John Javier to bring Chifa cuisine to Pachamama East following executive chef appointment
John Javier has been appointed executive chef of Pachamama East and is set to bring Chinese-influenced Peruvian cuisine, Chifa, to the Shoreditch restaurant.
Chifa sees Chinese-Cantonese flavours merged with Peruvian culinary traditions and emerged following a steady immigration from China to Peru from the 1920s onwards, particularly from the Guandong region to coastal regions such as Lima.
Javier said: "I have been delving into the intricacies of Chifa cuisine for a long time, and it's exciting to finally bring this style of cooking to London. There's so much great food here, especially in Shoreditch, and there are so many inspiring restaurants in the area, and I hope that with my menu Pachamama East will very quickly become one of them."
The chef will experiment with distinctive combinations of ingredients such as doubanjiang, aji manca, plantain and salted black beans; recreating iconic dishes such as Peruvian ceviche using Chinese ingredients.
Guests will select from a seasonally changing menu of small plates divided into sections including Soil, Sea and Land.
Dishes will include mushroom ceviche, smoked olive oil andcassava crisps; miso-cured carrot, black quinoa with Peruvian kimchi; scallop ceviche, jerusalem artichokes and truffle milk; whole sea bass, ginger and spring onion oil withshiro dashi; pollito a la brasa roasted chicken], yogurt and lemon thyme; as well as a roasted potato desert of potato ice-cream, rolled in olive oil and cookie crumb.
Pachamama was founded by Iskandarbek Narzibekov, who also owns the Chicama in Chelsea.
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