Nuna Pop-Up Brings Nikkei Flair to Brickell Avenue

After 6 p.m., the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami in Brickell quietly hands over its kitchen to one of Peru's most decorated chefs. In the space where Edge Steak & Bar usually serves beef tartare and steak frites, a new restaurant pop-up has taken over — one that arrives with serious culinary credentials.

Nuna is the latest pop-up from acclaimed Peruvian chef Jaime Pesaque, best known for Mayta in Lima, ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants. In Miami, he's chosen to explore a different facet of his repertoire: Nikkei cuisine, the Japanese-Peruvian hybrid born from a long history of Japanese immigration to Peru.

But don't expect a typical Nikkei menu. "We don't start from Japanese flavors,” Pesaque says. "We begin with intensity, with Peruvian DNA, and then we shape it using Japanese techniques." At Nuna, open only for dinner, that philosophy is on full display.

Dinner Blending Peruvian Traditions With Japanese Methods

The menu blends Peruvian traditions with Japanese ingredients and methods, but the base is unmistakably Peruvian. Ceviches, maki rolls, and yakitori skewers sit alongside dishes built around anticucho, duck rice, and lomo saltado, all familiar, but reframed with contemporary technique and Pesaque’s signature touches.

The "Nuna" roll is a good example. It layers tuna with panko-fried shrimp, avocado, and sweet potato crisps. The sauce, a creamy emulsion made from Kewpie mayo and leche de tigre, ties it back to Pesaque's roots.

Another standout is the arroz con pato, reworked from one of Mayta's signature dishes. The saucy rice is rich with cilantro, the duck appears in multiple textures, and the yolk, cured in shoyu and mirin, adds umami depth. A scattering of yuzu and shiso pulls it slightly east.

Even lomo saltado, a staple of Peruvian comfort food, gets a rethink. At Nuna, it arrives as saltado al wok, a surf-and-turf version made with beef and Maine lobster, topped with quail eggs. Pesaque's team uses wok techniques to create char, layering in soy and Nikkei-style seasonings without losing the soul of the dish.

Nuna Transports Guests to Pesaque's Famed Restaurants in Peru

Pesaque, who still runs several restaurants in Peru, says Nuna reflects the way his team at Mayta works: testing ideas in a dedicated R&D kitchen, building sauces and emulsions from scratch. "We don't copy," he says. "Everything we use is ours. We try to make it unique."

That drive for originality extends to the bar, where cocktails draw on pisco, sake, Japanese whisky, and house infusions. There are also nonalcoholic options, many echoing the flavor combinations found on the plate.

Technically, Nuna is a pop-up. It's expected to operate for a year while Edge continues to serve breakfast, lunch, and brunch. But Pesaque makes no secret of his hopes to stay longer.

"This is a restaurant we've been wanting to show for a while,” he says. "Miami is the right place for it." It's also a crowded field. Peruvian and Nikkei restaurants are everywhere in Miami. What sets Nuna apart is less about novelty than execution: the sauces, the sourcing, the way tradition is folded into technique. It's not trying to be loud. It's trying to be good.

Nuna at Four Seasons Hotel Miami. 1435 Brickell Ave., Miami, at Four Seasons Hotel Miami; fourseasons.com/miami/dining/restaurants/nuna.