Virgilio Martinez is the Peruvian chef behind Central in Lima, the restaurant named the World’s Best Restaurant by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2023 and widely regarded as the defining Latin American fine-dining restaurant of the current era. Born 25 August 1977 in Lima, Peru, Martinez opened Central in the Miraflores district of Lima in 2009 with a small team and moved to the current Barranco location in 2018. The restaurant’s altitude-based tasting menu, which traces Peruvian ecosystems from 50 feet below sea level to more than 14,000 feet above it, is the most-cited fine-dining menu concept of the 2010s and 2020s.
Martinez leads Central alongside his wife, the chef Pia Leon, who also runs her own restaurant Kjolle in Lima and was named The World’s Best Female Chef in 2021. Their shared Mater Iniciativa research laboratory, founded in 2013, investigates the biodiversity of Peruvian ecosystems through expeditions into the Andes, the Amazon and the coastal deserts, and the findings feed directly into the Central menu. In 2018 Martinez opened Mil in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, and in 2024 he opened Estela in Madrid. Central continues to anchor Latin American fine dining as of 2026.
TL;DR
- Peruvian chef born 25 August 1977 in Lima, Peru
- Opened Central in Miraflores, Lima in 2009; moved to Barranco in 2018
- Central named World’s Best Restaurant by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2023
- Altitude menu traces Peruvian ecosystems from -50 to +14,000 feet
- Works with wife Pia Leon (World’s Best Female Chef 2021; runs Kjolle)
- Mater Iniciativa research lab (2013); Mil in Sacred Valley (2018); Estela Madrid (2024)
Virgilio Martinez key facts
| Born | 25 August 1977, Lima, Peru |
| Full name | Virgilio Martinez Veliz |
| Nationality | Peruvian |
| Flagship restaurant | Central, Barranco, Lima (opened 2009; relocated to Barranco 2018) |
| Recognition | World’s Best Restaurant 2023 (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants) |
| Training | Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa; Le Cordon Bleu London; Astrid y Gastón Lima under Gaston Acurio |
| Other restaurants | Kjolle (Pia Leon, Lima); Mil (Sacred Valley, 2018); Estela (Madrid, 2024); Mater Iniciativa research lab |
Early life and training of Virgilio Martinez
Martinez was born on 25 August 1977 in Lima, Peru, into a middle-class professional family. His parents encouraged a legal or medical career, and he initially studied law for two years at the Universidad de Lima. In his early twenties he left law school and took up skateboarding semi-professionally, travelling internationally as part of the Peruvian skateboard scene. He has described the skating years as the period that shaped his later interest in exploration, ingredient discovery, and travel-based menu development.
In the late 1990s Martinez enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, and later continued his culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu London. He completed stages at Can Fabes and Celler de Can Roca in Spain, and at Astrid y Gaston in Lima under Gaston Acurio, who became the central mentor for the Peruvian fine-dining generation that included Martinez. By the mid-2000s he had worked at Lutèce in New York and at Four Seasons hotel kitchens in London and Bogotá.
In 2009 Martinez returned to Lima and opened Central in the Miraflores district with a short menu focused on Peruvian ingredients. The early Central was small and relatively unknown internationally, but by 2013 it had entered The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The same year Martinez co-founded Mater Iniciativa with his sister Malena, a research laboratory that sent teams into Peruvian ecosystems to document ingredients. By 2015 Central was in the global top 5. In 2018 the restaurant moved to its current Barranco location, a three-building complex that also houses Kjolle (run by Martinez’s wife Pia Leon) and Mayo (a bar).
Virgilio Martinez career timeline
- 25 August 1977: Born in Lima, Peru
- Late 1990s: Enrolls at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, then Le Cordon Bleu London
- 2000s: Stages at Can Fabes and Celler de Can Roca in Spain
- Mid-2000s: Works at Lutèce (NYC) and Four Seasons hotel kitchens in London and Bogotá
- Mid-2000s: Returns to Lima; cooks at Astrid y Gaston under Gaston Acurio
- 2009: Opens Central in the Miraflores district of Lima
- 2013: Central enters The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for the first time
- 2013: Co-founds Mater Iniciativa with sister Malena Martinez
- 2014: Marries chef Pia Leon
- 2015: Central ranked 4th best restaurant in the world (50 Best)
- 2018: Relocates Central to Barranco into a three-building complex with Kjolle and Mayo
- 2018: Opens Mil in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, at 3,680 metres altitude
- 2018: Opens Lima Floral in London (closed 2020)
- 2021: Pia Leon named The World’s Best Female Chef
- 2023: Central named The World’s Best Restaurant at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards
- 2024: Opens Estela in Madrid
- 2025: Mater Iniciativa research laboratory continues ecosystem expeditions
- 2026: Central, Kjolle, Mil and Estela continue to operate; Central remains active through 2026
Virgilio Martinez signature style: altitude menu and biodiversity
Martinez’s central argument is that Peruvian cuisine is defined by the country’s ecosystem diversity, from the Pacific coast through the Andes into the Amazon, and that a fine-dining menu can be structured as a vertical journey through those ecosystems. The Central altitude menu, introduced in the early 2010s and refined continuously since, presents 15-20 courses each tied to a specific altitude and ecosystem, from marine-level cold-water seaweed and shellfish up through valley vegetables, mountain tubers and Andean meats to the high-altitude 14,000-foot ecosystems. The menu is a research document as much as a tasting menu.
The second defining element is Mater Iniciativa. Founded in 2013 with his sister Malena Martinez, the research laboratory sends multi-disciplinary teams into Peruvian ecosystems to document indigenous ingredients, cooking methods and agricultural knowledge. Findings feed directly into the Central menu and the Mil restaurant in the Sacred Valley, which opened in 2018 at 3,680 metres altitude with a menu built entirely around the Cusco high-Andean ecosystem. The Mater Iniciativa argument, that fine dining should function as a research instrument, has been widely influential.
The third pillar is the husband-wife collaboration with Pia Leon. Martinez and Leon married in 2014 and have run Central together since, with Leon leading the adjacent Kjolle (opened 2018) and named World’s Best Female Chef in 2021. The partnership with Leon is one of the most visible chef-couple collaborations in current fine dining and sits alongside adjacent Latin American fine-dining teams. The restaurant group also works closely with Enrique Olvera in Mexico and Mitsuharu Tsumura at Maido in Lima as the three defining Latin American fine-dining kitchens of the era.
Notable dishes at Central
Several Central dishes have become reference points in contemporary Peruvian cooking. The diverse types of corn presentation (maiz, airampo, kiwicha) mapped across altitude levels is one of the defining set pieces. The extremely low-altitude marine course featuring fresh Pacific shellfish, the high-altitude tuber course featuring dozens of Andean potato and oca varieties, and the closing ecosystem course anchored in cacao or coca leaf are long-running menu pillars. The cookbook Central (Phaidon, 2016) documents the restaurant’s altitude approach and is the most-cited Peruvian fine-dining book of the decade. The 2015 Netflix Chef’s Table Season 3 episode on Martinez introduced the altitude menu to a global audience.
Virgilio Martinez awards and recognition
- 2013: Central enters The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list
- 2014: Marries chef Pia Leon
- 2015: Central ranked 4th best restaurant in the world
- 2016: Central Latin America’s Best Restaurant
- 2017: Chef’s Choice Award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
- 2018: Central relocates to Barranco; Mil opens in Sacred Valley
- 2021: Pia Leon named The World’s Best Female Chef
- 2022: Central named Best Restaurant in South America
- 2023: Central named The World’s Best Restaurant by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
- 2024: Opens Estela in Madrid
- 2025-2026: Central, Kjolle, Mil and Estela continue full operations
Virgilio Martinez impact on Latin American cuisine
Martinez’s most concrete contribution is the altitude-menu concept and the biodiversity argument it carries. Before Central, Peruvian cuisine internationally was primarily associated with ceviche, pisco sour and the wider Lima coastal tradition. The altitude menu reframed Peruvian food as a vertical ecosystem narrative, covering the Pacific coast, the Andean altitudes and the Amazon basin in a single tasting-menu journey, and the approach has been widely discussed in Latin American fine dining since.
The second contribution is Mater Iniciativa. The research-laboratory model, in which restaurant menus are driven by multi-disciplinary ecosystem research, has been adopted in different registers by chefs including René Redzepi at Noma (research kitchen) and by other Latin American fine-dining restaurants. The approach argues that fine dining should generate knowledge rather than just serve food, and it has shaped how a generation of younger Latin American chefs think about their restaurants.
Within the current Latin American fine-dining generation Martinez sits alongside Enrique Olvera at Pujol in Mexico City and Mitsuharu Tsumura at Maido in Lima as the defining chefs of the era. The three have been profiled together repeatedly, and together they anchor Latin American fine dining at the global top tier for the first time in the category’s history.
Virgilio Martinez FAQ
Was Central named World’s Best Restaurant?
Yes. Central was named The World’s Best Restaurant at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in 2023, the first time a Peruvian restaurant earned the top position. The award came after Central had spent a decade in the global top 20 and recognised the altitude menu, the Mater Iniciativa research work, and the wider Peruvian fine-dining project.
What is the altitude menu?
The Central tasting menu structured as a vertical journey through Peruvian ecosystems, from 50 feet below sea level (Pacific marine) through coastal, valley, Andean and high-altitude courses up to 14,000 feet. Each course is tied to a specific altitude and ecosystem, with ingredients sourced directly from that zone. The approach has been developed continuously since the early 2010s.
Who is Pia Leon?
Pia Leon is Martinez’s wife and creative partner at Central. She leads the adjacent Kjolle restaurant in the same Barranco complex and was named The World’s Best Female Chef in 2021 at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. The couple married in 2014 and have worked together at Central since.
What is Mater Iniciativa?
The research laboratory Martinez co-founded with his sister Malena in 2013. Mater Iniciativa sends multi-disciplinary teams into Peruvian ecosystems to document indigenous ingredients, cooking methods and agricultural knowledge. Findings feed directly into the Central menu, the Mil restaurant in the Sacred Valley, and the wider Martinez group.
What is Mil?
Martinez’s restaurant in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, opened in 2018 at 3,680 metres altitude. Mil operates as an outpost of the Central project, with a menu built entirely around high-Andean ingredients grown on adjacent Inca-terrace fields. The restaurant is one of the highest-altitude fine-dining venues in the world.
What is next for Virgilio Martinez
Central, Kjolle, Mil and the 2024 Madrid opening Estela continue to operate as of 2026. Mater Iniciativa continues its ecosystem research, and Martinez remains active on the international chef circuit. His public Instagram (@virgiliocentral) is the best source for current updates.
