Half-day experience and tasting menu at MIL Centro the restaurant of Virgilio Martinez
MIL Immersion Experience | Half-day experience and tasting menu at MIL Centro the restaurant of Virgilio Martinez | Spend the morning in the wilderness of the Sacred Valley foraging for many of the raw ingredients that will eventually make it onto the menu at both Central Restaurant Lima and Mil Centro, before sitting down to a tantalizing 8-course tasting menu.
On the morning of your visit, you’ll be collected via private transfer from your Sacred Valley hotel, taking the short drive to reach MIL Centro by around 9:30 am. Located 3,568m above sea level in the Andes, MIL is both an acclaimed eatery and a working research center, perched right above the ancient circular Inca terraces of Moray.
Upon arrival, you’ll be greeted by your host who will introduce the concept behind the Mil Immersion Experience. Centered around the local environment, the experience is an invitation to see the world from a different perspective and to connect with the millenary traditions of this remote part of Peru.
First, you’ll meet the local communities with whom MIL works their fields: Mullak’as-Misminay and Kacllaraccay. Observe the hundreds of cultivars that make Andean agriculture a magical activity and speak with the farmers about daily life in high altitude, listening to stories entwined in tradition and culture.
Next, it’ll be onto the impressive Moray ruins. Enjoy a panoramic view of the Incan circular terraces as your guide explains the different hypotheses concerning their origin and function. Hear the enigmatic history of one of Peru’s most famous Inca sites before traversing the hillsides surrounding MIL. Become familiar with the variety of native plants that, since ancient times, have been used by locals for their nutritional and medicinal purposes. Pause to collect the dye-yielding and aromatic plants, along with wildflowers and roots, guided by a local expert who will explain their benefits and uses.
You’ll now head inside MIL’s exhibition space where collaborations with artists, collectors, producers and artisans are all displayed. Feast your eyes on the weavings of women-led collectives and their botanical dyeing workshop; touch the ceramics made from local clay; taste chocolate crafted with Chuncho, the native Cusqueñan cacao, and behold the vast collection of seeds of high-altitude cultivars.
It’ll then finally be time to sample the exquisite food and drink of MIL. Begin by sipping your way through a series of different alcoholic concoctions that will deepen your immersion in the Andean world, before you arrive at your final destination: the gastronomic experience.
The MIL signature tasting menu consists of eight different courses, inspired by the eight different ecosystems found in the environment surrounding the restaurant. As you taste your way through this innovative, molecular menu, you’ll recognize some of the very ingredients you harvested yourself earlier in the morning.
Once you have enjoyed a long and delicious lunch, you’ll be taken back to your Sacred Valley hotel or onto your next activity of the day.
Important Information
- As a guide, the restaurant recommends the following itinerary:
9:30 am – Welcome and orientation
09:45 – Visit the fields and experience daily local life
10:00 – View of Moray terraces from MIL
10:30 – Botanical Path and foraging
11:40 – Mater Projects exhibition center
12:15 – Tasting Menu Experience in eight Moments (eight courses)
- We recommend comfortable shoes and layering your clothes and bundling up, as the temperature is likely to drop drastically after 2 pm.
