The challenge of Surquillo: between the gastronomic boom of luxury restaurants and the preservation of the ‘huariques’

Customers arrive incessantly and order the house specialty: stuffed potato with radish salad or chanfainita with rice. “Several of my clients repeat the dish,” she says. On that same street, there are 19 other restaurants that have opened their doors since 2021. “Now there are traditional establishments that are no longer so cheap. Advertising around Peruvian food has increased its prices,” says Eduardo Abusada, gastronomic journalist.

Huarique trendy

It is not news that the ‘gastronomic boom’, promoted by the renowned Peruvian chef Gastón Acurio, turned Peruvian food into an international brand. Central has won the Best Restaurant category five times by The World’s 50 Best and is the example of the global success of Peruvian food. In Metropolitan Lima alone there are 39,895 restaurants, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics of Peru (INEI). “Lima is the cultural center and culinary capital of a country that has exploded in the last decade with dozens of world-class chefs, cooks and restaurants. It has long been considered one of the best gastronomic scenes in all of South America,” described New York chef and food critic Anthony Bourdain when he visited the country in 2013.

Surquillo is known as the district of the huariques. Previously, this word referred to cheap, neighborhood restaurants or cantinas, still secret from the general public. Today the term has been redefined and also refers to places where one finds fusion dishes in an environment that imitates the neighborhood aesthetic, but with prohibitive prices for low-income people. “Surquillo must be the district that has more gastronomic establishments than any other in Lima,” says chef and YouTuber Luciano Mazzetti from his channel. According to the INEI, by 2018 up to 836 restaurants were recorded.

This district is not only chosen for its strategic positioning, but also for the economic factor. Here, the square meter does not cost as much as in Miraflores or Barranco – according to the latest reports from the Peruvian media Gestión it is positioned between US$1,300 and US$2,200 -, which makes it the precise land to start a business in small spaces. “Traditionally, it has been seen as a cheap place, but close to Miraflores, a district that is the center of tourists visiting the country,” says Abusada.

The coexistence of differences

The gastronomic sector in this area is making its way with new restaurants and even dark kitchens. However, a problem now is that the residents of the area, who previously paid 15 soles for a ceviche, today cannot get it for less than 45 soles. “Until recently this entire area only had two or three food stalls and they served only at night. Now they have opened more [locales] and some are quite expensive,” says Leonidas Tovar, a resident of Surquillo since 1981. “It is for a different audience,” he adds. According to the INEI, the average income of a family in Surquillo is between 900 to 1,300 nuevos soles, categorizing it in a middle-income district.

The strategic location of Surquillo and being known for its ‘huariques’ motivated the authorities to decide to promote it as a gastronomic tourist spot. In 2008, the current mayor, Gustavo Sierra, together with chef Gastón Acurio, relaunched the popular Mercado N°1, located on the border with Miraflores. “What we are doing with Gastón Acurio is to first promote the comprehensive remodeling of the physical space within the market, taking advantage of its old infrastructure and also improving the quality that each of the workers in this market must have,” Sierra said at that time. so.

By 2024, the municipality reported that S/ 182 million (48 million dollars) have been invested in underground parking and the implementation of a gastronomic mall on the outskirts of Market No. 1, in order to attract more tourists.

Although places like ‘La Picantería’, which have high-priced dishes and have a higher-income audience, are opening their doors more and more, in Surquillo there are still stands like Lucy’s, where prices are still accessible to consumers. neighbors in the area. “You have to take advantage of it. I think it’s good, because this brings more people and for other businesses too. There will always be people who don’t like it, but this boosts the economy and the district also improves because it will have to offer a better service,” Abusada highlights.