Welcome to the first post of my “Hamburg Restaurant Guide” series, where I will write about some of my favorite restaurants in Hamburg which offer good food with huge bang for your buck.
Tucked away in the quiet and cozy neighborhood close to Harvestehude and Grindelhof, Yaku Restaurante (https://www.yaku-restaurante.de/menu) prides itself as a Peruvian and Mexican fusion restaurant.
However, it is not your typical Peruvian or Mexican restaurant serving the usual ceviche’s or taco’s. What I like the most is that their dishes draw inspiration from the traditional cuisines from both countries but come with their own twist of creativity.
The dishes were beautifully and exquisitely presented. The combinations of different ingredients and flavours were well thought-through, similar to what you would find in a fine dining restaurant but minus the exorbitant prices!
Most appetizers cost about 8 to 12 euros and mains around 12 to 20 euros depending on the dish – whether it is vegetarian or meat- or seafood-based.
Another interesting concept adopted by the restaurant is that they change their menu every 3 to 4 months, again similar to what a fine dining restaurant would do!
I’ve personally visited the restaurant several times. Each time I get to sample new dishes on their menu and am constantly surprised by the level of creativity and execution of some of their dishes.
Below are some of the dishes that I’ve tried at Yaku (heads up: I don’t remember the names of some of the dishes. So, please bear with me :))
Manzanito – an imitation crispy pork belly made entirely from apples served with pico de gallo with pineapples and apple aioli.
I am not quite sure how they processed and cooked the apples. My guess would be that they freeze dried the apples and reconstituted them in some kind of sauce or gravy. It did have a kind of melt-in-your-mouth softness and mushiness and a crunchy exterior which resembled the crispy pork belly skin.
However, if you are looking for the actual pork belly flavour and greasiness, you would be disappointed.
Overall, the taco was a very interesting concept, the apple aioli together with the pico de gallo with pineapples (a kind of Mexican salsa made from finely chopped onions, tomatoes with pineapples) imparted a very refreshing twist of sweetness and tanginess to the dish.
The following dish was something new on the menu, as I’ve not seen it before when I was there about a year ago.
What an absolute stunner it was. Slow-cooked beef cheeks in beef stock, served with two servings of black corn taco’s with finely chopped parsley and onion as well as a wedge of spiced lime (apologies, I forgot the name of the dish!).
The meat was unbelievably soft and tender that it literally melted in my mouth without much chewing! The flavors were also on-point – I could taste cumin and smoked paprika?
Overall, a very solid dish!
Next up – Sopes de Pulpo – thick tortilla with beans, chorizo and fried octopus!
It’s easy to screw up cooking an octopus – if it’s overcooked, it would end up being rubbery.
This was clearly not the case here. The octopus was fried to perfection! – the octopus was soft and tender and the exterior was fried to a perfect crisp!
Though I am not a big fan of the thick tortilla, as it was quite chewy and doughy, the beans and chorizo were well executed and seasoned.
Overall, when all components of the dish were eaten together, the texture and flavours were quite balanced, the highlight being the octopus 🙂
Chabuca Granda – Beef heart with corn cream and melted cheese served with purple sweet potatoes.
It was available on the menu under the appetizer section about a year ago, but sadly it’s currently not on offer. Who knows it might make an appearance again not long in the near future! 😉
Don’t be put off by the thought of eating a beef heart!
It’s surprisingly juicy and tender without the usual offal-y taste! In fact, if you just eat it with your eyes closed, it could pass as a high-quality beef skewers.
The tangy, peppery and caramelized glaze went really well with the perfectly grilled beef heart. The corn cream and melted cheese on the side gave it an extra sweet creaminess that adds to the softness and creaminess of the beef heart.
Give it a try if you see this dish on their menu, who knows you might have a change of heart about beef hearts…
Tumbada Pil Pil – Grilled sea bream with creamy rice, squid and prawns
This is another strong contender on the menu.
The highlight of the dish was the grilled sea bream. Oh boy, when you take a bite, you would first taste the charredness and smokiness of the fish skin. The crispiness of the skin kicked things up a notch. Then came the silky smooth and buttery meat of the sea bream which would just fall apart in your mouth.
I believe the rice was cooked in a kind of tomato and paprika creamy gravy, loaded with tonnes of seafood as the base stock.
“Interestingly”, the dish was served with a sweet cylinder-shaped cracker filled with cream. In fact, it tasted almost like a dessert. To be honest, I did not quite like the cloying sweetness of the cracker and thought it was a mismatch to the dish.
Nevertheless, the combination of the other savory components made it a very delectable dish overall that kept me wanting more and more.
Palmito Nikkei – Pumpkin cream with leek and crispy palm hearts (vegetarian-friendly (not sure if vegan-friendly) dish).
The concept of the dish was quite interesting for me. Let me break it down for you – the leek was slightly pickled and thus sour, sliced with a uniform thickness and wrapped with a layer of roasted seaweed (nori sheets). The palm hearts were coated with what-I-believe to be rice vermicelli which was then deep fried, giving it a golden, crispy outer coating. Last but not least, the whole dish was served with a smooth pumpkin cream sauce.
Again, this is a dish where one needs to get all of the components into one bite in order for the flavors and textures to make sense. Otherwise, when eaten alone, each of the components actually tasted quite bland.
To be honest, it’s not on my must-order list, but it provides a refreshing change if you want to take a break from the typical meaty dishes.
Time for dessert!
Again, I don’t recall the name of the dessert, but it’s effectively a Spanish-style flan with crunchy coconut bits at the bottom served with a huge dollop of a mousse-like cream made from soy and lemon. So, this dessert is actually vegan-friendly!
I’m usually not a huge fan of cloyingly sweet desserts, but this flan was an exception for me!
When eaten alone, the coconut flan was very sweet. It’s quite dense and spongy in texture, unlike the Filipino flan which has a softer, more of a pudding-like texture. The cream on the side was very tangy and zesty. So, you could imagine how tasty it was when you pair the two together!
It’s a unique combination of ingredients and flavors from the tropics and Mediterranean.
Verdict
Food: 8/10 (some dishes were simply too sour for me and therefore I did not find them palatable (not documented here))
Ambiance: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Price-performance ratio: 10/10 (the prices are hard to beat, especially in a big city like Hamburg!)
Disclaimer: I last visited the restaurant on May 14, 2025. As the menu is seasonal and changes every 3-4 months, you may not be able to find some of the dishes documented here. Nevertheless, I hope this article gives you a rough idea on the kinds of dishes one may expect from this restaurant.
