Urubamba is a Peruvian Japanese fusion restaurant in China, Napoli. It offers excellent menu options and a stylish decor and is a nice option among the many sushi restaurant around. The restaurant also emphasises that they use locally sourced fish and imported options only for varieties otherwise not available at local market. That is a nice thing to appreciate among the otherwise not so sustainable sushi restaurant scene around. One year after our first visit, we are back and are still impressed.
An Amazing Dinner Experience at Urubamba
The opulent dinner experience started with a nice starter plate with a composition of maguro (tuna back) tartare with crab cream and quail egg, which was an absolute delight, even if it was not particular Japanese or Peruvian for that matter. It was an outstanding start that was followed by some amazing gunkan (battleship sushi) pieces with Mazara ebi (shrimp) – a regional delicacy – and hamachi (yellowtail) with caviar topping served alongside fresh wasabi and ginger. To say the least, the ebi was amazing and if available, Mazara ebi is must have from any menu in Southern Italy. Also the hamachi was excellent and very well matched with the caviar topping. As if this was not amazing enough, we continued with the main dish of the dinner experience.
It came with some flambéed sake (salmon) and maguro nigiri with seared onions. Even though maguro usually is not that good in regional sushi restaurants in Napoli, the composition with the onions compensated for this fact white well. We also had some ebi tempura (fried shrimp)with flambéed cheese and sake (salmon) with suzuki (sea bass) topping uramaki (inside out rolls). There were some maguro (tuna back) maki with guacamole, some maguro (tuna back) with sake, few more ebi (shrimp) and lastly sake (salmon) with avocado and hotategai (scallop) uramaki (inside out roll).
The flambéed pieces really stood out and also the ebi (shrimp) uramaki (inside out roll) with mayonaise and fried sweet potato had a nice Peruvian touch to it. We also really enjoyed the sake (salmon) uramaki (inside out roll) with suzuki (sea bass) ceviche topping. But the most delicious highlight was the sake (salmon) uramaki (inside out roll) with avocado & hotategai (scallop) topping. It was breathtakingly delicious. Even though we would have loved to sample more items from the menu, we had to come to a close after this huge plate of the restaurant’s finest pieces.
Sushi Guide Verdict
Even though the Peruvian twist makes Urubamba a less Japanese restaurant than we would like, it ranks among the best options for sushi in Napoli. It is a very modern restaurant with stylish atmosphere that fits the target audience of posh night life customers in the area. Menu options are excellent and we especial appreciate the focus on sustainable sourcing of their fish and other ingredients. The Japanese and Peruvian cross-over seems well balanced and compensated well some taste deficiencies especially in the tuna range. The overall quality and test of the raw fish is excellent and among a short list of outstanding sushi restaurants in Napoli. The drink menu is extensive but focusses heavily on cocktails and night out drinking rather than fine dining. Overall this was a very nice experience and the restaurant can be recommend as an excellent choice for a nice dinner.
Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Review date: July 24, 2019