9 Best Restaurants in The Southern Andes and Lake Titicaca, Peru

This laid-back café-bar is the only thing keeping La Casa del Corregidor alive these days. It offers some of the best international food and bar snacks you can find in Puno, as well as a wide variety of craft beers and great coffee drinks. Teas, cocktails, and smoothies—along with sweet treats like cakes and pies—round out the menu. After 9 pm, there's more of a bar scene, with savory food choices like tapas.

With a covered courtyard that evokes images of a traditional yet upscale outdoor picantería, the offerings at celeb-chef Gastón Acurio's stylish bistro provide delicious gourmet twists on typical regional fare. Unlike many restaurants offering fusion menus, the plate sizes here are ample. Be sure to begin your dining experience with one of the their unique pisco cocktails. Reservations are a good idea.

Ask any arequipeño to name their favorite fish joint, and Fory Fay tops the list. For more than two decades, the laid-back, rustic lunch spot has served some of the freshest cebiche (fresh raw fish cured in fresh citrus juices) around, including of erizo (sea urchin). Personable owner Alex Aller grew up in the coastal port of Mollendo and travels there often to check on the catch. Fishing bric-a-brac and photos of New York, where Aller once lived, line the walls.

Chef Mònica Huertas is one of the great promoters of arequipeña cuisine, and, to many, this is the most authentic restaurant in town. She uses many of the same classic recipes—some more than a century old—that her mother and grandmother used, and her preparations of regional standards such as rocoto relleno, adobo, lechón al horno (oven-roasted pork), chupe de camarones, and queso helado (ice cream) have become the definitive recipes. This sprawling picantería with a maze of pleasant patios and dining rooms is a great place to come on the weekend and spend the entire day eating, drinking, and listening to live music.

Located in a beautiful colonial building, there are a couple of intimate tables on the balcony overlooking the Plaza de Armas, while the more lively interior rooms make it seem like a popular place to eat for both Peruvians and travelers. Mojsa, which means "delicious" in the Aymara language, serves reasonably priced Novo Andino cuisine, fused with fresh traditional and criollo flavors in an elegant space with wood floors and a long bar.

Everything here—from its grand iron spiral staircase and sillar stone walls to its Novo Andino cuisine, extensive wine list, and decadent desserts—is done with exquisite detail and attention.

See that spiral staircase? It was built by Gustave Eiffel.

The menu, using a fusion of gourmet techniques from the Alps and Andes, is a harmonious mix of fresh local foods. Try the quinoa potato gnocchi (served with your own choice of mushroom or meat sauce), the meat fondue, or the notable Trios, a prime cut of three meats: alpaca, ostrich, and beef, slow-cooked and served on a hot stone with three dipping sauces. You'll want to make reservations, especially for dinner and, if you book ahead of time, you can reserve one of the romantic balcony nooks.