Five To Try: The Essential Dishes at Callao, Where Japanese and Peruvian Flavours Meet

Sydneysiders are well-served (and well-versed) when it comes to Japanese eateries, and there’s no shortage of venues expanding the city’s understanding of Peruvian food. But Barangaroo’s Callao is one of only a handful of restaurants in town that specialise in Nikkei, a distinctive fusion cuisine that sits at the intersection of Japanese and Peruvian cooking.

“We try to focus on Japanese techniques and mix them up with Peruvian flavours,” says Callao head chef Angelo Polo. “The dishes are all about bold, spicy, citrussy flavours, and we buy as much produce as we can from Peru.” That includes chillies, fruits, chocolate and more.

Since the World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranked Maido – a benchmark of Nikkei dining in Peru – as the number one restaurant in the world in 2025, the cuisine’s profile has grown significantly. “People are really starting to understand the cuisine a bit more,” says Polo. “We have so many diners who keep coming back [to Callao].”

Broadsheet and NAB have teamed up for Bookings With Benefits, a dining program that gives you $50 off the bill when you spend $250 or more and pay on your NAB credit or debit card at selected venues – including Callao – across the country. Here, Polo shares his five must-order dishes.

Scallop tiradito with aji verde, jalapeno, sweet potato, karkalla and wild rice

“This raw scallop dish is so fresh and so clean,” says Polo, who was inspired by Merito, an acclaimed fine-dining restaurant in the Peruvian capital of Lima. Served in its shell as part of the chef’s-selection menu, the dish balances the sweetness of the scallop with the brightness of super-green aji verde sauce and the spice of jalapeno. Sweet potato puree adds softness underneath, while local karkalla (pigface) and fried wild rice bring texture to the top. “As far as Nikkei experiences go, this is one of the best you can have,” says Polo.

Beef tartare with anchovy mayo, oyster mushroom, caramelised onion, bone marrow and sesame leaves

“One of my favourites and the most popular dish so far,” Polo says of his extra-umami take on beef tartare. Pops of oyster mushroom and caramelised onion are strewn throughout the melt-in-your-mouth mixture, which comes on a bed of anchovy-spiked mayo. The crowning glory is a blob of bone marrow frozen with liquid nitrogen; as it melts, it spills its savoury richness through the dish. Scoop it onto sesame leaves and eat it with your hands.

Pork belly with macadamia puree, chicharrones and cocoa nibs

Callao’s menu includes several versions of anticuchos, which are one of Peru’s best-known street-food staples that are often skewered and cooked over charcoal. Polo’s pick is the tender pork belly, marinated overnight in two types of Peruvian-imported chillies before being chargrilled to order. It’s souped up with macadamia puree for nuttiness, chicharrones (aka deep-fried pork rinds) for crunch, and cocoa nibs for a subtle hint of bitterness.

Wagyu scotch fillet with yuzu butter, house-made mustard and bone marrow jus

Sourced from Australian Wagyu supplier True North, the 300-gram scotch fillet at the centre of this Japanese-leaning dish is intensely marbled, with a score of nine. Polo builds on that richness with yuzu butter for freshness, house-made mustard for sharpness, and a bone marrow jus that takes three days to make. It’s a Japanese-leaning dish with plenty of depth.

Peruvian Amazon chocolate chiffon with cocoa crumble, lucuma ice-cream, cremeux and cocoa nibs

“Peru is very famous for its chocolate,” says Polo. “And this is the most chocolatey dessert we could have done – it’s chocolate on chocolate.” Made with the Peruvian-sourced stuff, naturally, the base is 82 per cent chocolate chiffon cake with a cacao crumble on the side and nibs on top. Binding it all together is a house-made ice-cream using lucuma – a popular fruit in Peru that looks like a passionfruit but tastes creamy and almost caramel-like.

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, Select venues will also accept NAB debit card payments. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with NAB.