THE heaped, colourful bowl of seafood shirashizushi montana was simply amazing at Sushi Mastro Nikkei in Kepong. I counted 12 ingredients in this mountain of salmon, hamachi, hon maguro, amaebi, ikura, tobiko, barramundi, red snapper, Malabar, unagi and sushi rice.

It was as if we were tasting almost every kind of raw fish available at the restaurant in this Japanese Peruvian dish.

We were careful when digging in, as pieces of fish fell off this “mountain” crowned by amaebi (sweet shrimp) but we enjoyed the freshness of each marinated piece of fish.

We turned up threads of daikon, touching the sushi rice flavoured with a little sesame oil and sesame seeds, then the grilled unagi.

We relished, too, the saltish bursts of ikura and tobiko blending in with the fish and rice. There was a lot of fish cut in fairly big pieces in this seafood shirashizushi (RM75) that was enough for two.

Japanese Peruvian or Nikkei cuisine is served at Sushi Mastro, which is just a month old. It’s helmed by chef Salim Ismail who has worked several years abroad including at a Japanese sushi restaurant in Switzerland.

Sushi Mastro has one big advantage over other Japanese sushi restaurants. It is owned by Seafood Maestro, which has been in the premium seafood supply industry since 2013, and now runs an online mart for fresh premium seafood delivery.

So, the freshest seafood would do at Sushi Mastro. The freshness was in the firm, smooth slices of Japanese yellowtail in the hamachi jalapeno tiradito (RM42). The fish sat in a ponzu sauce, topped with jalapeno and chopped red onions.

There was a slight heat of chilli and a lovely mouthfeel of the yellowtail in the lightly tart ponzu.

Maguro anticucho (RM20) is Borneo yellowfin tuna with jalapeno salsa and pine nuts. It was presented as three sticks of satay, with a tomato jalapeno salsa, with a cloud of crispy fried potato strips over them.

The grilled tuna pieces had been seasoned with spices, cumin among them. They were delicious – the sweet and tart salsa gave it a fresh, welcoming balance.

Our main course was the Norwegian halibut, pan-seared skinless fillet with miso sauce. The halibut (RM50) was served as three thick slices, drizzled with a thick, sweet miso sauce and topped with crispy fried potato strips.

The halibut tasted almost like cod, though not as creamy. It was certainly a meal in itself, so non-carbo eaters would like this.

Besides fish and seafood, you could also have gyuniku teppanyaki, a grass-fed ribeye steak with beansprouts and kampyo furikake rice (RM65), a grilled Argentinian Angus ribeye with chimichurri sauce (RM80) or even a baked half-chicken with butter herbs and piri piri sauce (RM40).

I’ll be back for the sushi, such as the Blufin Otoro with scallions and lumpfish roe (RM25), Blufin Akami (RM8), Ikejime Red Snapper with miso and jalapeno (RM6), Unagi Uramaki (RM32) and Hamachi Uramaki with ginger oroshi, scallions and acevichada sauce (RM25).

No alcohol is served here, only mocktails such as El Morado with butterfly pea, lychee, peach and lemonade (RM13.80) and Te de Bayos with berry tea, gula Melaka and spice (RM13.80), among others.

The Japanese Peruvian culinary tradition evolved from the Japanese who emigrated to Peru in the 1890s. Peru has a thriving fish industry, yielding the freshest seafood for Japanese sushi and sashimi.

Combined with Peruvian lime, chilli peppers and corn among others, the Nikkei cuisine was born. In recent years Nikkei cuisine has been making waves in Europe and America, notably with Nobu Matsuhisa and Ferran Adria (formerly of El Bulli).

Sushi Mastro Nikkei is at 1-1, Fortune Centra, No 2, Jalan Metro Perdana 6, Taman Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Call 012-3124 112 for enquiries. – March 5, 2022.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.