Chef Michael Lee's Japanese-Peruvian fusion spot opens this week

White stucco building with an arched glass door and bright orange awnings. A colorful graffiti box sits at the corner. Blue sky, trees, and a tall modern building visible in the distance. — The former M Pocha building has been re-branded as M Nikkei. Photo: Zachery Eanes/Axios

M Restaurants, one of the most popular restaurant groups in the Triangle, is launching its newest restaurant this week.

Why it matters: M Nikkei, a restaurant that plans to combine the style of Peruvian and Japanese cooking, will open Thursday in the former M Pocha space in downtown Durham.

Chef Michael Lee closed M Pocha, which served Korean street food, earlier this year, and immediately teased a plan to open a nikkei-style restaurant.

Zoom in: Nikkei-style food was born more than a century ago, when large numbers of Japanese immigrants looking for work settled in Peru.

The popular Peruvian dish of ceviche — raw fish doused with lime or lemon juice — was heavily influenced by Japanese immigrants, for example.
M Nikkei's first menu features a bounty of the sea, including sushi hand rolls, yellowtail ceviche and scallop crudo.
It also offers several grilled food options, such as a steak and branzino.

State of play: M Nikkei is the second new restaurant idea to come from Lee this year.

This summer, he opened M Hansik, his take on modern, upscale Korean food.

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Chef Michael Lee's Japanese-Peruvian fusion spot opens this week

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