It isn’t easy to choose one option from the excellent variety of cebiches at this unassuming restaurant in the Jesús María neighborhood, an area that’s off the beaten track for a lot of tourists. Don Fernando specializes in traditional northern Peruvian food, and the quality of their seafood is fantastic. Opt for the elegant purple crab cebiche; the species is only found on the Pacific coast from Ecuador down to northern Chile, and it isn’t commonly served, even in Lima. The leche de tigre is made with smashed crab meat from the claws, which is sweet and delicate, combined with seafood broth, salt, a little bit of garlic, ají limo (a spicy and tasty chile), lime juice, cilantro, and rocotos (red hot Peruvian peppers).

Chef legend Javier Wong has been perfecting the art of cebiche preparation for more than 50 years — which justifies the hoops you have to jump through to dine on his food. His humble restaurant of six to eight tables in the La Victoria neighborhood (which is also his home) has no sign, no walk-ins are allowed, and reservations must be made for lunch from Tuesday to Saturday. His cebiche is worth it, with clean, vibrant flavors from a few excellent ingredients. He only uses Dover sole, which he delicately douses with lime juice, salt, and pepper, before topping it with thinly sliced red onion and chunks of perfectly cooked octopus. While other chefs might fuss with sweet potato, corn, spicy chile, or lettuce, there’s none of that here. Wong lets the fish shine on its own, and he makes all the food right in front of his guests.

This restaurant, which honors Nikkei food, was born in 2018 under the command of three young chefs, Mayra Flores, Coco Tomita, and Renato Kanashiro. The trio don’t shy away from innovation, especially with their daring chirashi cebiche, which breaks any established code to either dish. The chefs top a base of sushi rice with sashimi, a mix of octopus, tuna, salmon, and market fish, then layer on chalaca (a Peruvian blend of onion, cilantro, and chile), smoked yellow chile leche de tigre, and sweet potato tempura. It’s a flavor bomb.

Rafael Osterling’s lunchtime-only cebicheria is all about honoring Peruvian cuisine with quality ingredients in a festive, energetic atmosphere. The namesake cebiche el Mercado might be the most popular choice on offer; the kitchen combines the catch of the day with ají amarillo (Peruvian yellow pepper), leche de tigre, and crunchy fried calamari, creating an outstanding contrast of textures and temperatures.

Since Gastón Acurio opened his cebicheria in Lima 17 years ago, it has expanded to locations in Buenos Aires, Bogotá, San Francisco, Santiago de Chile, and Miami, but the original continues to set the bar for great seafood. The menu features various styles of cebiche, from the popular cebiche de conchas negras (mangrove cockles), to the fusion cebiche Lima-Seoul with Korean chilies, to cebiche de erizos de Marcona (Marcona sea urchin). But if you’re after a cebiche to remember, go for cebiche fogoso, which includes crab, sea urchin, market fish, and mangrove cockles dressed up with a leche de tigre of rocotos (red hot Peruvian peppers).

This restaurant in the Surquillo neighborhood is known for its magnificent display of fresh fish on the counter and the generous portions served at shared tables. Diners usually have their choice of fish and its preparation. Among the cebiches, choose the one made with cabrilla, a fish with dark meat and full flavor from southern Peru that doesn’t show up often in menus. The cebiche is otherwise classic, with refreshing acidity, though chef Héctor Solís does add a few spins by frying the fish skin to a supreme crunch and glazing sweet potato to give it more power.

Jeremy López and Francisco Sime, two former chefs of Latin America 50 Best restaurant Maido, founded this Nikkei cuisine restaurant at the end of 2018. Their cebiche, listed on the menu as Tobiche, has gained plenty of followers. Although overall it’s quite classic, the chefs add a few spins, like twirling sashimi-like slices of market fish into roses and incorporating pearls of cushuro, aka Andean caviar, an alga found in high-altitude waters. It also includes chalaquita (a Peruvian mix of onion, cilantro, and chile), squid chicharron, and a tasty leche de tigre made with smoked yellow pepper that adds a complex layer to the dish.

Even before Lima switched from cebiche long-cooked in lime to the quicker marinating style popular with Nikkei cooks, in northern Peru cebiche was prepared instantly, barely caressed by the lime. When chef Héctor Solís first opened Fiesta, a restaurant that celebrates the culinary heritage of the north, he found customers in Lima still weren’t used to eating fish so raw, and they often ordered the fish cooked. Uncomfortable cooking the fish with lime juice, Solís tried several alternatives before landing on charcoal-grilled cebiche, partly inspired by a Mochica dish from his ancestors. Today, for his grilled murique grouper cebiche, Solís uses a chicha de jora (fermented maize drink), which gives it a complex flavor, and he wraps the fish in corn husks when it goes on the grill. The result is fresh and hearty, arriving at the table in a coat of coal smoke.

This old tavern in the bohemian neighborhood of Barranco, owned by chef José del Castillo, offers traditional and homey recipes from Lima. Isolina’s cebiche, tasty and honest, is considered a classic. It’s made with the freshest catch, boiled sweet potato, red onion, canchita (corn nuts), choclo (large kernel corn), and a perfectly battered fried octopus that adds a touch of elegance to this dish.