When we were first thinking of heading to Lima we had heard it was a place of Gastronomic treats. The melding of influences that have been here with access to an incredibly diverse range of fresh produce from incredible seafood, to Amazonian forest wonders. Maido , a Japanese/peruvian restaurant was definitely on the cards. And then it won a rather significant award and was named the best restaurant in the world. Don’t ask me who gets to make this pronouncement. But they’ve named others like Nomu, El Bulli, French Laundry and frankly if they’re adding Maido to the list – then they’ve got my attention.

Bookings are extremely hard to come by, so when bookings opened many months ago I proceeded to bombard their website over and over again like a 15 year old Swifty determined to get concert tickets – and what do you know, I succeeded in getting a table. David’s 60th birthday dinner was booked.

So , settle in, there’s 12 courses and I’m going to try and recall each one. you can leave now! I get it. Truth is this is more for my own memory than anyone else’s entertainment!

So we arrived. looks pretty good from the outside doesn’t it?

Definitely not a stuffy formal vibe , and not sure what all the ropes are about. But they kinda looked cool.

As a lot of you will know,

So it’s about now, you’ll be asking questions about what the fuck are Bahuaja nuts. And if I had the time I’d google it and give you all the details. But would you remember tomorrow? Probably not, and nor will I. But this was the start of a bit of a thing. The presentation at times seemed more than the actual food. And while delicious, let’s be honest that second pic was basically a mini ham sandwich!

Now this was delicious, the pistachio hit was unexpected and really made it. You may also notice by now I have discovered the portrait mode on my phone. And as I’ve already gone on about the presentation I better show you this too.

I did enjoy this too, and no, I can’t remember all the full descriptions here. The “theme” of the menu was Tradition Location. Fairly broad if you ask me.

I was big fan of this one, reminiscent of a tartar ( one of my favs) – but wait there’s more I did a video.

This comes with a vid too, the Toro or Spanish Tuna was something spectacular, it literally melted in your mouth. it was on a base of Kina too a perfect pairing. And fun discovering the different kupu( words) for sea urchin.

may be slightly out of sequence here, but by now I’m getting full and a bit tipsy on an Uruguayan red wine. You can see the salsa on the left. Heat but not too hot. Delicious again. As you can tell they are what a friend called “ pop in your gob” style.

Definitely for me the underwhelming dish of the night. A piece of fish in broth with some sprinkled bits. Lovely but you know …

By now I am getting So Full… argh.. can I even remember? but here’s another video

So, before we move onto desert, I was fairly proud of the fact that the main outfit I will wear on planes, that will take me into the Amazon and march me up Machu Picchu also took me to the worlds best restaurant. In my 12 kg bag I managed to get some styling in. Behold !

Not sure what Edward had to do with this one , a palette cleanser but I didn’t really get the Wasabi !

This was extraordinary, probably for me a highlight. Caviar ice cream , sweet, salty textures. But I was getting so FULL!

I’m rather pleased that in the fusion of Japanese and Peruvian cultures the heated Toto toilet seats made into the mix.

AND FINALLY

AN EMPANADA and some chocolate

Followed by ..

Served in a Japanese style Okashi or Benti style box.

Enough said.

As a final treat and David’s final 4th birthday cake in a week!

Really nice touch. thank you Maido.

The restaurant had the following on the inside of the menu and maybe I should have led with this. Not sure I get it, and definitely don’t see the connection to Time and Location. But some people smarter than me sure did.

Life is movement.

Nothing is static or absolute.

No one is.

We are in a state of constant flux, just like the Earth, the tides, bacteria, light, the blood-in our bodies, colors, seeds.

Like family trees, cuisines are constantly being redefined, their identities enriched by an intense intercultural exchange which has formed the basis of all civilization ever since humans shared their first sounds, products, ideas, and customs.

So that’s most of the Maido experience. 3.5 hours and a small mortgage later we wondered out. Got stuck at the door. Could not find a handle , a button , did it slide , waving drunken hands in the air did nothing. So back upstairs to get help. Turned out we forgot to push. 🙄.