Pía León
🇵🇪 Peru · Peruvian cuisine · b. 1987
The Lima chef of Kjolle — World's Best Female Chef 2021 and a leading voice in modern Peruvian cuisine.
Biography
Pía León is a Peruvian chef and one of the central figures in the modern Peruvian fine-dining movement. She is the chef-owner of Kjolle in Lima, the co-owner of Central (currently #1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, 2023) and Mil in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, all in partnership with her husband Virgilio Martínez. In 2021 she was named The World's Best Female Chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants.
León was born in Lima in 1987 and trained at the Le Cordon Bleu school in Lima. She joined Central as a line cook in 2009, shortly after Virgilio Martínez opened the restaurant in Miraflores, and rose through the kitchen to become its head chef by 2013 — a position she held until Central and Kjolle moved together to their current shared building in Barranco in 2018. Kjolle is her own restaurant: it occupies the ground-floor street-side of the building, while Central is on the upper floor, and the two share a research kitchen (Mater Iniciativa) led by Virgilio's sister Malena Martínez.
Kjolle takes its name from a Quechua word for a small native Andean tree with bright yellow flowers, and the menu — a long single tasting menu — is built around mapping the produce of Peru's distinct ecological zones (coast, sierra, jungle, high Andes) onto the plate. The kitchen sources from over 600 small producers across the country, many of them indigenous farmers in the Sacred Valley supplying corn, potato and ulluco varieties not seen in any other restaurant. Kjolle currently ranks #18 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list (2023) and #4 on Latin America's 50 Best.
Cooking Philosophy
Mapping Peru on the plate. León's cooking is organised around Peru's vertical biodiversity — the way moving up or down a few hundred metres in the Andes produces entirely different ecosystems, ingredients and culinary traditions. Each Kjolle menu is a deliberate traverse of those ecosystems, sourced through Mater Iniciativa's network of more than 600 small Peruvian producers.
Restaurants
- KjolleBarranco, Lima, Peru
Her flagship; opened 2018 in the same Barranco building as Central. Ranked #18 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants (2023).
- CentralBarranco, Lima, Peru
Co-owned with Virgilio Martínez. #1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants (2023).
- MilMoray, Sacred Valley, Peru
Co-owned with Virgilio Martínez; sits at 3,680m next to the Moray Inca agricultural terraces.
- MAZTokyo, Japan
Sister restaurant of Central opened in 2022; one Michelin star in the 2024 Tokyo guide.
Awards & Recognition
- World's Best Female Chef, The World's 50 Best Restaurants (2021)
- Latin America's Best Female Chef (2018)
- Kjolle ranked #18 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants (2023)
- Kjolle ranked #4 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants (2023)
Iconic Dishes
Cookbooks
- Mater (2021, co-authored with Virgilio Martínez and Malena Martínez)
Recipes in Pía's Style
These recipes from our database reflect the peruvian cooking tradition that Pía works in. They are not direct reproductions of Pía's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.
In Pía's Own Words
“Peru is not a country. It is a vertical archive of climates.”
— Asia's 50 Best Restaurants speech (2021)
“If we cannot name the farmer, we cannot serve the dish.”
— Interview, Eater
Career Timeline
Begins training at the Le Cordon Bleu school in Lima.
Joins Central as a line cook shortly after Virgilio Martínez opens the restaurant in Miraflores.
Becomes head chef of Central.
Marries Virgilio Martínez.
Central and her own new restaurant Kjolle move together to a shared building in Barranco; Kjolle opens with León as chef-owner.
Named Latin America's Best Female Chef by Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants.
Named World's Best Female Chef by The World's 50 Best Restaurants.
Opens MAZ in Tokyo with Central's team; awarded a Michelin star in the 2024 Tokyo guide.
Kjolle ranked #18 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list; Central ranked #1 the same year.
Continues to lead Kjolle and the Mater Iniciativa producer network alongside Virgilio Martínez and Malena Martínez.
Mentors & Influences
Frequently Asked Questions about Pía León
Is Pía León married to Virgilio Martínez?
Yes. They married in 2014 and are joint owners of Central and Mil. Pía León is also the sole chef-owner of Kjolle, the restaurant on the ground floor of the same Barranco building that houses Central upstairs.
Is Kjolle in the same building as Central?
Yes. Since 2018 the two restaurants have shared a purpose-built building on Avenida Pedro de Osma in the Barranco district of Lima. Central occupies the upper floor, Kjolle the ground-floor street-side, and the two share a research kitchen called Mater Iniciativa led by Malena Martínez.
When did Pía León win World's Best Female Chef?
She was named World's Best Female Chef in 2021 by The World's 50 Best Restaurants. It was the first time the award had gone to a chef whose flagship restaurant was less than three years old.
What is Mater Iniciativa?
Mater Iniciativa is the research arm that supplies Central, Kjolle and Mil. It is led by Virgilio Martínez's sister Malena Martínez and maintains a network of more than 600 small producers across Peru's coast, sierra and Amazon. It is one of the most extensive ingredient-research operations of any restaurant in the world.
What is MAZ in Tokyo?
MAZ is the Tokyo restaurant the Central team opened in the Azabudai Hills district in 2022. It is run as a sister to Central — a Peruvian fine-dining restaurant in Tokyo using a hybrid Peruvian-Japanese supply chain. It earned a Michelin star in the 2024 Tokyo guide.
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