Picarones are Lima's ring-shaped fritters of sweet potato (camote) and squash (zapallo) dough, deep-fried in vegetable oil and served warm with chancaca (raw cane syrup).
Picarones descend from Spanish-colonial bunuelos adapted in Lima with native sweet potato and Andean squash, recorded as far back as the 1600s. They were the dessert of the African and indigenous Andean communities of viceregal Lima; the Sunday-evening picarones cart is a Lima tradition unbroken since.
3 editor picks for Picarones in Lima, ranked by editorial score. All Lima signature dishes · Picarones across every city.
Picarones Mary ★ 4.7
miraflores · Parque Kennedy, Miraflores, Lima 15074
Picarones Mary at Parque Kennedy in Miraflores Lima is the family picarones cart of 25-plus years, the canonical Lima dessert fry-cake with chancaca syrup.
Anticucheria El Tio Mario ★ 4.6
barranco · Jr. Zepita 214, Barranco, Lima 15063
El Tio Mario at Jr. Zepita 214 in Barranco is the 1987 anticucho and picarones stand beside the Puente de los Suspiros in Lima, the Sunday classic.
El Bolivariano ★ 4.3
pueblo-libre · Pasaje Santa Rosa 291, Pueblo Libre, Lima 15084
El Bolivariano in Pueblo Libre Lima is the criolla institution housed in a republican casona, tracing tradition to the 1780s with the canonical carta.