ALQA - El Restaurante del Museo — Restaurant in Ollantaytambo

We made reservations for the tasting menu experience on our last night in Ollantaytambo and were seated privately at the back of a stunning garden. As it was evening our server offered to turn on a heat lamp for us and wanted to make sure the background music wasn’t too loud. The tasting menu is a five course meal with wine pairings for each course. Our server would start each course by bringing our wine and offering an explanation about it and the main ingredients in the upcoming dish. Peru isn’t known for it’s viticulture, but there were two wines out of the five we really enjoyed, two we’re glad we tried and the dessert liquor was highly unusual but set off the dessert like a firework. The foods brought to us were delicious. Each dish was prepared with local and regional ingredients and plated like edible art. Granted portions at dinners like this aren’t supposed to be huge. These were the right size so that we left happily satisfied and felt that we got our money’s worth. If you’re looking for a true culinary experience in a magical setting with attentive staff this is definitely your place to go to in the...

ALQA was such an unexpected dinning experience we had in Ollantaytambo! The restaurant was immersed in the art museum serving an elevated “gastronomical” dinning experience.

The menu is unique prepared with local ingredients. The food was cooked and plated perfectly.

The menu was tricky to decipher in the beginning. However, with the help of other Google reviews and Google translate, we settled on a few dishes - alpaca, duck, and trout. We loved the duck and the trout and their respective side dishes. The portions are not too big. I would order multiple entrees to try out a variety of their dishes.

This was probably the best meal we have had in Peru! The price point was higher in comparison to other restaurants. However, given the elevated experience and atmosphere of the restaurant, it is well worth your time.

We also loved checking out the house and the studio where the restaurant is located in. The dinning spaces are scattered in the garden and the...

Alqa

After finishing an amazing trek into Ollantaytambo from the Puma Marka ruins my guide Justino suggested we have lunch at this museum-cum-restaurant. I was down! We entered and met Antonio and were seated at a great table outdoors in the garden. After explaining the philosophy behind the menu of locally-sourced products and the sustainability considerations of the menu combined with over 4000 varieties of potatoes, tubers & corn that Peru cultivates, we started our lunch with an amazing ceviche that was flavored and colored with purple corn and I followed it up with a delicious alpaca burger on a purple potato bun with a micro green salad that was impossibly fresh. Why? It was just picked from their herb garden. I’ll let the pics do the rest of the “talking!” If you find yourself in Ollantaytambo and seek something truly special, unique & delicious…don’t think, just go to Alqa. It’s both a story and meal you will dine on for a long...