Expreso Virgen de Guadalupe Cafe Cultural

i went here 4 times during my stay in Barranco. 3 times for the lunch buffet and 1 time for dinner. the lunch buffet is where its at! great food and all you can eat. salads, soups, multiple entres and sauces. everything tasted amazing and the staff is very nice and many speak english. some days there is more vegan options than others. dinner was expensive and had relatively small portions. stick to the lunch buffet!

I have eaten at this place twice in the past three years. But I will never go here again even if my only other option is to buy peanuts from a street vender. Both times were disappointing. As a vegetarian of over 25 years who has traveled around the world I ask two things of a restaurant that charges me a relatively expensive price: fill my stomach and provide me with nutritious food. This place does neither. Before you go to this place you should realize that they charge you 1.50 just to sit down. This place survives on confused and desperate tourists. My wife is from Lima and I have gone here both times out of desperation for vegetarian food while on this side of the city.

I was one of three people in the restaurant but this was no reflection on the quality of the food. Had a scrummy starter in the form of a stuff avocado. This was very filling so I had hardly any room for my main which was a quinoa veggie mix. Huge! Lucky they let me doggy bag it. Mixed juice was devine. The place is quaint and charming but there was not much in the form of atmosphere, especially for a Friday night but maybe I was too early. Couldn't fault the food!

The all-you-can-eat lunch buffet was a little disappointment.
There were just a few vegan options, although they tasted very good.

The artichoke soup was really great, just as the mushroom ceviche, but that's almost everything I was able to eat.

I highly recommend this small vegetarian restaurant in a very nice area of Lima. The food is served buffet style, all you can eat. It is fresh, flavorful, and vegan friendly. I had been here more than a half dozen times, but not in the past two years, so the "not vegan friendly" review scared me. My wife and I went today and the entire buffet was vegan, with the exception of two side items and one dessert. I have no idea how the person below found this place to not be vegan friendly.
Updated from previous review on Sunday December 23, 2012

Calling yourself vegan friendly and then only having a basic salad available for vegans... is not cool. I went in the evening trying to get dinner. There was no buffet. It was ala carte and nothing was vegan except a plain basic salad. I wasn't interested in spending restaurant money on that for my dinner. Thankfully there was a Turkish restaurant around the corner with hummus and falafel.

Review: The food was pretty good here. I went in December 2011 and the buffet at lunch time is 16 soles for all-you-can-eat (and I ended up eating a lot). If you don't have a really big appetite, then you can order a la carte (or there are other veggie choices in town where a set menu costs 10 soles or less... depends on your budget). The flavors were good on all items. You can walk here from Larcomar shopping center, or take one of the little buses for 1 sol.

I was absolutely knocked out by the buffet here... a bit of a surprise as I'd stopped in to get a coffee a few days back and was a bit skeptical about the space. They use it well, it was full but comfortable and WOW, what a buffet, filled with delicious Peruvian specialties, lots of vegan options, sweet potatoes, tofu, olive tapenade, radish salad... all for 18. Live piano music, a quirky but enjoyable atmosphere. Highly recommended! Oh, they're also open to around 2 a.m. every day and have menu items available till late.

i went to this restaurant because i read about it in a blog, and was nicely surprised, they have a whole buffet with multiple salad, entrees, and main dish options, also drinks and desserts, for about 12 soles on the weekdays, and 15 soles weekends and holidays, the only thing i suggest is to be there no more than 2:30pm (the buffet last from 1-4) because, at least the day i went which was sunday, it was already full, and my family and i had to take the outdoor seats and it can be cold in the winter time, otherwise a very cozy place (if you get inside) with nice live piano music