Nikkei Food – Peruvian-Japanese Blend
It was 2006, when Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio revealed to students his vision of a new Peruvian cuisine, the “Cocina Novoandina”. And he set out to bring it to life. His restaurant, Astrid & Gaston, was catapulted into the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Lima, the capital of the country and of the broad culinary movement that followed, became a place of pilgrimage for the gastronomic upper league. Today, chefs Virgilio Martinez and Mitsuharu “Mika” Tsumura are its main representatives.Mika’s restaurant Maido is currently ranked seventh in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and second best in Latin America.

The new Andean cuisine is influenced by the styles of migrants from the country of immigration, Peru. The staple is the local product. Thus, in the purist-stylish Maido with a Japanese flair, one encounters a wonderful cuvee of Peruvian and Japanese cuisine, called Nikkei Food. The Nikkeis, people who, like Mitsuharu, originate from Japan, have a tradition of over 100 years in Peru.
Mitsuharu was born in Peru, learned and worked in the U.S. and Japan before opening his restaurant on the second floor of a modern building in Lima at age 28. Tsumura serves dishes such as guinea pig confit with Japanese-style pickled cucumbers, a Nikkei ceviche or the Short Rib Estofondo Nikkei.