The Mercado de Surquillo (Mercado N° 1) is the working market that supplies most of Lima's top restaurants — Gastón Acurio, Virgilio Martínez, and the rest send buyers here at dawn. Stalls heap up Peruvian potatoes (the country has over 4,000 varieties), Andean grains (quinoa, kiwicha, kañiwa), jungle fruit, fresh ají chillies in a dozen varieties, and an entire wall of fish.
The eastern half is dry goods and household; the western half is fresh produce. A few picanterías at the back of the building serve cheap, excellent lunches of jalea and ceviche to porters and shoppers. Most visitors come on a food tour, but a solo walk-through is rewarding too. Quietest after 11am.