The wonder of fusing Japanese and Galician cuisine
This all started, somehow, when Japanese immigrants settled on the Pacific coast after World War II and, by combining the techniques that they brought from their country with native products and elaborations, they gave rise to what is known as Nikki cuisine.
The son of one of these émigré couples made the leap decades later to the **United States**. He not only managed to succeed there, setting up a whole series of restaurants that were a true revolution in the 80s and making Japanese cuisine fashionable throughout the world, but also Nobu (which is his name) gave rise to the birth of new hybrid formats in the country where he was adopted, such as the California Roll.
The happy nostalgia of Japanese barbecue
Japanese cuisine works well when fused with other cuisines. By itself it is one of the most interesting cuisines in the world, but when it meets other traditions gives rise to unexpected phenomena.
Are closer examples needed? There are the wild boar gyoza with Arzúa-Ulloa cheese and chestnuts from the 99 Sushi Bar; the nigiri of bacon, quail egg and breadcrumbs UMO restaurant; the red mullet nigiri with pilpil from its head and its fried spine from umiko or the cook's tuna usuzukuri with tomato bread Ricardo Sanz in Kabuki.
This potential taken to ** Galicia, where a pantry marked by the estuaries and meats of enormous quality rule, ** could only give appetizing results. So it is logical that the trend has spread little by little, giving rise to a really interesting Japanese-Galician proposal.
OVERA _(Rúa Durán Loriga, 8. A Coruña) _
Four years ago Carlos perez Hokuto opened, a small tavern in the Coruña neighborhood of Montealto. A few months ago he moved his kitchen to Overa, a larger space in which the gastronomic concept also grows and, without leaving behind some of the elements that made Hokuto popular, he comes closer to the restaurant format.
Dishes such as scorpion fish stew served as sashimi; the ameixón nigiri (thin shell) with melted bacon or horse mackerel with tomato are part of the arsenal of this cook who He bases his proposal on the best that the neighboring fish market has to offer.
** PAPRICA ** _(Rua das Noreas, 10. Lugo) _
the of Alvaro Villasante it is one of the most popular contemporary restaurants in the province. His shop in the center of the historic center of Lugo has managed, little by little, to carve out a niche for himself among the local public by defending a personal proposal, unlike any other in the city, which includes nods to Japanese cuisine.
In this way, you can currently find in your menu, based on the local product, a small fixed section of preparations such as sea and mountain sushi that is offered both in the proposal of the restaurant and in the more informal one of the local bar.
IZAKAYA MARKESA _(Coast of San Domingos, 2. Santiago de Compostela) _
A baroque mansion next to the Bonaval church has been hosting for four years this little izakaya (Japanese tavern), fruit of the travels of Sebastian Villavieja , which from the beginning has wanted to go further: Galician product, Japanese technique and Latin American influences.
Thus, along with nods to Nikkei cuisine and more purist preparations, in recent times the Markesa menu has incorporated Caribbean products and elaborations from the hand of his head chef, the Venezuelan Luis Ricardo Rojas.
Nods to Nikkey cuisine, purist preparations and Caribbean touches
Do you want examples? The grilled Galician octopus with chickpea purée and lemon foam, the lacquered rib with yucca chips and pickles or the tuna tartare with turnip top mayonnaise.
ROKUSEKI (Rua do Canceleiro, 24. Vigo)
** Vigo ** offers those that are, surely, the most faithful proposals to the Japanese essence of this list, without this implying a value judgement. And of these, the one that would least fit into the concept of fusion with the local product is Rokuseki, the first yakiniku restaurant in Galicia, who bases his letter on grilled cuts of wagyu beef.
This does not mean, however, that there is no element of fusion in its concept since this type of restaurant, very popular in Japan, It owes a lot to Korean cuisine and its taste for grilling, offal and other cuts of meat. A unique proposal, in any case, that is worth knowing.
PUROSUSHI _(rúa Castelar, 8. Vigo) _
One of the great Japanese restaurants in the north of Spain is headed by Andres Medici, trained together with Masao Kikuchi, and who has been practicing in Vigo for 12 years.
yours is a kitchen with a high technical level that takes special care of the product in elaborations such as miso soup with lobster or in classics in which the catches from the Vigo fish market particularly shine: jack mackerel, hamachi, squid nigiris...
MARCEL HOUSE _(rua das Hortas, 1. Santiago de Compostela) _
We cannot finish the tour without mentioning this restaurant, a pioneer in adopting the Japo-Galician term, which today combines classic dishes from Marcelo Tejedor with others that drink from different Asian cuisines.
Rokuseki, the first Japanese grill in Vigo