Suspiro a la limena is Lima's signature dessert: a layer of manjar blanco (dulce de leche) topped with port-flavoured Italian meringue and dusted with cinnamon, served in a glass.
The name 'sigh of a Lima woman' was given by 19th-century poet and writer Jose Galvez Barrenechea to his wife Amparo Ayarza's recipe. The dish formalised in mid-19th-century Lima patisseries; queso fresco-fortified manjar replaced earlier almond-thickened versions. Now the canonical end of every criolla meal in Lima.
4 editor picks for Suspiro a la Limena in Lima, ranked by editorial score. All Lima signature dishes · Suspiro a la Limena across every city.
Astrid y Gaston ★ 4.7
san-isidro · Av Paz Soldan 290, San Isidro, Lima 15073
Astrid y Gaston at Casa Moreyra in San Isidro is Gaston Acurio and Astrid Gutsche's 1994 flagship, in a 17th-century San Isidro hacienda from 2014.
Isolina ★ 4.6
barranco · Av San Martin 101, Barranco, Lima 15063
Isolina at Av San Martin 101 in Barranco is Jose del Castillo's 2015 criolla taberna, a tribute to his mother Isolina Vargas and her Lima home cooking.
Cosme ★ 4.5
san-isidro · Calle Tudela y Varela 162, San Isidro, Lima 15073
Cosme at Calle Tudela y Varela 162 in San Isidro is chef James Berckemeyer's comfort-Peruvian room, opened 2015 after training under Gaston Acurio.
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.