[Food Review] - Yokomo: Amsterdam's Japanese Peruvian Nikkei Food Concept, Asian Fusion Spanish / Latin Restaurant.
For the past couple of years, alongside Korean cuisine, one of the hottest culinary trends in the world must be Peruvian cuisine. Thanks to its diverse spectrum ranging from Nikkei to Chifa, Peru and its capital Lima, led by Central, the country's unique cuisine have garnered a lot of attention from all over the world. You can even find traces of it in Amsterdam.
Yokomo, a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant specializing in Nikkei cuisine, is located in a charming corner of Maastraat, Amsterdam. To be honest, I've never been to Peru, and my only experience with Peruvian cuisine so far has been at Chifa in Los Angeles, which is Chinese-Peruvian cuisine, so my excitement increased quite a bit. Even before visiting, some of my coworkers went there and also gave positive reviews.
PATATAS BRAVAS €6.50
We had six people for dinner and ordered quite a lot of food that day. Please find the YouTube video below for the full dinner that night.
We started our meal with patatas bravas, which is a typical Spanish dish, but surprisingly, it was included on the menu. We're aware of the Spanish influence on Peruvian cuisine, but we didn't expect to see it there. Being in the Netherlands, where most potato dishes are excellent, this was no exception, and we loved the sauce, as well as the chopped spring onion on top.
EBY SHRIMP MAKI €16.50
To be honest, it looked more like a Californian roll than a distinct Peruvian Nikkei cuisine. "Eby" - correctly "Ebi" means shrimp, and I'm not sure why they called it "Eby Shrimp," but that's how it was named. However, by adding mango, masago, and kadaif on top of the uramaki, they attempted to elevate it beyond a normal California roll.
SCALLOPS PATA NEGRA €13.50
Starting with the patatas bravas, to be honest, I felt more of a Spanish influence on their cuisine. This dish was apparently Vieiras con Jamon, which is Vieiras a la Gallega, typical of Galicia. To provide some variation, they sprinkled some potato chips for texture and added a hint of truffle for flavor.
CRUNCHY POLLO € 11.00
This was another freestyle approach to Karaage. Karaage is commonly used in various Japanese fusion cuisines, as it is universally loved. However, I felt the texture resembled more of Southern-style fried chicken, and it was served with sweet and sour cucumber.
YOKOMO LOCO ROLL €19.00
Occasionally, I've had Dutch-style smoked eel in some restaurants in Amsterdam. If I confess, what I really missed here in Amsterdam was Japanese-style roasted unagi. I'm a great fan of Hitsumabushi from Nagoya, but aside from that, I've always loved Japanese-style unagi, with its unique texture and deep flavor. Although it was presented alongside tuna, I was kind of happy to see some Japanese-style approach here. As they put their name on it, it was an interesting roll.
RIB EYE CHURRASCO €13.00
A small portion of Rib Eye was served under the name of Churrasco, accompanied by sweet potato dice and thinly julienned leek. I prefer it to be closer to medium-rare, but I found it to be a bit more cooked than I expected. Compared to other items on the menu, I thought it was lacking.
CHORIPAN €11.00
This choripán with chicken chorizo turned out to be more interesting than we thought. Made with a corn bun, the texture of the bun was quite intriguing, and the combination of tomato chutney and chorizo was quite good. We were unsure whether we were supposed to eat the watermelon radish or not, but we ended up not touching it. My only experience of choripán was in Buenos Aires, of course with beef and pork chorizo with a crusty baguette, but with this Peruvian corn bread, it was more interesting.
CAULIFLOWER FROM THE BBQ € 8.00
Honestly, this was the highlight of the day. I think we even ordered one more later. We just ordered it as a side dish and did not expect cauliflower to be this interesting, but this BBQed cauliflower with almond slices exceeded our expectations. The combination of nutty roasted almond slices and the seemingly mushy, well-barbecued cauliflower was great.
QUESADILLA POLLO € 9.00
We already knew this is more of a fusion, but at this moment, with this absolutely Mexican dish, we started to regard this place as just an Asian/Spanish/Latin fusion. They really incorporate these three culinary elements in a freestyle manner. The two pieces of chicken quesadilla came together with watermelon radish and chopped spring onion sprinkles as garnish. As expected, they couldn't go wrong.
CRISPY GUACAMOLE 10.00
Alongside the quesadilla, guacamole arrived, another Mexican dish. The deep-fried crispy corn chip was indeed crispy as they said, and the guacamole sauce was served together with a slice of lime, chopped peppers, and onion slices.
EMPANADAS DE POLLO € 8.00
We didn't have them as desserts, but we ordered a few rounds anyway. So, of course, empanadas were not our desserts, but they were so good that we ordered them for a second time. There is Baires Empanadas, very close to here, but these corn-based empanadas served with chipotle and ajo cream were really good.
Overall, I felt like we didn't truly meet the objective of experiencing "Nikkei Cuisine" in Amsterdam, but it was a good dinner in a somewhat different way. I didn't expect to see a menu resembling that of the world-famous Peruvian Nikkei restaurant Maido, but I felt it was a kind of freestyle cuisine. Somehow, we really enjoyed the dinner, and the value was quite good as well.
Geleenstraat 1h, 1078 LB Amsterdam
+31 06 38707381
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