29/08/2024
Fresh from winning the Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award 2024, Peruvian chef Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura reflects on his personal and professional journey – and charts a course for Maido’s future
Mitsuharu Tsumura is a people pleaser, in the best possible way. The super-popular Peruvian chef and restaurateur has been delighting diners at his flagship restaurant, Maido, for the past 15 years. He’s also a leader who wants to nurture individuals in this team to shine in their own right.
On top of that, he’s widely recognised for being great company: fun, funny, spontaneous and generous. Little wonder the man known as Micha picked up the only peer-voted award at the 2024 edition of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Having brought Nikkei cuisine to the attention of the world, Tsumura is now developing a more investigative Amazonian menu at Maido. The energetic chef discusses everything from early doubts to empowerment, and from sustainability to sacred Sundays.
You are celebrating the 15th anniversary of Maido this year. How has the restaurant – and your cooking – evolved?
If I see photos of the dishes we used to make in the early years, I realise how much we have changed. That is where the theme of self-learning comes in: travelling, studying, reading… challenging ourselves more every day.
We started off very Japanese. We are still Nikkei but with a lot more Peruvian elements. The Amazon, Arequipa and the northern coast of Peru are all very influential for our cuisine. I take traditional Peruvian recipes and adapt them in fun and creative ways – with some Japanese touches, of course, but with freedom.
We have created our own world, a world where it is not only about cooking: we work a lot on the service, on the staging of the restaurant and on the vibe. Maido is a place of celebration, and the name means ‘thanks for coming back’. This is what we say to all the people travelling from 15,000km away to come to the restaurant, but also to those who come from five blocks away. For the anniversary, we have made a menu that pays tribute to a dish from every year since we opened.
How did you feel when your name was announced as winner of the Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award at the ceremony in Las Vegas?
I have always believed this is the most beautiful award. It is the award in which your colleagues vote for you, so it tells you there is affection there. It was a big surprise and I was in tears. I’m thrilled to have received it and very grateful.
Before 50 Best, chefs across Latin America did not know each other. When the first Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants was held in Lima [in 2013], there were many chefs I only knew from television. I had their books and I finally had a moment to talk with them – then we became friends. It was like a dream come true.
Tell us about your creative process…
It’s quite spontaneous – often it’s me having a new idea in the middle of the night and sending voice notes to the team! Today we have a specific team, led by Segundo Panduro [chief creative officer], which is dedicated to thinking about what new things we can do and how to create different experiences, not only in the food, but also in the service, the presentation, the cutlery, plates, glasses… When I go to the Amazon I also collect recipes, especially from the women in Arequipa, then we reformulate them. We’ll try things out, test and taste.
What ingredients are essential in your kitchen?
Peruvian cuisine cannot exist without chilli peppers. The yellow chilli pepper is present in everything, not necessarily because it is hot. There are many versions in Peru that are not spicy, used in the sofritos. Then we use a lot of black chilli, yucca ferment and native potatoes. From the Amazon, there is cocona, which is a citrus fruit. When it comes to seafood, we love razor clams and Peruvian river shrimp.
We also use many traditional Arequipa cooking techniques and ingredients such as the batán [a large, moon-shaped stone which is used as a grinder and mill], and the mocontullo, which is a bone that dries in the sun – very Arequipa!
What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
The answer is short and simple: making people happy. The best reward is to see a smile on a person's face when they are eating and to receive a thank you after they have enjoyed the experience. My addiction is to make people happy, and for them to have an unforgettable memory of the restaurant.
You have to be born with that attitude, that vocation of service that doesn't make you feel ‘less’ in any way, but ‘more’. I was even very hospitable as a child. I started at the age of 10 and by 15 I was already cooking alone. I really like serving: as well as being a cook, I have also been a waiter, a maître d’, a food and beverage manager and a dishwasher.
How do you stay motivated?
I am motivated by the team. I know this [Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award] is for an individual, but it would not be possible if I did not have this team. I believe if you make the team members shine as individuals, and people recognise them when they go to the restaurant, that is important for motivation. I don’t want them to feel they work for a restaurant, but instead that they are part of the restaurant family.
We are 95 people. A couple of the team have been with us since the beginning. Around 30 per cent of them have been working with us for more than eight years. The team does 99 per cent of the work. Unless I find a problem or something to improve, people are free to lead in their own area. For example, with Florencia [Rey], who won the award [Beronia Latin America’s Best Sommelier 2023], when she started working, I told her, ‘The cellar is yours. Buy what you want.’ I'm not a wine expert.
In terms of service, the whole [front of house] team eats the full menu in the restaurant, so when they give you service at the table, they don't talk to you based on what I have told them, but from their own experience.
I am also motivated by my family. The most important moment of each week is visiting my parents on Sunday – it’s non-negotiable. I think you have to dedicate time and affection to them. I look forward to Sundays when I sit down and have a whisky with my dad.
What has been the biggest challenge of the last 15 years?
The biggest challenge was to get Maido off the ground. Maido was the first restaurant in the world to present Nikkei as a culinary concept and most people did not know what Nikkei was. It was a challenge to get people to understand that we didn't only sell sushi. For the first three years we had very little attention. I thought maybe we should close the restaurant, but my father persuaded me to believe in myself and keep persevering.
Then, after being part of the Mistura Food Festival in Lima, everything changed. Some chefs and media came from other countries and started to talk and write about us. Then we saw people start to visit from Europe, Asia, the US and from other countries in Latin America – as a result, the locals became more open to experiencing new flavours too.
What’s next for you and Maido?
We are working on building a research centre in the Amazon, with some partners, which aims to raise awareness and the value of Amazonian products. The project will also showcase the work of El Bosque Guardian, which is an organisation made up of women who collect organic waste products – including fruit that has fallen from trees – and turn them into a variety of products including stationery, wallets, fans… even jewellery.
At Maido, we are also introducing more Amazonian products and making our cuisine a little more investigative. This will hopefully generate a food chain so that the products that we value can finally reach the capital and be consumed by people more widely.
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