Is this the ultimate destination restaurant?

Way up in Peru's mountains, 11,500 feet above sea-level, is a new restaurant from Virgilio Martínez, owner of the sixth-best restaurant in the world, Central

By Sorrel Moseley-Williams

29 June 2018

At Mil, first you touch the earth, and then you eat from it,’ says star Peruvian chef Virgilio Martínez. This ambitious project in the Sacred Valley, 3,500 metres above sea level, has to be Latin America’s most talked-about dining experience. It’s a 45-minute winding drive from Cusco, set on the edge of the ruins at Moray: huge stone depressions cut into the earth, which acted as an agricultural lab for the Incas for centuries. ‘Moray and the different ecosystems up and down the mountains have always inspired Central (his Lima-based restaurant that is currently number five in The World’s 50 Best list),’ says Martínez.

Outside TerracePress

10 years in the making, Mil is a hands-on experience. ‘You can stay all day meditating or harvesting potatoes, depending on how curious you are,’ he says. His team also works with the surrounding indigenous communities, researching and developing new varieties of crops. Even the water is local, collected from Andean snowmelt, while the celebrated Maras pink salt is sourced from nearby ancient terraces.

Bajo Andino, Mil, PeruErnesto Benavides

Housed within a former vicuña breeding centre, there’s no grand entrance: walk along one side of the rustic building then through a passage with herbs strung across three lines, a visual guide to the feast ahead. The two salons – one incorporating a well-stocked bar stocked bar – are decorated simply, allowing the handiwork of the ichu grass roof and drawings of local botanicals to shine.

Mil, PeruCesar del Rio

Mil’s eight-step menu, paired with infusions prepared in house such as sun-dried cacao nib tea, showcases strictly regional ingredients. While similar in style to Central’s Mater Elevations tasting menu (which features sea-bubble algae, dragon's blood tree resin and cassava starch), dishes at Mil are lighter due the altitude’s effect on appetite. (Should you find yourself breathless, literally, an oxygen tank is on hand to perk up O2 levels: Mil is best enjoyed once acclimatised to the region.) 'The focus is on vegetables, tubers and grains,’ says Martínez.) ‘There isn't much protein apart from alpaca and llama. Each course is paired with an in-house distilled infusion, whether it’s our own coffee or beer. Mil isn’t just a restaurant, it’s a laboratory that looks at Peruvian culture, produce and identity.’

Lamb tartare

Tunta, freeze-dried potato that feeds the Kacllaraccay community during the harsh Andean winter, is given a delicious twist as crisps for dipping in tamarillo uchucuta salsa (no cutlery necessary), while a Plateau course showcasing lamb tartare topped with beautiful pink petals is teamed with a crunchy white quinoa salad. Diversity of Corn is a vibrant textural patchwork of corn crisps and seared fresh cheese. Some of Peru’s 4,000 tubers – the sweet yet savoury yellow mashwa and the purple leona – baked in a huatia adobe brick oven, naturally star in their own course, Central Andes, and the differences in each’s consistency and flavour are apparent. If you contributed by harvesting them directly from the mountains, things come full circle, plated on beautiful dishware handcrafted from local wood and stone by Dos Ríos. It doesn’t get any more local than that.

A seven-course meal at Mil will cost about £100. Black Tomato will be offering trips to Mil as part of their Tasting Notes series. milcentro.pe

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