A taste of Peru in Geneva: Pachacamac, rue Voltaire

Before the trip, a first taste of Peru

In Peru, the table matters as much as the landscapes. Before you leave, a Peruvian meal puts a taste to the words you will read on Lima’s menus: leche de tigre, ají amarillo, causa, lomo saltado. Once you are back, it lets you find those flavours again without boarding a plane.

In Geneva, Pachacamac has been cooking Peruvian food since 2007. Since 2013, the restaurant has been at 11 rue Voltaire, opposite the ibis Genève Centre Gare hotel, a few minutes’ walk from Cornavin station.

The name of a sanctuary south of Lima

Pachacamac is first of all a place: a large pre-Hispanic sanctuary near the ocean, some thirty kilometres south of central Lima, in the district of Lurín. Its oracle drew pilgrims for centuries; Peru’s Ministry of Culture now runs a site museum there. The visit fits easily into a stay in Lima, as our page Lima and surroundings explains.

The Geneva restaurant owes its name to a family story. According to GaultMillau, Berta and Luis Zapata had opened a restaurant in their holiday home in Pachacamac. Their daughter Cecilia, a self-taught cook who had settled in Geneva, gave that name to the restaurant she founded in tribute to her parents.

A family table on rue Voltaire

Cecilia Zapata opened Pachacamac in 2007 at La Gradelle, above the Eaux-Vives park, then moved it to rue Voltaire in 2013. GaultMillau hailed her as a “pioneer of Peruvian gastronomy in Switzerland”. Since her death in 2022, her eldest daughter, Alexandra Zapata, has run the restaurant and its kitchen.

On its website, the restaurant introduces its team: Eduardo Angulo, sommelier and head waiter, chooses the wines; Alfredo prepares the ceviches following Cecilia Zapata’s recipe; Yair is in charge of the hot dishes. The dining room, decorated with objects brought back from travels, looks straight into the kitchen.

What the menu teaches you before the trip

On 28 October 2026, the menu listed around ten starters, six main courses and a few desserts; it changes with the seasons, and you will find it on the restaurant’s website. Almost every dish points to a region of Peru or to one of the communities that shaped its cuisine: a good introduction to what you will taste there.

The coast and its ceviche

Ceviche comes in four versions here. The Clásico follows the basic recipe: coley marinated in lime juice with ají limo chilli, coriander and onion, served with sweet potato and choclo corn. In Peru, ceviche is traditionally eaten at lunchtime, and in 2023 UNESCO inscribed the practices around it on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. To recognise the other classics, see the dishes to discover.

Japan and China on the plate

Nikkei cuisine was born of Japanese immigration: on 3 April 1899, the Sakura Maru landed 790 immigrants at Callao, hired to work on the sugar haciendas of the coast. At Pachacamac you can taste it in the Sensei ceviche, with tuna, Nikkei leche de tigre and sesame.

Chifa comes from the Chinese immigrants who arrived from 1849 onwards, most of them from the province of Canton. Its most visible technique, wok stir-frying, gave rise to lomo saltado, a great classic of Peruvian menus. The chef’s speciality, lomo al wok, is inspired by it: bite-sized pieces of beef fillet stir-fried to order, with ají amarillo and oven-roasted potatoes.

From the Andes to criolla cooking

Carapulcra, which PromPerú counts among the oldest dishes in the country, is a stew of papa seca, a dried potato, with ají panca chilli and peanuts; Pachacamac serves it with pork belly cooked for 24 hours. Seco de carne, a beef stew with coriander, is made here with chicha de jora, a fermented corn drink. Chillies, choclo and papa seca are explained on our page about ingredients.

Desserts

Tiramisu gets a twist with pisco, Peru’s grape brandy, and lime; the menu also offers lúcuma ice cream, lúcuma being a fruit from Peru, and a torta tres leches, the three-milk cake.

Good to know before booking

• Address: rue Voltaire 11, 1201 Geneva, opposite the ibis Genève Centre Gare hotel, a few minutes’ walk from Cornavin station.
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, for lunch and dinner; Saturday, evening only; closed on Sunday and Monday. For the exact time of a service, book online or call.
• Booking: through the restaurant’s booking module or on +41 22 940 24 37; the restaurant recommends booking ahead.
• Budget: about CHF 75 per person for a starter and a main course, or a main course and a dessert, drinks not included, according to the average price calculated by TheFork. The Limeño menu costs CHF 79; the tasting menu, at CHF 99, changes every month.
• Diets and allergies: the menu flags vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free dishes, and those that are slightly spicy; mention any allergy when you book.
• Groups: private hire of the dining room, catering and a chef at home, on request; see the restaurant’s catering page.

Then, Lima

This Geneva dinner is only a foretaste. In Lima, the same cuisine ranges from neighbourhood cevicherías to fine dining: our selection of places to eat and the guide to reading the menu will help you order there. And if you pass through Lurín, the sanctuary that gave the restaurant its name awaits you.