Eating in Teeny Tiny Towns Enroute to the Colca Canyon, Peru

There is a lot of good food everywhere in Peru, but what I loved about eating in Arequipa and the Colca Caynon was finding little gems in teeny tiny towns. There are three restaurants I would recommend.

Zig Zag

A restaurant with really cool bibs

Alpaca Carpaccio. Do I need to say anything else?? What drew us to ZigZag was the creativity of dishes. They say they specialize in Alpandina Gastronomy, which means their foods a rooted in the mountains. They choose unique ingredients from all over Peru and prepare everything with modern and ancient techniques from the Mountains of the Andes and Alps. The atmosphere is traditional and beautiful with a gorgeous spiral staircase and walls that showcase the volcanic white stone that Arequipa is famous for. Keeping with the theme of volcanoes, you can get the different cuts of meat served on volcanic stone. Did I mention they have cool bibs? Check out their website - ZigZag

Chicha

Named after the traditional Peruvian purple corn drink, Chicha Morada

Chicha’s atmosphere was magical. The outdoor patio with wood tables, a white staircase, and Peruvian music was perfect. The kind of atmosphere you want to feel when you start a trip. The food came out on beautiful clay dishes and you can tell there was passion in everyone who worked there. For amazing food and beautiful atmosphere, eat here - CHICHA

Pachamama Hostel

Who knew hostel food could be so good!

Who knew that in a small, desolate, tired town could be a vibrant restaurant in a backpacker hostel?! Pachamama had the best comfort food. It gets pretty cold and uncomfortable at 10,000 feet away from all creature comforts, but the hostel at Pachamama breathed in some good vibes with awesome music, flavorful food, and a wall homemade liquors. This is the first time we tried Peru’s version of popcorn, called canchita. The cocktails were the most unique and best we had on our whole trip, and surprisingly the menu was extensive and everything we had was excellent. Even if you do not stay at the hostel, I recommend grabbing dinner here.