El Damero, Coffee & Lounge

Damero occupies the ground floor of the Urban Hall building at Jr. Carabaya 501, a few blocks from Plaza San Martín. The house defines itself by three moments —breakfast, lunch and bar— and by its fine pastry, with display-case and themed cakes; on weekends and holidays it runs a breakfast buffet with live music. On Google diners single out the tiramisu, the Creole dishes and the maki rolls, along with a large, pleasant dining room. Our take: it is a comfortable base for starting a walk through the historic center or taking a sweet break, more an all-rounder dining room than a specialty coffee shop. According to its Google listing it opens Monday to Saturday from 8:00 to 21:30 and Sunday from 7:30 to 16:30; it takes reservations and delivers. Curation note: the house's Instagram bio gives longer hours (until 22:00); we loaded Google's, which are more detailed. Some reviews warn that the cooking can be inconsistent.