The Peruvian version of sushi is amazingly harmonious

2 hours ago 3

Ben Groundwater

December 1, 2025 — 5:00am

Nikkei sushi, Peru

Plate up

The cooks of Peru weren’t seeking to create a new cuisine. It wasn’t a marketing ploy, nor the wild ego of a celebrity chef. Peru’s migrant Japanese population just didn’t have the right ingredients, and so Nikkei cuisine was born. This meeting of Japanese tradition and Peruvian ingredients turned out to be the ultimate fusion success story, too, given the Nikkei restaurant Maido, in Lima, topped 2025’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

Nikkei dish from Shizen restaurant in Lima, Peru.

A classic Nikkei dish found across much of Peru is sushi. Though not the Japanese sushi you’re used to. Nikkei sushi utilises rice and nori but also seafood caught in the cold currents off the coast of Peru, and native ingredients such as aji amarillo and rocoto, two chillies, as well as classic local sauces such as leche de tigre, and crunchy, deep-fried elements. Much in the same way as Japanese migrants now form a natural part of Peru’s demographic make-up, this meeting of two cuisines is also amazingly harmonious.

First serve

As mentioned, Nikkei food holds a cherished place in Peruvian gastronomy, partly because of the story it tells of two nations’ history. In 1899 the Sakura Maru sailed from Yokohama to the Peruvian port city of Callao carrying 790 Japanese migrants, which started a wave of arrivals. Those migrants still wanted to cook their traditional foods – sashimi, sushi, home-style dishes – but the ingredients needed weren’t available, so they improvised. Thus, Nikkei cuisine was born, and chefs from the Japanese diaspora, including Maido owner Mitsuharu Tsumura, have since taken it into the fine-dining stratosphere.

Order there

In Lima you should visit Maido (maido.pe), if you can score a booking; if not, try Shizen, another excellent Nikkei eatery.

Order here

In Sydney there are many excellent Nikkei dishes at Callao in Barangaroo (callao.com.au). In Melbourne you will find Nikkei influence at Pastuso (pastuso.com.au). And in Adelaide try Aji & Limon (instagram.com/ajiylimonperuviancuisine).

One more thing

History for Japanese migrants in Peru, we should acknowledge, hasn’t always been rosy. After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour the Peruvian government forcibly deported large numbers of the Japanese diaspora, who were then interned in US prisoner-of-war camps. Many elected to stay in the United States upon release.

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Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.