New Peruvian restaurants in Toronto: 2 have been licensed in the past year, tracked daily from the City of Toronto business-licence registry (chains excluded). The most recent is CHE PERU, first seen 5 months ago.
Ceviche, lomo saltado, anticuchos. The scene has grown noticeably in the last five years - most spots are first-generation owned and lean coastal-Lima rather than highland.
Start with ceviche — fresh fish cured in leche de tigre (lime juice, ají amarillo, red onion, cilantro), often served with choclo and sweet potato. Lomo saltado is the other non-negotiable: stir-fried sirloin with soy sauce, tomatoes, and ají amarillo over rice and fries, a dish that shows how Chinese immigration shaped Peruvian cooking. If anticuchos (grilled beef heart skewers) are on the menu, order them.
Both Che Peru (852 Eglinton Ave W) and Limaq Peruvian Cuisine (1828 St Clair Ave W) lean coastal-Lima, so ceviche and lomo saltado are reasonable bets at either spot.
Lomo saltado is a Peruvian stir-fry of sirloin strips, tomatoes, red onion, and ají amarillo chilli, finished with soy sauce and served over white rice with a side of fries mixed in. The soy sauce is not fusion — it's the direct result of 19th-century Cantonese immigration to Peru, and the dish has been standard Lima home cooking for over a century. The fries go into the wok at the end, absorbing the pan juices.
Toronto's newest Peruvian spots are both in West Toronto: Che Peru at 852 Eglinton Ave W (a Peruvian-Argentinian sit-down kitchen) and Limaq Peruvian Cuisine at 1828 St Clair Ave W (counter-service, home-style cooking). The overall Peruvian scene in the city is small but growing — most spots are first-generation owned and concentrate in the west end.
The two cuisines share very little beyond chilli peppers. Peruvian cooking pivots on ají amarillo and ají panca — two Andean chillies with fruity, moderate heat — while Mexican cooking draws from a much wider range including chipotles, anchos, and serranos in a different flavour register entirely. Peruvian dishes like ceviche, causa (cold potato terrine), and lomo saltado have no Mexican equivalents, and Japanese and Chinese immigration left a permanent mark on Lima's cooking that Mexican cuisine doesn't share.
Mildly to moderately — ají amarillo, the workhorse chilli, has fruity heat roughly comparable to a jalapeño. Most ceviche and lomo saltado land in a range that non-spice eaters handle fine. Rocoto (a rounder, hotter chilli) shows up in some sauces and can be genuinely hot, but it's usually added as a condiment rather than cooked into every dish. If you're heat-sensitive, ask before ordering any sauce on the side.
"First seen" reflects when each restaurant first surfaced in our combined evidence — City permit, public-health inspection, social media — usually within a few weeks of opening, but a permit can lead actual opening by months. How we verify ›
Che Peru is a family-owned Peruvian-Argentinian kitchen on Eglinton Ave W in West Toronto, serving the South American diaspora with a full sit-down menu rooted in both cuisines.
Limaq Peruvian Cuisine, a casual counter-service restaurant on St Clair Ave W in West Toronto, specializes in home-style Peruvian cooking from a small independent kitchen.
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