Gaston Acurio wins World's 50 Best Lifetime Achievement Award

The ambassador for Peruvian cuisine and chef of Lima’s Astrid y Gaston restaurant has been recognised as part of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, which will take place on 19 June at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. 

Acurio, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu, founded his flagship restaurant, Astrid y Gaston in 1994 with wife Astrid Gutsche in Lima’s Miraflores district. 

The restaurant was voted number one in the inaugural Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and has now been relocated to a larger site in the San Isidro district. 

The chef has now opened multiple restaurants, including Café del Museo at the Larco Museum in Lima; La Mar Cevichería with sites in Colombia; Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Panama; Panchita, a Peruvian anticuchería in Miraflores, Lima; Madam Tusana chifa franchise offering Chinese-Peruvian fusion dining in Lima and Santiago; Yakumanka in Barcelona; and Tanta in Chicago.

Acurio’s cooking initially had a French focus as a result of his training, but he is now renowned for his signature Peruvian dishes including ceviche; guinea pig pancakes; and purple potatoes stuffed with Arabian and Andean scented lamb. 

The chef, described as “a driving force in Peruvian cooking” by group editor of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants William Drew, joins a prestigious group of international chefs who have been awarded the Diners Club accolade, including Heston Blumenthal, Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse, Alain Passard and Joel Robuchon.

“This award doesn’t only represent the work of a chef committed for over 20 years to spreading the culture of Peru in the world. It also recognises a whole movement of Peruvian chefs and producers who work together to make the world fall in love with the best of our country’s land, people and history,” says Acurio

“It also honours a community of chefs that today, all over the world, work in unison carrying the message of gastronomy as a weapon of peace and well-being.”