Chef Mitsuharu Tsumura—or Micha, as he’s affectionally recognized to most—has gone from being a Limeño champion of Japanese-Peruvian nikkei delicacies to, this 12 months, the chef of the Best Restaurant within the World, in line with World’s 50 Best.
His vacation spot restaurant Maido embraces nikkei methods and culinary traditions of the Japanese diaspora, with flavors from each nook of Peru—fish from the waters of the Peruvian Amazon; chilis dried within the Andean solar; and fermented drinks made with endemic fruits that pair completely with elements like bluefin tuna, carved tableside like a Spanish jamón. “We really don’t want to be just a check in your life,” Tsumura says, of the 16-year-old restaurant’s eating philosophy. “We want to be the place you go back to. That’s what Maido means: Thanks for coming again.”
Sitting in Maido’s eating room, you possibly can actually really feel that mentality at work. There’s not only a tasting menu right here, but additionally à la carte choices—one thing you do not usually see at elevated institutions prefer it. There are vacationers who’ve traveled far to expertise Maido, in addition to locals hoping to attain a seat on the bar. Maido is a part of town’s material, as is the staff behind it. So, when asking Lima-born Tsumura for his favourite locations to eat in Lima—past Maido’s partitions—we knew we have been in for an skilled tour of this food-loving metropolis. And a enjoyable one.
“You need at least two weeks of eating in Lima,” says Tsumura. “And you still won’t try everything. There’s nikkei food, Italian-Peruvian, chifa (Chinese Peruvian), regional cuisines, and creole cuisine. They are all very different, though there’s some shared Peruvian DNA, like the chilis we use.” He describes it a bit like a curler coast, going from one meal to the following in Lima, bobbing and weaving by means of dishes with roots as far-reaching as Asia, the Amazon, and Europe. But all of those flavors from all through the world, and nation, come collectively on this one metropolis. “Lima’s food scene is very diverse,” he says.
His favourite method to eat? Around a sunlit desk laden with ceviches and cocktails, loved over hours with mates. At a 50 year-old family-run restaurant the place the homestyle stews by no means disappoint. Or possibly, rapidly, at an off-the-cuff chifa or pollo a la brasa (he even opened his personal rotisserie hen spot, referred to as Tori, honoring certainly one of Lima’s most informal and beloved meals). In a metropolis the place new eating places are continually popping up, Tsumura retains his finger on the heartbeat—however enjoys returning to the classics time and again.