Seeker

THE JAPANESE DIASPORA IN PERU: A STORY COOKED IN CLAY

At the turn of the 20th century, thousands of Japanese people decided to leave their place of birth and find a new home.

A ship called the Sakura Maru left Yokohama carrying Japanese families to their new lives in a distant land.

 

 

A Japanese geisha

Clay Bahrain icons of a hand holding a fan, signifying Japan, and a llama, signifying Peru

On the 3rd of April 1899, a group of 790 Japanese arrived in the port city of Callao.

It was the first of several waves of emigrants from the land of the rising sun, to set their roots in Peru.

Terraced fields in Peru

What followed was a natural intermingling of cultures to produce new practices, traditions, styles of living, and also, new styles of cooking and an exciting new cuisine.

The name of our restaurant is drawn from clay food pots used in Peruvian cooking. These pots would go on to host the intertwining of two cultures’ cuisines, eventually resting on the shared term of “Nikkei”.

The Clay Bahrain logo with several icons around it

A chef at Clay using a blowtorch to prepare a dish

Although over one hundred years old, Nikkei is still unfamiliar to many.

It is our privilege and responsibility to bring you its exciting and distinct flavours. The journey continues forever, as the interpretations and iterations of the Nikkei cuisine grow and evolve into the delicacies and unique tastes and flavours developed at CLAY.

Always explore, and you will always discover.

The Clay logo with lines signifying the sun's rays around it

The Clay Bahrain logo