparation: a tableside ceremony presenting two of South America's finest cacao varieties — Venezuelan Criollo (considered the world's most complex, once called 'chocolate royale') and Peruvian Chuncho (the native Cusco highlands variety) — as a comparison tasting. Hot drinking chocolates made from each, in the traditional Venezuelan manner (thickened with cornstarch) and the Peruvian manner (pure melted cacao), presented together.
  • Bienmesabe — Venezuelan Coconut Custard, Almond, Andean Chirimoya (36) — Bienmesabe — the classic Venezuelan coconut custard dessert (its name means 'tastes good to me') made from coconut milk, sugar, egg yolks, and cinnamon — paired with chirimoya (Peruvian custard apple) sorbet and ground almonds. The bienmesabe is Venezuela's most beloved traditional dessert; the chirimoya pairing crosses the geographical boundary into Peru's inter-Andean valleys.

Wines

  • Papelón con Limón — Venezuelan Raw Sugar Lemonade (18) — Venezuela's most universal refreshment: papelón (unrefined raw cane sugar block) dissolved into water with fresh lime, served over ice. At Mérito it is made with both Venezuelan papelón and Peruvian maracuyá (passion fruit) — the two citrus traditions of Venezuela and Peru united in the restaurant's simplest beverage. Available throughout the meal.

Tasting Menu

  • 10-Course Tasting Menu (75)

The Experience

An intimate room built around the chef's counter. The meal is structured around a tasting menu.

  • Atmosphere: Intimate
  • Format: Tasting menu
  • Setting: Chef's counter

Phone: +51 1 650-5808

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