Nikkei in CT

another two dessert night!

The combination of Japanese and Peruvian cuisine, Nikkei has become the latest gastronomic sensation to hit Europe’s culinary capitals. And now Charango (114 Bree Street) has brought Nikkei to Cape Town! (A charango by the way is a stringed instrument traditionally made from the shell of an armadillo.)

The most notable proponent of Nikkei is perhaps Nobu Matsuhisa, who has been using elements of this fusion cuisine since the late 1980s in his various Nobu restaurants throughout the world. Nobu in Tribeca was one of our favorite restaurants! Nobu's signature dish was his black cod in miso and we sampled Charango's version, the "Black Kob" langostine, with quinoa, pak choi and soy. I swear it was just as good!

Although Nobu was an early exponent of Nikkei, it has only recently been picked up by several high profile chefs in Europe, thanks partly to the success of Peruvian food throughout the continent. The most famous of these chefs is Ferran Adrià, the former El Bulli chef whose "molecular gastronomy" revolutionized the culinary scene in the 90s and frequently included elements of Nikkei. El Bulli is closed now but Ferran's younger brother, and former El Bulli chef, Albert Adrià has opened a new restaurant, Platka in Barcelona, with a menu built entirely on Nikkei cuisine. I do remember a particularly good "tuna belly" sushi dish with black currant jelly that was part of the extensive tasting menu at El Bulli and Vince had a Pork Belly dish at Charango made with pineapple jelly which reminded me just a little of it.

Charango has a great vibe too. Along with some beautiful frescoes, there were murals decorating the walls with definitions and fun facts about some of the different food elements. For instance, did you know that Leche de Tigre, a citrus-based ingredient used as a marinade for the Nikkei Ceviche, is both a hangover cure as well as an aphrodisiac? Hell yeah!

There were about six different Ceviches on the menu but since it was our first time, we stuck with the Charango House Ceviche. Fish, butternut, corn, chilli, coriander, aji, limo leche de tigre. Incredible!

excellent Pisco Sour

And Pisco. There were more than a dozen cocktails on the menu that used Pisco as the basis. Originally created in 1641 to dodge the King of Spain's excessive tax on wine, Peruvians call Pisco their native spirit. Meaning "bird" in the indigenous Quechua language, it is a fortified wine that is imbibed at any time of the day, even breakfast! (Hair of the bird?)

There were only three desserts on the menu but I just couldn't decide between the Toasted Quinoa Creme with burnt banana and rum butterscotch sauce, and the Picarones (sweet potatoes with dulce de leche!) So I didn't! I got both. Vince ordered the third dessert, the Blonde Chocolate Pave. Seasonal berries with manjar blanco, a South American blancmange.

We'll be back!