Bet you didn’t know that, neither did I. I knew Peruvian culture had a strong Asian influence but until I got to Lima and saw the number of Peruvian-Japanese (Nikkei) and Peruvian-Chinese (Chifa) restaurants I had no idea the extent. I would estimate at least half of restaurants in Lima are Chifa or Nikkei food.
The day I arrived I did a bit of research, picked a Nikkei restaurant and went for a Peruvian sushi meal. It was….. ok…. at best, and extremely expensive.
I hadn’t planned on trying Nikkei food a second time but the entire time I’ve been in Lima I keep seeing amazing looking restaurants and reading articles on the local sushi scene. Eventually I decided to give it a second chance.
My research repeatedly led me to a restaurant called Shizen Nikkei Cuisine so I made a reservation and jumped in an Uber.
From what I can tell nikkei cuisine is basically sushi featuring lots and lots of local Peruvian ingredients. Peruvian lucuma, peanuts, chimichurri, acevichado, torillas, cushuro, corn, quinoa, tucupi, pachikay and fried pork skin all appear just in the sushi I ordered tonight alone.
I won’t do an item by item review but all in all it was excellent, really good, and super inventive. I think a Vancouver sushi place that started incorporating lots of BC ingredients would make a killing. Sushi here seems much more adventurous.
A Bit Gone 