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CUSCO | Located in Cusco’s main square, LIMO Nikkei Kitchen is one of the best places in the city to try Nikkei cuisine. Nikkei is a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian flavours, and has developed in Peru since the Japanese first began to immigrate in the late 19th century. It combines the best of both culinary traditions to great effect, and is a perfect example of how fusion cuisine, when done right, can be fantastic.
The focus at LIMO is on fresh ingredients and simple flavours, and from the moment you walk into the restaurant and see the sushi chef preparing made-to-order sushi and sashimi, the scene is set for a great meal. The menu is quite extensive, and features a long list of dishes giving diners the choice to, depending on their preferences, focus more on the Japanese side of things or the Peruvian side. For drinks, there’s an equally impressive selection of cocktails, which draw upon the same inspiration as the food.
We started with the signature LIMO cocktail, a combination of pisco, ginger cordial, passion fruit and aji chilli. It’s a great cocktail to order, with a mixture of fresh, sweet and chilli working together in harmony. For food, we went for an assortment of dishes that would allow us to try different aspects of Nikkei cuisine.
A highlight is the aji amarillo roll – a maki sushi roll filled with shirmp, avocado and lettuce, and topped with white fish and yellow aji tiger milk. The freshness of the seafood is evident in each bite, and the fresh and chilli hits from the yellow aji tiger milk is wonderful.
Another highlight is the ceviche nikkei, a tuna ceviche, mixed with avocado, Japanese cucumber, shoyu, and a house Nikkei dressing. This very Japanese dish again hits all the right spots – sweet, sour, savoury, soft, crunchy.
The aji gyoza are also well worth trying if you want something unlike anything else you’ve eaten. Instead of a dough casing, these gyoza use crispy yellow aji chillis to hold the dumpling’s contents. In this case pork and shrimp with a sweet Nikkei sauce and sesame seeds. An unexpected combination of flavours that makes a lot of sense as soon as you take your first bite.
We also tried the arroz con mariscos – a sort of seafood paella with sweet rice, aji and miso, and smoked creole seafood. It’s a tasty dish, but doesn’t quite reach the highlights of the others.
We tend to avoid eating at places in the heart of touristy parts of a city, as they are often overpriced and underwhelming. LIMO goes against the grain however, and offers a fantastic way for those new or familiar with Nikkei cuisine, to have an enjoyable, exciting meal.
LIMO Nikkei Kitchen
Portal de Carnes 236, 2F
Plaza de Armas
Cusco
Cusco 08000
Peru
Telephone: +51 84 240668
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Mon – Sun: 11:30am to 11:00pm