XOMA Gastronómico — Restaurant in Lima Metropolitan Area

TLDR- The staff took great care of us. The food was transcendent. The highest quality and variety. All dishes were cooked to perfection. We had the tasting menu, but they also serve more common fare, like burgers and pizza, and even that was on another level. The best way to experience XOMA is to go to the restaurant and sit down. The music was wonderful, the lighting perfect, the staff was attentive and informative. All of them had a mask on at all times and the tables were adequately spaced. They do offer take out and delivery as a result of the pandemic. But to get the full sense of why I feel that this restaurant is the BEST in Lima, read on...

The Long Version

We are greeted with a smile behind the mask of Jorge (The Bartender). He looks at our reservation and walks us into the main dining area where 6 tables are situated with a clear view into the Kitchen. The lighting and music set the ambiance perfectly. We sit down at our table for two and they tell us that, because of the pandemic, they have had to change their menu to include more common fare to appeal to more people in the area. That is understandable, but since I wanted this to be a special experience, me and my wife decided to politely excuse ourselves.

Where the experience really begins Kevin, our waiter, literally runs out of the restaurant to get us and tell us that, just for us, they would like to prepare an abbreviated tasting menu. They knew it was our anniversary and that we wanted something special, just for us. So we went back...

The drinks Jorge comes out to talk to us about the aperitifs. I chose the Negroni. It was chilled with a candy orange gel on the side of the glass that would add color to the dink over time. It tasted amazing. My wife had a "Peruvian House Punch" that had many typical Peruvian fruit flavors along with the subtle sweetness of Peruvian sourced honey. Garnished with sweet herbs and a wedge of dehydrated pineapple, the drink was balanced and delicious!

The tasting menu.... I will tell you that each dish was fantastic; perfectly plated and delicious. Many of the essential Peruvian ingredients and flavors were covered. From the many types of tubers from the mountains, to the fresh seafood from the coast. Chef Ralf was able to lift some of the most humble ingredients to beyond the highest peaks of my expectations.

Molleja... Molleja is chicken gizzard. It is a humble ingredient usually relegated to soups and stocks. Not in the mind of Chef Ralf. He was able to make it beyond delicious through a process of marination and combination with semi sweet tubers from the mountains of Peru, and a demiglace that brought a perfect "darkness" to the dish... I will never see this humble ingredient the same way again... It was perfect!

My Favorite Dish Chef Ralf even took note of my ethnicity, and built a dish around that. He came out to present a beef based dish that would transport us back home. It was beef with rice plated beautifully. With hints of cocoa and bacon slices on top, he met his goal...

The last dish.... Chef Ralf came out with a tray and told us a story about his training in France and how fragrance plays a large role in the culinary experience. He asks us to present our hands... He sprays them with rose water and places a paste and meringue along with dehydrated rose meringue on our hands... Just at that moment... Kevin puts on "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran on the restaurant speakers for us to enjoy this final "dish". We eat our final mouthful of delicious desert, and our journey is complete.

Chef Ralf, Kevin, Jorge, and all of the rest of the staff went above and beyond for complete strangers, simply to give us an unforgettable anniversary. That is how much they love what they do. I guarantee you will not have the same experience that we did at XOMA, but I can also guarantee that it will be just as memorable. This is the best restaurant in Lima, not just for the food, but for the experience... I implore you to go and feel, taste, smell, touch, and hear it...

When you first enter at Xoma, what welcomes you is a calm cozy atmosphere. And something unusual begins Immediately three of your senses are engaged Vision, hearing and smell bring you to the atmosphere this particular place wants to take you Soft lights, delicate background music and a delicate presence of ancestral scents take you exactly there When you seat at your table the soft patterned light increases delicately to let you easily see what will be on the table and what is on the lists promptly given by the maître We went for a tasting and we couldn’t choose better The maître began to tell us abut the recipes and their connection to the land and its traditions It was interesting and detailed just the needed … perfect! Now your journey can begin We began with two drink recipes served into carved stone The taste was incredibly new and so richly textured Every detail keeps you into this place … everything smells, sounds and feels of ancestral memories Every recipe is presented on earthly materials … stone, wood, ceramic … This ancestral atmosphere surrounds you totally Maître and waiters are perfectly synchronized, presenting the recipes with outstanding mastery The maître himself tell us the story behind any and every recipe Taste and touch are the other two senses engaged all along this journey A journey into a multi sensorial experience Not the usual dinner in a nice restaurant with good food. Not the only, even nice, go to the restaurant, eat and go home! You do not just eat food here! You take a journey into a multi sensorial experience This people brings you to the roots of this land, entwine you with its traditions and immerse you into its savories This people give respect to their food, to their traditions and has the humbleness needed to give food and traditions the main role they deserve At Xoma you don’t go to put your legs under a table and to eat a dinner, you experience a culinary multi sensorial journey into the origins of this ancient land Nowadays you can eat everything and in anyway, nicely or not, in luxurious place or not, but Xoma is the needed missing link between food and the joy of traditions, cuisine and history injected into your heart and soul during a mesmerizingly...

I have been here twice and found both experiences disappointing.

The first time was late on a Friday night around 9:30. They had only a couple available dishes to choose from, which we assumed was due to the timing of our arrival. The food was fine.

Hoping to experience what they had to offer, I made a reservation for the second night. I showed up on time and it looked closed, so I called to make sure they were open. I was informed I had to wait 10 minutes so they could finish celebrating inside. Odd, seeing as I had a reservation made well in advance for this time, but ok we waited.

As the waiter gave us the menu, he informed us they didn't have a "couple" menu items and listed nearly half the menu. Disheartened, we still found things to order. When we ordered we were informed one of the dishes we selected was also unavailable. Again, we made a switch and ordered another dish.

Relieved and ready to enjoy a dinner, the waiter comes back about 5 minutes later to inform us that another dish we ordered was ALSO unavailable.

At this point, we said thank you but we will eat somewhere else. If you're only going to serve 6 things, please advertise that on your menu and I would have gone somewhere else in the first place.

Xoma canceled my reservation and we moved on. Now I get charged for the reservation. We were the only ones in the restaurant and wanted to give them our money--despite them not honoring my reservation in the first place. Making me pay for a table I prevented them from sitting or food they had bought in preparation would be understandable. Making me pay for an empty restaurant with no food is disrespectful to me.

The food is fine, but it is so poorly ran you have to hope to get the...