Mitsuharu Tsumura knows his way around a kitchen. The Indian tandoor, it turns out, is another matter. While trying his hand at making naan at The St. Regis Mumbai, Micha, as he is fondly called, got a little too close to the heat and singed the hair off his arm. It was his first afternoon in India, just hours after a 32-hour journey from Lima. Rather than sit back and be served, he walked into the kitchen to slap the dough inside the tandoor himself. “It's very hot inside,” he says, laughing.
It is a fitting first move for a chef who has spent 16 years building Maido, in Lima, into the restaurant that diners around the world now want a table at. Named No. 1 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list, Maido's chef-owner is in the city for two dinners at the same hotel, on September 25 and 26. Despite the journey, he is remarkably fresh when we meet, and had already fit in a gym session that morning.
Tsumura is here with 11 bags and a team of four chefs. Nearly 90 per cent of the ingredients for the dinners have travelled with him from Peru, including cocona, a citrus-like Peruvian fruit, mashua, an Andean tuber used to make dough, ajies, Peruvian chillies, leche de tigre, the citrus marinade at the heart of ceviche and lúcuma, which is being used in a rice flour dessert. Even the squid and sea snails have come from Peru, where Tsumura says the quality is unmatched.
But the Mumbai menu is not simply a recreation of Maido’s tasting menu in Lima. It has been built for India, with no beef, pork or guinea pig, proteins that anchor his menu at home. Instead, the two dinners centre on fish, seafood, vegetables and lamb. And for the first time, Tsumura has created a full vegetarian menu, something Maido does not normally offer. “The challenge for me is to make it tasty using Peruvian or Japanese ingredients the way we like it,” he says. One dish pairs a ceviche of heart of palm with yacon, a Peruvian root vegetable pickled and set over a spicy, creamy sauce. A lamb stew created specifically for this trip combines pumpkin, fermented corn, cilantro and garlic, finished with a foam made from Amazonian beans. Dessert takes an unexpected turn with cauliflower ice cream and roasted carrots. “It’s all about the textures and flavours. In my cooking there is always something crispy, something creamy, something pickled. It will feel like eating at Maido,” Tsumura says.
India has been on his list for a while. So when the invitation came from Raaj Sanghvi, chief executive officer, Culinary Culture, a friend who had been asking him to visit for years, saying yes came naturally. The Mumbai trip is brief, with another stop in Panama coming up, but Tsumura has already started exploring the city through its food. He has tried biryani, butter chicken and different kinds of naan, but it is the dal makhani that has left the deepest impression. “I had tasted versions of it outside India before, but not like this. I am told every household makes it differently, that every chef has a method of their own. It’s stunning, really. I could just have the dal with a good bread, rice, with fish or by itself and not need anything else.” He sees a natural kinship between Indian and Peruvian food. “Our food is punchy. Some people find it too salty, too spicy or too sweet. But we like it that way. That way Indian food and Peruvian food are similar.” The warmth of the people reminds him of Peru too. The traffic, he adds with a laugh, feels familiar as well.
The No. 1 ranking hasn't changed what Tsumura cooks so much as what he feels responsible for. “Being number one gives you the spotlight. So what do you do with that spotlight and what actions you take in order to make changes is important,” he says. He now travels for conferences, speaks to students and young entrepreneurs and uses the platform to talk about Peruvian gastronomy. That drive extends beyond food. Even after a 32-hour journey, Tsumura is up early for a workout. “The gym is therapy for me. In life, you're always pulling things toward you, a cup, a door, a pen. You rarely push. In the gym, you push, and that's what lets things go, the bad energy too. When you build muscle, you not just build strength but also character. I'd recommend it to everybody.”
Tsumura leaves for Panama shortly after the dinners, with much of Mumbai still unexplored. But for a first visit, he has already found a few things to take away: a new appreciation for Indian cuisine and a tandoor to approach with slightly more caution. It is a brief first visit, but judging by his enthusiasm, it is unlikely to be his last.
The Mumbai dinners in association with Masters of Marriott Bonvoy and Culinary Culture, are scheduled for September 25–26 at The St. Regis Mumbai.
Price: Rs, 60,000 per person (without alcohol).