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The celebrity chef-owners of the No.2 best restaurant in the world bring us to Peru with their innovative Meters Above Sea Level menu, which highlights ingredients from their home country that grow on different altitudes
Peru is high on many gourmands’ travel lists (including mine). No one can deny that it is such a magical place with its rich biodiversity spanning the Andes mountains, Amazon rainforest and coastal waters that are the source of many ingredients unique to the country. In fact, some of them like potatoes and tomatoes come in thousands of varieties.
Since Peru’s culinary super couple, Virgilio Martínez and Pia Léon, opened Central in 2008 and Kjolle in 2018, they have been championing their home’s lesser-known bounty with impressive tasting menus that consistently put them on the world's best restaurants rankings every year. That said, gourmands from all over the world would travel to Peru for a taste of their innovative offerings that change along with the seasons.
As part of the Mandala Masters’ culinary residency, Martínez and Léon are bringing Peru to us with their Meters Above Sea Level (MASL) menu. The pop-up restaurant runs until October 30 and is held at Art Restaurant, which offers gorgeous CBD views to boot.
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Art Restaurant
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Step through the doors of Art Restaurant and begin your culinary adventure by familiarising yourself with a few native products such as corn, algae and potato displayed on the table. As the staff from Kjolle or Central will explain, these grow in different altitudes and serve as a good introduction to the vertical journey you’re about to embark on.
The starting point is in the Peruvian waters, -5 MASL to be exact, where seafood treasures abound. What grows together belongs on a plate together, Martínez once said, and the trio of appetisers deliver the umami with fresh crams prepared two ways (fresh and foam); carabinero prawns soaked in crudo oil made from the shell; and crab flakes cooked in corail sauce to enhance its sweet, meaty flesh.
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Go -10 MASL deeper and you will find the likes of squid, caviar and squid, creatively presented as fresh squid blanketed in squid crisps and squid ink emulsion, as well as a pillowy seafood dough topped with sliced abalone and caviar.
Moving beyond the Peruvian waters and onto the Andean mountains, the chefs take us 3,280 MASL where the maca root is found. While it is normally boiled in soups, the chefs transform this into a wonderfully moist and pillowy loaf of bread that comes with two dips—hibiscus flowers and yacon sweet root made into yoghurt and syrup.
At 3,550 MASL, corn grows aplenty, and this is showcased in the Textures of Andean Corn, comprising corn puree topped with corn crisp and dried leaves for additional texture.
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Martínez and Léon also take this as an opportunity to introduce us to some of their unique cultural food practices—such as huatia. The highest point of the meal is at 3,850 MASL in the Andean mountains. Peruvians celebrate the harvest of tubers by making huatia, Andeans’ traditional earth oven made from stones where tubers are buried and cooked. For this course, the potatoes are cooked until tender under Andean clay and served with uchucuta, a traditional sauce made with herbs and chillies that lifts the dish with its delicate vegetal flavours. While it is the simplest, it is also one of the most significant dishes of the lot that brings to life this Peruvian cultural tradition.
As you go through the succeeding courses—slow-cooked pork belly with yuca puree, sliced vegetables and mushroom crisp; grilled beef accompanied by potato puree and a palate-pleasing salsa of Andean herbs, among others—you will start to understand Peru’s diverse yet delicious cuisine that is rooted in its variety of produce and ingredients.
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The vertical dining journey ends at 1,485 MASL with the quintessential cacao fruit made into a warm cacao crème, cacao sponge and nibs blanketed in decadent salted caramel sauce. This is paired with another ubiquitous ingredient—mango, served diced and in foam and powder form to complement the mead gel.
The drinks pairing (a choice of non-alcoholic beverages, wines, or Latin-inspired cocktails) is optional but is worth opting for to complete the dining experience.
The MASL menu is available for lunch and dinner from now until October 30. Click here for reservations.
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
