Cicciolina

Cicciolina has been one of Cusco's best-known restaurants for more than 20 years, and it describes itself as the city's gastronomic reference over that time. Its cooking blends Mediterranean ideas with Andean ingredients, and it now runs a restaurant, a café and a picnic and box-lunch service. The restaurant was among the nominees for best restaurant in Cusco in El Comercio's Premios Somos 2025, which listed it at Calle Palacio 110, on the second floor.

The style has always been Italian and Mediterranean dishes with a Peruvian accent. Over the years reviewers have picked out handmade pastas such as beetroot ravioli with pesto, a chicken dish with wild mushroom sauce and spicy polenta, quinoa-crusted prawns, and osso buco served with pumpkin ravioli and topped with local cheese and Andean mint. The menu ranges across seafood, duck, beef, alpaca and chicken, with some vegetarian dishes, and there is a wine list and desserts. Menus change, so treat any single dish as an example rather than a promise.

One of the restaurant's draws is its bar, where tapas are served alongside the full menu, making it a good choice if you want a lighter meal or a glass of wine and a few plates rather than a full dinner. Previous guides have noted that the two menus cannot be mixed, so check with staff when you order. Guides name Tammy Gordon as the owner.

Cicciolina also runs a café with an open kitchen and bakery, serving breakfast, coffee and baked goods, which is useful for an early start before a day trip. The picnic and box-lunch service is worth knowing about if you are heading out to the Sacred Valley or on a long excursion and want something better than a packed sandwich.

The dining room is small, so booking ahead is wise, especially for dinner; reservations are taken online through the restaurant's booking page. Cicciolina suits couples and small groups who want a relaxed but polished evening in the centre, and it is a reliable choice if your group includes people who are not ready for cuy or other Andean specialities. The Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral and the Twelve-Angled Stone are all a short walk away.