So I may have just returned from Japan, but I can’t help myself when it comes to Japanese food.In Peru, however, you’ll usually find it as part of a fusion style of cuisine called nikkei, and it’s super delicious.

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know my love for nikkei cuisine is strong (especially with my obsession for Hanzo’s maki rolls), so I love it when I come across a new place to try out. Sutorīto Māketto is a cool spot in Miraflores, styled to look a bit like an outdoor street food area with graffiti and neon lights all over the walls. Their name completely reflects this – it’s the phonetic Japanese pronunciation of Street Market! There are also a bunch of Japanese signs, snacks and lucky cats on display too, which really add to the ambience.

The food here is amazing you guys! It’s definitely not entirely Japanese-Peruvian food, as I saw influences from other Asian countries too, but everything we tried was so yummy.

We started off with steamed bun style hamburgers (made from rib meat and cooked pretty rare) topped with caramelised kimchi, tempura onions, egg, cheese and sriracha mayo. These were juicy and surprisingly light! Steamed buns are the way forward with burgers because they’re so airy and sweet, and therefore balance perfectly with the meat.

When I saw they had fried chicken on the menu, I knew we had to order it. Sidenote: Did you know that fried chicken, or ‘karaage’, is really popular in Japan? You can find it absolutely everywhere – with a lot of people’s favourite being the chicken from one of the convenience stores (long live famichiki)! Māketto’s was really juicy, and not oily at all, and the batter was perfectly thin, light and crispy. You also get a trio of sauces to dip the little strips in (go for the slightly spiced hoisin dip first – it’s awesome).

We obviously had to check out the maki rolls – they’re a favourite option of ours – but I can’t understand the obsession in Lima with putting fried shrimps and/or cream cheese in so many of them! We ordered two full portions, one called ‘Tartar’ (topped with tartar of salmon and a small slice of limón) and the other called ‘El Cangri’ (topped with tuna, creamed crab mixed with ‘salsa parillera’, and finely sliced potato). The ‘Tartar’ was super fresh tasting and the slice of limón really made the dish, but actually my favourite was ‘El Cangri’, as it had such a great combinations of flavours and textures.

We actually wanted to try a main dish and dessert, but we just couldn’t manage both so we opted to jump straight to dessert (obviously). I went for the soft serve sundae because it reminded me so much of the sundaes I saw at Tokyo Disney. There they mix the ice cream with cornflakes and sauces and at Māketto they do the same but on a larger scale. The chocolate/vanilla soft serve comes not only with cornflakes, but also a sweet/savoury miso honey, little bits of mochi and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It’s delicious and perfect for summer. On the other end of the scale we had a traditional Peruvian dessert called ‘budín’, which is a type of bread pudding. This particular one came topped with green apple, crushed nuts and cinnamon ice cream. Also delicious, but completely different!

I can’t wait to come back and try some more from their menu as there were so many things that had my name written all over them. If you come, bring a few people and share a bunch of dishes because that’s definitely the best way to try a lot of what Māketto has to offer. So, if you get a craving for some nikkei food, I would definitely recommend making your way here – and do not bypass the fried chicken!

Sutorīto Māketto // Av. Mariscal La Mar 830, Miraflores, Lima