Robert Ortiz

The Place At Lima (Fitzrovia), Ortiz was head chef in 2012; the restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2013. That award remains the clearest public milestone in a career built around Peruvian cuisine and the way it travels, adapts, and stays recognizably itself across different dining rooms. His career history also includes head chef roles at Lima London and Chakana in Moseley. Together, those posts sketch a path that is less about spectacle than steady refinement: a chef moving through kitchens while keeping his focus on the same culinary vocabulary, learning how to carry Peru with him without weighing it down.

The Method The method is direct: Peruvian flavors, fresh ingredients, and a light hand. Ortiz describes it plainly: “My style of cooking is simple, fresh, light and healthy.” There is no strain toward complication in that sentence, and no need for it in the food itself. That simplicity does not mean isolation from place. His cooking often turns on a meeting point between Peru and the immediate larder around him: “I love to mix Peruvian ingredients with local ones.” The effect is a dialogue rather than a compromise, with the local element sharpening rather than muting the Peruvian one. The result is not dilution, at least in his own terms. “The flavors of Peru are 100% there. They're all the same.” In practice, that means dishes can carry identity through raw roots, game, fruit, smoke, or slow cooking without becoming heavy. The point is precision: to let each component speak, and to let the whole remain lucid.

The Range At Lima Floral, Root Pachamanca was built as a selection of fresh root vegetables mainly served raw. It offers the clearest view of Ortiz’s instinct to keep ingredients close to their first state, preserving texture and freshness so that the dish feels bright, immediate, and open. Pigeon Crudo, also at Lima Floral, used marinated pigeon breast sourced from Wild Harvest, served with tree syrup foie gras and passion fruit. It placed game, fat, fruit, and marinade within one elegant frame, balancing richness with restraint and keeping the raw, precise character intact. For a Christmas menu, Suckling Pig Eucalyptus brought a different register: lightly smoked and slow-cooked suckling pig. Where the root dish stayed raw and the pigeon dish leaned on marinade, this one moved through smoke, time, and the aromatic note of eucalyptus, drawing warmth and depth into the same disciplined style.

Signature

Robert's signature dishes include Root Pachamanca, Pigeon Crudo, and Suckling Pig Eucalyptus.

In Their Words “The flavors of Peru are 100% there. They're all the same.” “My style of cooking is simple, fresh, light and healthy.”