Suspiro de Limeña (or Limeño, or without the ‘de’, or with ‘a la’ instead of ‘de’, etc …..) literally translates as ‘sigh of a Limeña’, (Limeña meaning a woman from Lima). I’m not sure where the name comes from but I think it’s quite beautiful and original!

The dessert is made up of two parts. The top is a soft meringue (think Italian meringue) flavoured delicately with port, and the bottom is a base of manjar blanco (a caramel made from milk and sugar) mixed with egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

It is a very sweet dessert. No joke.

I actually really, really love the soft, fluffy meringue that sits on the top. It is definitely my favourite part and I probably could just eat a bowl of that. Isn’t it amazing what egg whites become when they are whisked, with a little sugar, to within an inch of their lives!

The dessert in general is scrumptious, but I am super fussy with the particular ones that I will eat. Although, essentially, this dessert is made from  milk, I do not much like the taste of it, and therefore do not like tasting milk in my desserts. In addition to this, a shortcut to make manjar blanco is to boil condensed milk  until it becomes manjar, but the taste of condensed milk is a million times worse than regular milk. For me, a good manjar blanco shouldn’t taste like condensed milk, and therefore neither should any dessert with it in. Therefore, I am always super happy when I find a suspiro that fits the bill!

Here is a list of some of the best in the city that I have tasted so far, but I’m sure there are many more yet to be tested!

Where would I recommend in Lima to eat Suspiro de Limeña?

1. Maga….Mis Suspiros (see picture above) As you can probably tell by the name, this place specialises in suspiros from the classic flavour to others infused with different fruits (like lúcuma and aguaymanto) or chocolate. I have yet to try any ‘specials’ but their classic suspiro is amazing. It’s very sweet and pretty hard to finish due to its size, but nonetheless it is such a great suspiro. Mountains of meringue topping over a thick, super sweet, but not milky, base. Perfect.

It costs S/10, which sounds like a lot, however there is much more dessert in that pot than first appears!

Av. Benavides 1113, Miraflores (between Republica de Panama and Paseo de la Republica)

Av. Encalada 1641, Santiago de Surco (opposite the US Embassy)

2. Tanta This one comes as one of Tanta’s drinking glass shaped desserts, or ‘copitas’, and is a great addition to the collection that already holds a deconstructed lemon meringue pie in its midst! This one, unlike Maga, has much more base than meringue, but again the base is beautifully thick, without being overly sweet and does not taste milky either. I would recommend this as an end to a light meal at Tanta, because there is no way you’ll want to eat this dessert after a giant meal. I had mine after their amazing ceviche, and that was perfect.

There are many locations so click here to find the branch closest to you!

3. La Casa de Gloria (see picture left) I recently tried this dessert as I had so many rave reviews from people who had already done so. I was apprehensive, because recently I have had such bad luck with milky tasting suspiros that I stopped eating them!! I was so glad that I did take the risk, because this suspiro is far from bad luck. Not as thick or as sweet as some of the others I have tried, but it has the perfect ratio of meringue topping to the yellow base. Gloria’s is a brilliant location for dessert and I’ve never had anything from there that I didn’t enjoy!

Mz Ñ, Lote 1, La Planicie, Punta Hermosa (the address is impossible to search! My recommendation is to head into Punta Hermosa from the Playa Caballeros side and ask a security guard to direct you!! Everyone knows where it is.)

4. Museo Larco Cafe I recommended this for my mum to try when we visited here before and it comes served in a large martini glass type dish (just like the mousse). As far as I can remember, my mum thought the dessert was too sweet for her so I ‘kindly’ helped her out! I loved the presentation and the balance between meringue and base was just right.

Av. Bolivar 1515, Pueblo Libre

5. Pastipan If you just want a little taster, are not sure if you’ll like it, or even if you just want something small for dessert, Pastipan has you covered. I love their little ‘copas’ collection which only cost around S/4 and fulfil your desire for something sweet in the afternoon without being huge! Their suspiros have a fantastic flavour and are not too sweet, or milky tasting.

Av. Benavides 4638, Santiago de Surco

There are actually 3 other locations in Santiago de Surco, but the website lists none of them! The first is on Las Casuarinas, Valle Hermoso de Monterrico, Surco; the second is on Av. Mariscal Ramon Castilla, Surco (in-between Av. Los Vicus and Av. Paseo La Castellana according to GoogleMaps); and the third is at the end of Calle Galicia, Surco, which is a road off of Av. Pedro Venturo (there is a Pizza Hut delivery on the corner of the two roads).