MAITA Cocina Nikkei — Restaurant in Haarlem

Summary: Unfortunately Not Nikkei

Oysters: a $4 per bite generic ceviche with slight oyster taste

Sushi: nigiri featured a heavy load of slightly undercooked, underseasoned rice and raw onion.

Tuna crispy rice: a Matsuhisa staple but executed without flair. Generic “unagi” sauce without home-made tare and nacho cheese togarashi trying to masquerade as the real deal

Salmon Uramaki: to our shock the “Nikkei element” to this dish was the use of front and center Tex-mex herb rub on the flambé salmon, making the entire roll taste like a cheap taco.

Cocktails: Cocktails that featured sisho came without sisho, when asked they said sisho didn’t come in, and that they lowered the price. They didn’t. Upon noticing they said “but you still enjoyed them right?”. So when noticing a fault which they failed to communicate, no action was taken. When approaching the management, no action was taken.

Summary: Sushi is hard to get right. The Haarlem area is filled with people who have money to spend and couldn’t care less. For real foodies, you’ll miss nothing by skipping Maita for now. I hope the chefs will be allowed to use actual quality ingredients in the future instead of relying on the “hip look & feel” that so many Haarlem establishments masquerade behind.

As you can judge by our previous reviews, we do not shy away from paying a good price for amazing food. This establishment is not worth even half the money and I sincerely hope they fix their errors and let a flame of passion reignite their kitchen.

It’s not the fault of the service staff. Management,...

In August of 2023 I had dinner at Maita in Haarlem. Since I have Peruvian roots, I was really curious to see what this restaurant did with the Peruvian Nikkei cuisine (food that was born out of a marriage between Peruvian and Japanese cuisine).

The restaurant is intimate, modern but colorful at the same time. Comfortable, romantic dimmed lights.

Staff was friendly.

Top picks: I would re-order their Pisco sours, which were delicious. I really liked the ceviche carretillero, acevichado roll, the crispy rice with tuna and the lucuma "magnum".

Critical notes: I would personally add more “aji” (spiciness) to the ceviches and be a bit more generous with the salsa criolla and lime. The empanadas de lomo lacked some flavour and I would love to see them come with lime and/or a creamy sauce like “huancaina”.

The "arroz con pollo" was lacking flavor. I missed the more traditional "green rice" essence, which is an explosion of flavors like cilantro, but also beer and Aji Amarillo. The lomo saltado missed that traditional punch of flavor and smokiness too.

⭕️Summary It’s a shared dining concept which I love, because you get to try many different things. I got hints of traditional Peruvian Nikkei flavours. I really see potential, but I noticed not all flavours are “there yet”. However, Maita did leave a positive experience overall. I give it a 7- (3 google stars). I would go back, when in Haarlem.

PS: Parking on a Friday night was...

Nice ambience. The chefs at this place are technically masterful and clearly have a passion for the craft. Food is pretty darn good, though a little on the expensive side even relative to other already expensive restaurants in this corner of Haarlem.

I think this place suffers from trying a little too hard. Several dishes simply had too many ingredients to the point that their complexity produced more confusion than deliciousness. Case-in-point would be their edamame which had something like 5-6 different spices and sauces. Edamame is meant to be soy beans and salt (period). Piling on all the different add-ons just means peoples' fingers get dirty and you miss the simple aspects of making delicious edamame (i.e. making sure they're boiled for the correct amount of time).

Their menu is also a bit weird and challenging to interpret in places. It seems to be a confused mix of tapas style dining combined w/ a traditional Appetizer-Main-Dessert format menu. I can sorta see what they were going for, and it's a neat idea, but if patrons can't understand it, it's just not going to work.

Service was a bit slow, which I've got to imagine is linked to the unusual complexity of the menu and dishes they produce.

These guys could be next level if they simplified things a little and...