Food and drink are where the 1K shines. Mexican-American chef Juan Carlos Récamier heads up the kitchen, with a French and Peruvian team looking after the menu for both the Peruvian restaurant, Inka, and the cocktail bar, La Mezcaleria.
Récamier’s food is ingredient-driven and refreshingly unfussy, pandering to authenticity rather than the usual whims of hotel dining. On the Peruvian side, that means chunkily cut ceviche (€15/£13), made with fish directly sourced from Corsica and served the traditional way with sweet potato and toasted corn. Figuratively heading north to Mexico, tacos (from €5.50/£5) are topped with properly spicy and messy-to-eat options such as cochon carnitas (pulled pork) and tinga de poulet (shredded chicken).
To drink, La Mezcaleria’s offering includes granitas, palomas and mules – although the gorgeously smokey celery-mezcal negroni (€15/£13) is a stand-out. The décor is worthy of the most OTT Day of the Dead celebration, but those in the know try to get into the more sultry La Malicia, an invite-only bar-within-a-bar hidden behind a wardrobe. The hotel’s “official” second bar is dedicated to pisco, and makes up for its thoroughfare lobby-setting with an extensive cocktail list and wall of multicoloured infusions.
I visited in the early days of post-Covid reopening, so as well as the menu for Inka and La Mezcaleria being served together en terrasse, breakfast options were limited. Expect more conventional continental flavours for petit déjeuner in normal times.
