Virgilio Martínez: 'What we do has to be special'

“Last year we got number two, I said, ‘Why not? Let’s continue working the way we're doing, and it should happen, organically – if we, of course, continue with determination.”

I’m speaking to chef Virgilio Martínez, post-Central’s win at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 in Valencia. The Lima, Peru restaurant has topped Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants numerous times but until now had not topped the World’s list, much to many people’s chagrin. I’m asking if he ever thought tonight would happen and what’s different this time.

“We probably feel more mature. I remember, in 2014, maybe the first time we came to The World’s 50 Best in London and we got number 50, I think. So we were the worst of the best!” he says, prompting laughs from those few that have yet to set off for the event’s afterparty, post-press conference.

“We were so naive, maybe trying to be humble without being humble. And now you get to understand how this industry works and the things we need to do right and wrong.”

Despite most predicting this would indeed be Central’s year, there was a palpable tension in the Hemisfèric auditorium at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències as the food world’s elite waited for the winning name to be plucked from an envelope. Could Disfrutar, the Barcelona restaurant keeping elBulli’s modernist sorcery alive, pip them to the prize?

The result that most people wanted came to be however and even though Martínez and the rest of the Central team, including his wife chef Pía León and sister Malena, who heads up Central’s research arm, Mater Iniciativa no doubt felt this was their strongest chance to date, the jubilation was real. They know how important this could be in the long term – for them and Peru.

“It’s one step, which is important, but then we can continue with things that are actually our main goals, which are a lot. Like going to Cusco [where they have restaurant Mil] and opening something in the Amazon – [which] is still on the agenda.”

_{Front from left: Virgilio Martínez, Pía León and Malena Martínez, and team}

But with Disfrutar at their heels, Madrid’s Diverxo at number three on the list and Copenhagen’s Alchemist at number five, there’s no doubt the modernists are back, something we predicted in our 2023 trends report. I ask Martínez whether Central’s win marks a natural end to the dominance of locavorism, from the likes of Central and Noma, in the upper echelons of trend-setting lists like these. He says he actually sees a lot of similarities between the ‘competing’ restaurants.

“Fine dining is always changing and now there are many changes so quick and I assume that Disfrutar, Diverxo, [and] Alchemist are so close to what we do in terms of hard work, vision and thinking about what’s next. We don't actually know what’s going to be next in terms of trends, but I would say, in our case, what we do has to be special because we are a representation of our territory, our mega diversity, our culture.”

It's the ‘we’ of course that makes Central tick.

“Malena is the organiser and a good brain for researching and investigation and working with particularly different fields like anthropology, social projects and working with communities. Pia makes things work, she's the machine. And I’m dropping the crazy ideas, and they say if they work or not,” he says, describing their dynamic.

Now that they have finally won it, the pressure may be off in a sense (winners of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants are now no longer eligible for consideration for the list again, instead joining a ‘Best of the best’ hall of fame). Or of course, they may come under greater scrutiny than ever before.

“Lots of people are watching us… as long as we are responsible and we are coherent, everything will make sense, I think it will work.”

Everything seems to be working just fine so far.