Central: the story of the best restaurant in the world in 5 facts told with Virgilio Martínez and Pía León | VIDEO

the peruvian restaurant Central He has just made history by being chosen as the Best in the world in the 2023 edition of “The World’s 50 Best”, one of the most prestigious listings in the gastronomic field.

Directed by chefs Virgilio Martínez and Pía León, this restaurant had entered the list for the first time in 2013. In 2015 it managed to enter the Top 5 in the world, a place that it lost in 2016 and 2017. In 2021, it reached number 4 and in 2022 he was crowned second in the world. His path to first place was marked.

On April 20, 2009, Central opened its doors in the Miraflores district.

The restaurant is so named because its heavy polished concrete walls evoke the atmosphere of a modern factory. “Also because it is reminiscent of the Central Market, as it is precisely a market cuisine that is offered here, because this -a glass cube- is located in the center of the restaurant, as the undisputed protagonist. And lastly, because it intends to centralize the best of Peruvian gastronomy”, announced the magazine “Somos” about the inauguration.

Virgilio Martínez, a graduate of Le Cordon Blue in Canada and a London graduate in pastry and gastronomy, worked in kitchens in England, Italy, Singapore and Thailand until, in 2005, he accepted Gastón Acurio’s commission to put together Astrid y Gastón in Bogotá and, after two years, that of Madrid.

After that experience around the world, he returned to Lima determined to start his own story. This is how Center begins. In an interview with the journalist Catherine Contreras, from “El Comercio”, which you can see in the video that accompanies this note, Virgilio Martínez and Pía León told how their restaurant began and how they envision its future. We invite you to watch the full interview. Here are 5 keys to the history of Central.

1. The beginnings

Virgilio recalled that he returned to Peru with a lot of experience from his work in international restaurants, but with the desire to start his own path in his native country. “I decided to come to Lima to do what I wanted to do. He had done very eclectic things and Central was a very eclectic restaurant, he didn’t talk much about Peru, it wasn’t what it is today at all,” said the chef and businessman.

It was in that search for the Central team that he met Pía León, his partner and wife. “I met Virgilio because a friend recommended him to me. He interviewed me and I went to work at Central. It was the Central de Miraflores but in full construction, there was nothing. Central was another world. You found products from Peru, but in a very global way. In one or two years it was changing. With the addition of Malena (Martínez, Virgilio’s sister) and the height menu and the creation of Mater, the restaurant evolved”, said the chef.

2. A very different letter

“Virgilio has developed market cuisine, a concept that is characterized by the daily purchase of products and by a menu that varies depending on them. In addition, one of the great innovations of this restaurant is that it has a garden on the roof where various vegetables and spices grow, which guarantees the freshness of the ingredients to be used. There is one more reason to go to Central (376 Santa Isabel Street, Miraflores): the head pastry chef is Callaghan Ward, an Englishman who worked in Spain in a two-Michelin-star restaurant and who came to Lima interested in our gastronomy. His recommendation: the seven textures of milk, ”this is how the magazine“ We are ”described the initial offer of Central.

In an interview with “El Comercio”, prior to the announcement of “The World’s 50 Best”, Virgilio Martínez recalled that his letter was very international. Until now they remind him of the foi gras pizza he offered. In fact, the cuisine of Italy, France and Hong Kong was very present on the menu.

“They were interesting, beautiful things, but they never filled me up. Now with Central we feel ownership ”, highlights the chef about the commitment to Peruvian ingredients and history in his kitchen.

3. Mater, the initiative that changed everything

Central’s proposal began to differentiate itself with the creation of Mater Iniciativa, a proposal that seeks to create a database of Peruvian products and their origins. This space is run by Malena Martínez, Virgilio’s sister.

Pía remembers that her entry into the project occurred in a very organic way.

“She did not live in Peru, she came to visit and during one of her visits, Virgilio suggested that she stay, work with us and investigate a little more (about Peruvian products). Male perked up. This is how she is born and Mater is created. We are beginning to understand that this world is not only for chefs, but for many disciplines”, highlighted Pía León.

4. Moving from Miraflores to Barranco

Virgilio and Pía remember the change as “very fast” and necessary to be able to serve their diners with quality.

“Almost at that very moment (of the move) we opened Mil (in Cusco). We had many projects going around,” Martínez recalls about the need to change neighborhoods, a decision that did not come without fear.

“The team was growing and that scared me. I was afraid that this growth would imply losing this type of closeness that we had with the team, which was something that I liked to have. There were many fears, everything was very fast but there was a good team to do it”, affirms Pía León looking at the past.

“(When we moved) Mater was beginning to grow and space was being stolen from the room, it was removing chairs (for diners). At one point we were very tight. We didn’t move because we wanted to serve more people, but to serve people better”, says Virgilio.

5. A look into the future

The chefs in charge of Central recognize that in these years in front of the restaurant they have had moments of saturation. Moreover, they consider that it is something very common in the hectic life of a kitchen. “At the beginning you are immature and you don’t know how to handle it and over time, when you are a little saturated, you know what the route is to somehow relax”, explains Pía León.

Moments like the announcement of The World’s 50 Best list produce many emotions in chefs. Nerves are part of the process, but also enthusiasm for what a good result on the list can represent for the country and fellow chefs.

“Honestly, whatever the result, I think we are very clear that we have been doing honest, real work, with a lot of heart, as a family. The result will not change us. The course we have set is not going to change due to the result”, explains Pía León in an interview with “El Comercio”.

“We have already been in the Top 10 of the list for 7 years, that has made us a bit more and more experts, but there are always nerves. We understand that the best result (on the list) is an incredible platform for the restaurant to expand, and also the Peru and Latin America region. We have seen it in recent years. Being elected number 2 in the world on the 2022 list generated a tremendous impact, reservations rise, people move throughout Barranco. Eo also has an impact on our producers”, highlighted Martínez.

Without a doubt, this new achievement as the Best Restaurant in the World for Central will represent many positive things.