Following the advice of La Guía de Gastón, a restaurant directory book written by famed Peruvian chef, Gastón Acurio, we taxied off to Restaurant Fuji, a sushi bar in Miraflores. The Lima night air was tepid and completely blanketed with its usually evening garúa. We stepped out of the taxi and onto a lush patio garden. Instantly, we were transported to a place not-so-Peruvian and undoubtably Japanese.
On a Sunday evening, Restaurant Fuji was a quiet affair. The main dining room, decked with dark mahogany tables, bamboo plants, and clean, contemporary lines was practically empty. In the front of the restaurant, a small sushi bar helmed by an always smiling chef was populated by a few low-speaking Japanese locals. Our waiter ushered us into our sushi house, a small room decorated with tatami floors, shoji windows, and soothing green wall paint. We took off our shoes and situated ourselves on the purple zabuton pillows in anticipation of the meal to come. Our hunger was quickly growing.
Our dinner started with a delicious spinach salad drenched in oyster sauce and sesame seeds. Looking at the menu, it was clear that our sushi roll choices would not come easy — Restaurant Fuji features over 100 varieties of makis, sashimi, tempura and sukiyaki made from the freshest Peruvian and Japanese ingredients. After much deliberation we finally settled on our rolls: Inka Maki (25 S./) salmon, Tekka Maki (25 S/.) tuna and sweet tamago gently laid out over a neat heap of rice and tied like a Christmas gift with fresh seaweed. The favorite of the night was the butterfly roll (38 S/.), which featured perfect tempura fried shrimp stuffed neatly into its sesame seeded rice blanket. The ironic kicker was Julio’s beverage order of a Peruvian pisco sour.
However, when the bill came we weren’t at all prepared for the 238 S/. ($85) grand total, which jolted us out of our post-dinner vegetative state like one swift shock wave. This total was considered particularly high for Peru standards — Just ask Julio, who swears the dinner money we spent probably could have gone to the purchase of a whopping 119 finger licking Peruvian hamburgers.
Restaurant Fuji, Av. Paseo de la República 4090 Miraflores, 440-8531, www.restaurantfujiperu.com.
Lani is writer for the Karikuy volunteer program. Visit www.karikuy.org/volunteer for more information.
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