From Lima to Göcek

EBRU ERKE

This photo shows the tiered wooden seating and dining area of the Q Lounge in Göcek, overlooking the bay.

Perched above one of Göcek’s most spectacular views, Q Lounge welcomed the team behind FAN last week, the restaurant that has been making waves with its outposts in both Peru and London. Curated by one of Nikkei cuisine’s rising talents, Chef Coco Sasaki, the menu brought together Japanese technique and the vibrant flavours of Peru on a single table, creating an unexpected yet remarkably natural gastronomic bridge between the Mediterranean and the Pacific.

The world’s greatest cuisines are often born out of war, migration or necessity. The story of Nikkei cuisine is no exception. When the Sakura Maru docked on the shores of Peru in 1899, the Japanese immigrants on board brought with them not only a handful of belongings but also their culinary traditions. What began that day gradually evolved over the following 125 years into a genuine culinary tradition, shaped by two cultures living side by side, transforming one another and ultimately developing its own memory, technique and identity: Nikkei.

What makes Nikkei cuisine so remarkable is its refusal to remain anchored in the past. Many immigrant cuisines strive to preserve the recipes of their homeland exactly as they were. Nikkei did the opposite. It carried its memories across the ocean but embraced the ingredients of its new home. Japanese technique met Peruvian produce, while Peru’s generosity found harmony with the precision of Japanese discipline. Food ceased to be merely a vessel for preserving memory and became a living bridge between cultures instead.

This is precisely why I found FAN’s guest residency at Q Lounge, D-Resort Göcek’s breathtaking restaurant overlooking Göcek’s bays, to be one of the most enjoyable guest chef events of the summer. FAN describes its cuisine as Neo Nikkei. At first glance, the distinction may seem subtle, yet it perfectly captures the philosophy behind the restaurant. Nikkei has never been a static cuisine. It was first reshaped by Japanese immigrants adapting to Peruvian ingredients, and today it continues to evolve through a new generation of chefs drawing inspiration from an even broader spectrum of cultures.

One of the leading figures behind this evolution is FAN’s founding chef, Coco Sasaki. Hers is a story that spans four generations of migration. Her grandmother, Angélica Sasaki, devoted her life to preserving the cultural memory of Peru’s Japanese community and belonged to the first generation to reinterpret Japanese recipes using Peruvian ingredients. Today, Coco carries that same legacy into London’s multicultural culinary scene. But she does not simply replicate it; she develops it further. Nor does she do so alone. Thanks to the Cantonese heritage of FAN’s co-founder, Santiago Won, the cuisine naturally embraces Chinese influences as well. Perhaps this is why FAN’s menu reads less like a tasting menu and more like a culinary manifesto.

What fascinates me most about Nikkei cuisine is the way impeccably fresh seafood meets an exhilarating acidity that instantly transforms the palate into a celebration. Rather than becoming heavier, every bite feels brighter and more vibrant than the last. This was evident throughout FAN’s tasting menu. The opening dish, Tiradito Shiro, presented delicately sliced amberjack with scallop emulsion and lightly pickled limo chili in an almost stripped-back composition, where nothing distracted from the purity of the fish. It was followed by a smoked ají amarillo ceviche, which added a subtle smoky layer to the classic leche de tigre, bringing new depth to one of Peru’s most iconic flavours.

As the menu unfolded, Japanese influences became increasingly pronounced. Nigiri Layu, featuring tuna with crab-infused chilli oil, dashi shoyu and garlic crisps, delivered layer upon layer of umami in a single bite. Maguro Tamago Curado, served with sake-cured egg yolk, citrus-infused Chinese oyster sauce and furikake, demonstrated precisely why FAN refuses to define itself solely through the Japanese-Peruvian axis. Japanese technique, Peruvian ingredients and touches inspired by Santiago Won’s Cantonese heritage came together on one plate in perfect balance.

Another memorable dish, Manchego Crispy Rice, combined scallop with pumpkin purée, Manchego cheese and sweet soy sauce atop a crisp rice base, bringing Japan, Peru and Spain together in a single bite. The dessert offered an equally thoughtful conclusion. Crispy quinoa accompanied a lucuma and chocolate mousse, and this pairing was no coincidence. By uniting lucuma, one of Peru’s most emblematic fruits, with quinoa, one of the country’s defining grains, the menu elegantly returned to where it had begun: Peru.

Ultimately, this was precisely what made the pairing of Q Lounge and FAN feel so natural. They may not cook the same cuisine, but they pursue the same question: How can seafood be interpreted in a way that is more refined, more vibrant and more expressive? The Mediterranean and the Pacific may be separated by thousands of kilometers, yet their respect for exceptional produce, their mastery of acidity and their appreciation of communal dining reveal striking similarities. What emerged over those few evenings felt less like a guest chef collaboration and more like the long-overdue meeting of two distant regions already speaking the same gastronomic language.