The Taste of Nikkei at Fat Shogun

by Julius Kensan
20th January 2017
Ever heard of Nikkei cuisine? Fat Shogun serves up the rarely encountered Japanese-Peruvian food in the heart of Mega Kuningan.

Those who assume that Fat Shogun is an establishment serving purely Japanese cuisine will be in for a nice surprise once the waiter briefly mentions about Nikkei cuisine after showing you to your seats. By now, you’d most likely to cock your head to the side and go, “Come by me again?”

Back in 1889, thousands of Japanese workers immigrated to Peru, who mainly laboured in sugarcane farms and railroads. It was during this time that the two cultures of Japanese and Peruvian blended through the form of food. Case in point, before the arrival of Japanese, Peruvians didn’t eat octopus, which the fishermen would often throw away. Eventually, Nikkei cuisine involves the addition of Japanese techniques to the existing Peruvian dishes. For example, dishes that are normally served with meat are substituted with fish.

Of course, there is no shame in proclaiming your lack of knowledge when it comes to Nikkei cuisine. The waiters in Fat Shogun know just what to bring to the table. One can look forward to start with Shogun Roll, Tostados (crispy deep-fried tortilla topped with fresh raw salmon), and the incredibly refreshing crab salad served with crispy salmon skin. For dishes that are more Peruvian inclined, opt for Red Snapper Ceviche, in which the raw fish is cured with citrus juices.

Once dinner is over, don’t be in a hurry to leave. Instead, retreat to the establishment’s outdoor bar and take pleasure in whiling away the night over their homemade sake, Shogun Sake or Midnight Express, a concoction of rum and Peruvian coffee. Here, the view offered by the bar is the banal realness of a growing city, where it seems to be in a perpetual state of construction and reconstruction, but no less stimulating when taken in from an establishment that serves rare cuisine like Fat Shogun itself.