High Table x Chefs Daniel & Tamara Chavez at HighHouse: Our First Taste of Nikkei Cuisine

There are date nights where you already know what you are going to order before you arrive. Then there are dinners where half the fun is admitting that you have no idea what something is and seeing where the meal takes you.

Our dinner at HighHouse’s High Table x Chefs Daniel & Tamara Chavez was very much the latter.

Neither my husband nor I had really explored Peruvian cuisine before, much less Nikkei cuisine, which brings together Peruvian flavours with Japanese ingredients and techniques. The limited-edition menu was created by husband-and-wife chefs Daniel and Tamara Chavez of CANCHITA Peruvian Cuisine specifically for HighHouse’s High Table collaboration series.

So, armed with very few preconceived ideas about what Peruvian food “should” taste like, we went into dinner ready to try something new.

And, apart from one dish that divided the table, it turned out to be one of the more interesting date-night meals we’ve had in a while.

Starting the night with a cocktail in a hotpot

Before the food arrived, my husband spotted HighHouse’s Seasonal Cocktail and was immediately sold on the presentation.

It arrived looking like a miniature hotpot, complete with smoke billowing from the centre thanks to dry ice. Rather than being poured into conventional cocktail glasses, we had to ladle the drink into little bowls and sip from them.

A gimmick? Absolutely.

But a fun one.

The cocktail itself was a mix of coconut tequila, rosé wine, citrus and lychee purée, making it fruity and easy to drink without veering into cloyingly sweet territory.

The portion also makes more sense when shared. It would work nicely among four people, or between two fairly enthusiastic drinkers like us.

Then came our proper introduction to Peru.

Pisco Sour: apparently, not whisky

The High Table experience started with a glass of Pisco Sour, and Chef Daniel came over to make sure we actually drank it before touching the food.

Good call.

This was my first time trying pisco and my brain somehow decided that I was about to drink whisky.

I was very wrong.

Pisco is a grape-based spirit, and I found it noticeably more floral and fruity than the darker spirits I had initially associated it with. Mixed into a Pisco Sour, with its citrusy acidity and foamy top, it was a refreshing start to what turned out to be a rather seafood-heavy first half of the meal.

Scallop Ceviche (S$38): so this is what ceviche can taste like

Our first dish was the Scallop Ceviche, made with Hokkaido scallops, ají amarillo tiger’s milk, crispy seaweed, canchita corn and Japanese white corn.

This was also our first encounter with tiger’s milk.

Despite the name, there’s obviously no dairy involved. The liquid surrounding the ceviche was intensely tart and citrusy, with enough chilli and savouriness to stop it from tasting like somebody had simply squeezed a lime over seafood.

The scallops were sweet and cooked just right, while the crispy seaweed provided a sharp textural contrast.

And yes, I couldn’t help comparing it with an octopus ceviche we’d eaten previously at Viva Lavender.

There really wasn’t much of a comparison.

This version immediately made far more sense to me: bright, refreshing and tart, but still balanced enough that the acidity didn’t overwhelm the seafood.

If this was our introduction to ceviche done properly, I finally understood the appeal.

Pulpo Rosita Yimura (S$32): octopus gets its moment

The Pulpo Rosita Yimura was another strong dish, pairing octopus with Japanese mayonnaise, black olive aioli, potatoes and grilled chimichurri.

Here, the octopus remained the hero rather than becoming something you had to hunt for underneath the sauces.

The black olive aioli was particularly good. It delivered smokiness, saltiness and creaminess without becoming too heavy, while the other elements added just enough sweetness and heat.

This was one of those dishes where the sauces weren’t merely decorating the plate. They genuinely changed how each bite tasted.

That would become a recurring theme throughout dinner.

Crab Tostaditas (S$42): I didn’t really want to share these

My personal favourite was the Crab Tostaditas.

Honestly, I could have eaten the entire plate myself.

The crunchy tortillas came loaded with crab combined with lima beans and red quinoa, plus tobiko, nori and rocoto pepper.

With beans and quinoa involved, I initially wondered whether they might bulk out the filling at the expense of the crab. Thankfully, that wasn’t what happened.

The mixture was packed tightly onto each tortilla but the sweetness of the crab remained the dominant flavour. Against the crisp base, it became a very satisfying mouthful — crunchy, savoury, slightly spicy and unmistakably crabby.

If you’re someone who likes plenty of texture in a dish, this is probably one to order.

Pan Con Chicharrón Nikkei (S$38): give us more pork please

Chef Tamara came over to explain the Pan Con Chicharrón Nikkei, their Asian interpretation of a classic Peruvian breakfast sandwich.

Traditionally, pan con chicharrón is served in bread with pork and sweet potato. Here, the bread had been replaced with a soft Japanese-style steamed bun, while the sweet potato appeared as crisp slivers over pork jowl.

Essentially: Peruvian breakfast sandwich meets mantou.

The accompanying huacatay dip was excellent.

Don’t gingerly dab the sandwich into it.

Commit.

Dip the whole thing, take a bite, and then dip it again. Double-dipping rules surely become optional when you’re sharing dinner with your spouse.

My only complaint was that I wanted considerably more pork jowl.

The fluffy steamed bun naturally limits how much filling can fit inside compared with a longer baguette-like roll, and the bread-to-meat ratio leaned too heavily towards the former for me.

The flavours were there. I just wanted more of the good stuff.

Arroz Chaufa Nikkei (S$78): the one dish we couldn’t get behind

Every meal has to have a least favourite.

Ours was the Arroz Chaufa Nikkei.

The dish combines roasted codfish marinated in pisco and ají panca with fried rice containing octopus, prawns, pork, quinoa and aguaymanto (Peruvian gooseberries).

On paper, there is a lot going on.

Perhaps too much for us.

My husband was immediately thrown off by the bursts of sweet gooseberry within the savoury fried rice, while I couldn’t get past the toasted quinoa scattered through it.

There wasn’t technically anything wrong with either ingredient. They simply challenged what both of us instinctively wanted from fried rice.

Maybe Singaporeans who have eaten too many plates of fried rice from their neighbourhood zi char stall have very entrenched expectations about texture and flavours.

Whatever the reason, this was the only dish of the evening we wouldn’t rush to order again.

Mariscada (S$88): back on very comfortable territory

The Mariscada brought us firmly back on board.

Grilled seafood? Potato purée? Butter? Spices?

Yes, please.

The dish brings together scallops, octopus, prawns and fish over an incredibly creamy potato purée, finished with brown butter, Peruvian spices and ikura.

What struck me was that I couldn’t identify exactly what was in the spice blend.

And I realised that I didn’t really need to.

Sometimes when trying an unfamiliar cuisine, there is a temptation to dissect everything and relate every flavour back to something familiar.

There was something rather nice about simply eating it and thinking: this tastes good.

The seafood had enough char from the grill to add smokiness, the potato purée gave everything richness, and the seasoning provided warmth without masking the individual seafood.

Beef Anticuchos (S$65): my husband’s winner

If the crab tostaditas were mine, the Beef Anticuchos belonged to my husband.

These are essentially Peruvian-style beef skewers, although this version uses Stone Axe Wagyu marinated with panca chilli and miso and served with huancaína sauce.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they disappeared quickly.

The beef itself was tender, but once again it was the sauces that took the dish beyond “nice beef on skewers”.

Creamy, savoury, smoky and lightly spicy — there was enough happening to make you immediately reach for another piece.

I think we could each have eaten a plate.

Chocolate Mousse (S$18): simple, rich and a little too easy to finish

Dessert was a Chocolate Mousse served with Japanese grapes, Peruvian gooseberries and kiwicha seeds.

The mousse itself was rich and velvety without being excessively sweet, while the grapes and tart gooseberries cut through all that chocolate nicely.

Again, I found myself remembering the chocolate dessert we’d eaten at Viva Lavender.

Chef Daniel and Tamara’s version simply tasted more refined.

There was no attempt to turn dessert into an architectural project. It was essentially chocolate mousse, fruit and a crunchy topping.

And it worked.

In fact, our portion was small enough — or perhaps we liked it enough — that we ended up asking for another serving.

I could quite happily have had one entirely to myself, preferably with plenty of gooseberries and those tiny toasted kiwicha seeds scattered over the top.

Is High Table x Chefs Daniel & Tamara Chavez worth trying?

For two people completely unfamiliar with Peruvian food, this was a rather enjoyable way to discover it.

What I appreciated most was that the Japanese influence didn’t feel like somebody had simply added miso, nori or steamed buns to Peruvian dishes and declared them “fusion”. Across most of the menu, the elements worked naturally together.

And although there are plenty of premium ingredients — Hokkaido scallops, Wagyu, crab and a whole parade of seafood — the strongest memories from the meal were often the supporting components: the tiger’s milk with the ceviche, black olive aioli with the octopus, huacatay with the pork sandwich and huancaína accompanying the beef.

The sauces were consistently excellent.

Our one miss was the Arroz Chaufa Nikkei, although that may say as much about our Singaporean expectations of fried rice as it does about the dish itself.

Would I order the Crab Tostaditas again? Immediately.

Would my husband ask for another plate of Beef Anticuchos? Almost certainly.

And would we drink cocktails out of a smoking hotpot again?

Obviously.

For a date night where you want something more adventurous than simply ordering another steak or pasta, this edition of High Table is an interesting introduction to a cuisine that doesn’t get nearly as much attention in Singapore.