Hanasaki | Japanese Peruvian Fusion

When thinking about the word fusion I think of flavors blending in with each other. Culture stealing some elements from another. Hinting a bit on a how we think that some cuisine would compliment the other one.

In other words having two styles mixing in with one and another. When initially visiting Hanasaki restaurant in Aruba (no official website there, just a Facebook and an Instagram account for these really nice pictures) this was what I expected that would happen

I was thinking ceviche with some soy sauce elements. I was thinking sushi with mussles, that kind of work.

But reality was Hanasaki just had two cuisines in there. This sounds worse that it was, because the dishes were actually great and surprising!

But fusion...? Nehhh, I would describe that different.

What turns out is that this place only has opened a couple months ago and I guess they are still trying to settle in with how everything is working out, but I was really pleasantly surprised.

With a cocktail menu which truly enhanced the flavors of the dishes but I guess this is mostly by the Japanese style dishes as the drinks had the hints of this floral style in there.

As a starter there was a classic ceviche with maracuya which was to me just totally different than what I have ever had before. Whitefish and maracuya juice, sure that was the obvious. But the overbaked corn (no popcorn) the white beans and the sweeted carrot pieces were really something else.

On the other side there was a platter with Japanese appetizers where this super tender meat with teriyaki flavor was the big winner. The hints of also being bbq smoked made it complete.

With some Peruvian seafood and rice this experience came to one where the portions were very much American sized or better said way too much for me. Luckily the concept of doggy bags is not something unusual here as I really hate tossing any good food just because I can't handle the size of it.

So a doggybag and a full tummy later I can say that the Peruvian-Japanese dining experience has come to an successful end.

Up until now Aruba has really had some good kitchens here and with some pleasant surprises on different kinds of cuisines. Cheap? Well not really, as the whole island is dedicated to Americans spending their heart out. And us Dutchies? Yeah we are cheap fuckers, but we also like good food. And this Hanasaki experience was really good. But fusion...nehhh that wasn't it.