7 Food Experiences You Have to Have in Cusco Before You Die

3. Fill your boots with steak at Baco

Oh man, if you love steak, make your bed in Baco, fill your belly to the brim and fall into the most wonderful meat-induced coma you’ll ever find yourself in. Baco — covered from floor to ceiling in paintings of naked ladies — served me my perfect, almost still breathing steak with no raised eyebrows when my answer was “as rare as possible,” when asked how I wanted it to come. Order an antipasti for starters before devouring the fleshy BBQ’d meat slapped on the table in front of you. The service is impeccable, atmosphere calm & the toilets actually smell so good you won’t want to leave.

4. Fine dine in Uchu

As you walk into Uchu, you immediately enter the sublime and all traces of the day melt languidly into a perfectly poured glass of smooth Chilean Carmenere. The décor is simple and cool, so as not to distract too much from the stone-cooked alpaca steak and perfectly pureed sweet potato mash on the table in front of you.

5. Learn to cook with Marcello Batata

One of the best cooking classes I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking, Marcello Batatas cooking class is hidden in a dark courtyard just a couple of blocks from the Plaza de Armas. You begin with an education on Peruvian food, with tasters, followed by a touchy-feeling session with corn, potatoes, coca leaves and quinoa. Fruit tasting, pisco sours making class and tasters, ceviche and then a flaming lesson in how to make lomo saltada. By the time you come to demolish your saltada, you’ve had so many tasters you’re going to want to eat your way around Peru for the rest of your life.

6. Snack on tapas at Cicciolina

A dark refuge from the intense Cusco sun, Cicciolina, Baco’s more introverted cousin, serves up the finest tapas you could ever dream of having 3000 metres above sea level. From the ceiling hang huge garlands of dried chilis, tiny little flavour grenades that detonate with explosive force in your mouth.

7. Eat a guinea-pig on a stick from the street

C’mon, have the experience once, just for fun. Although I don’t expect you’ll want to repeat it anytime soon.