Achille Pirillo, Italian chef and founder of Achille Ristorante, came to Peru after being seduced by the world of cooking. It was the influence of his Italian grandmother’s cooking that inspired him to open this top-notch restaurant in Lima.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”644″ gal_title=”Achille Risto”]Learning about culinary traditions since childhood
It is amazing to meet people like Achille Pirillo who enjoy their profession to its fullest and who embrace their deepest passions. Pirillo comes from a family with roots in the culinary and hotel worlds, and it was his grandmother “la nonna” who motivated his culinary passion.
When Pirillo was six years old, his grandmother started telling him stories about traditional post World War II restaurants of Augusta, Italy, the place of his birth. When he was 13, his family moved to Tuscany, a city of rich and flavorful foods. This gave him the chance to explore new culinary traditions and to enhance his great talent. When he got older he trained in great schools of London, Frankfurt, and Stockholm. At the age of 20, he officially became a chef and started working in two family restaurants in Florence.
With a keen awareness of Peru’s unique culinary traditions, he made his first visit at the age of 30. He based himself in Lima and started making fresh pasta on demand and catering for events. Motivated by his strong entrepreneurial character drive, he eventually decided to take the risk and start a restaurant.
He opened the doors of Achille Ristorante on December 26th of 2018. The restaurant offers traditional and handmade recipes, as well as Italian-Peruvian fusion dishes. The menu always includes a “the recipe of la nonna.”
The recipes of la Nonna
We enjoyed a refreshing homemade lemonade while waiting for our appetizers. The first to arrive was the Parmesan with avocado pesto and golden prawns fusion ( S/ 22). The crispy parmesan combined well with the creamy avocado with prawns. This very rich mixture which was topped with diced tomatoes.
Of the three main courses we sampled, we started with Green Fettuccine a la Sorrentina with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil (S/ 30). The pasta was fresh, and you could taste the basil that was soaked in a traditional Italian tomato sauce, which very juicy and tasty.
Ravioli stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts with a 4-cheese sauce (Photo: Marco Simola/Traveling & Living in Peru)
The next dish we tried was the Ravioli stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts with a 4-cheese sauce (S/ 30). This was one of my favorite dishes: the crispy walnuts in combination with the 4 cheese sauce made it very rich and special, and the pasta helped to balance the otherwise strong flavors
Salmon fillet with tomato sauce, capers and basil (Photo: Marco Simola/ Traveling & Living in Peru)
To finish this trio of delights we were surprised with one of the tops, Salmon fillet with tomato sauce, capers and basil (S/ 45), a generous-portioned tomato sauce bathed the sealed salmon fillets. Each fillet was soaked in the delicious sauce. The Salmon was so smooth that it melted in my mouth, and the acid capers were a great compliment.
Dessert
We could not leave without the traditional Italian dessert “Tiramisu” S/ 12, which is made with la Nonna’s recipe. The presentation was very nice. It came inside of a jar containing a rich cream made with egg, sugar, and mascarpone cheese. This cheese was hidden underneath the cake and sprinkled with cocoa. This was by far the best tiramisu I’ve ever tried!
Overall impressions
It was a super inspiring experience to dine at this restaurant. Achille Pirillo made his dream come true by opening this traditional family restaurant. For Achille Pirillo, the restaurant is a way to stay connected with his Italian roots in spite of the distance. Hopefully, Pirillo’s inspiring story and message can motivate others as well: “Do not give up until you get what you want.”
Achille Ristorante
Avenida Ejercito 608 , Miraflores
Telephone: 966467155
Hours:
Monday – Saturday: 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm | 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Sunday: Closed
