The Adrià brothers – one of food’s most powerful sibling restaurateurs – have given a name and opening date for their highly anticipated Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant in Barcelona.
The 30-seat eatery is to be named Pakta, and will open its doors in mid-January, according to a story in the Peruvian publication El Comercio.
The restaurant is inspired by a recent trip to Peru, during which the elder and star-powered brother Ferran Adrià was introduced to the country’s rich, complex and heady gastronomical heritage, where Asian diasporas spawned fusion foods like Chifa – Chinese and Peruvian cuisine – and Nikkei fare, or Peruvian foods heavily influenced by Japanese immigrants.
The kitchen will be staffed with an international team of chefs from Peru, Argentina and Japan.
While the menu will include sushi, there will be no maki. Instead, expect tiraditos, for instance, the Japanese version of ceviche, in which raw fish is bathed in a spicy sauce.
Peruvian cuisine is on the cusp of becoming a worldwide trend, thanks mostly to the superstar power of the country’s unofficial ambassador Gaston Acurio, a celebrity chef whose star status in Latin America can be compared to Jamie Oliver in the English-speaking world.
The younger Adrià sibling, Albert, has also expressed interest in opening a Mexican restaurant in Barcelona. The brothers already helm a tapas restaurant in the city called Tickets.
