Micha, as everybody calls him, was born in Lima and since his childhood was very passionate about cooking. In September of 1998 he finished school and was admitted in Johnson & Wales University (Providence, RI – USA) where he studied the careers of Culinary Arts and Food and Beverage Management, on completion of the fourth year, he graduated with honors with an Associate´s degree in Culinary Arts and Bachelors in Foodservice Management.
While studying, he trained in various hotels and restaurants in Rhode Island and did his internship in Swissotel Lima. He also worked to develop along with the newspaper El Comercio ¨ The Great Encyclopedia of Peruvian Cuisine ¨.
After graduating, he decided to go to Osaka (Japan) to specialize in Japanese cuisine, where he worked in restaurants such as “Seto Sushi” and “Imo to Daikon”, the first specialized in sushi and the second in Izakaya style cuisine.
After his experience in the demanding Japanese kitchens, returns again to Peru working for five years at the Sheraton Hotel in Lima, the first 3 years as Sous Chef where he learned about Peruvian cuisine. The last two years in his hotel career he was in charge of the F&B department having the Food & Beverage Manager position.
His passion for Japanese and Peruvian cuisine led him to create Maido, a Japanese restaurant with Peruvian heart. In Maido, he works with his team investigating and creating new culinary trends where Japanese and Peruvian cuisines live in harmony giving birth to Nikkei cuisine. One year after opening Maido, Micha was recognized as the best chef of 2010 in the “Luces Awards” of El Comercio newspaper, one of the most important newspapers in Peru.
Awards and achievements of Mitsuharu:
* In 2011, he was in charge of the content Management of Mistura, the most important culinary event of Peru.
* During the year 2011, he was one of the judges of the international TV franchise “Master Chef” produced in Peru and he was also one of the invited chefs to San Sebastian Gastronomika and Madrid Fusion.
* 2011 was part of the team that prepared the Peruvian lunch Madrid Fusion.
* 2011 His skill as a speaker led him to be invited to "San Sebastián Gastronomika" in Spain, one of the most important congress of world food, where I spoke about the Nikkei cuisine and trends.
* 2013 He was the President of Mistura´s food festival organising committee.
* 2013 Public his book "Nikkei is Peru" co-authored by writer Josefina Barrón. Mitsuharu work focuses on investigating techniques, products and dishes from the kitchen Nikkei and in turn inspired by the wonderful biodiversity that Peru.
* 2013 were released under his leadership, "Peru Kitchen Nikkei, Chifa and Criolla" in the cable channel elgourmet.com and "Masters of Gastronomy in fusion" in the channel of gastronomy.
* 2013 Imagen International Festival conference speaker in Manizales – Colombia.
* 2013 He was invited to cook in the White Guide Gastronomy Global Award in Stockholm.
* In 2014 become part of the Gang tiger's milk, a group of the best Peruvian chefs led by Gaston Acurio for show to the world the magic of the ceviche and the Peruvian chili, this gastronomic adventure began in Chile (La mar), Bogota, Chicago, Miami, Argentina, Paris, and in 2015 will continue with Ñam (Chile) and Singapore.
* In 2014 he was invited for Madrid fusion the most important gastronomic congress in the world.
* Receives 2015 Rising Star Award for Latin America being first.
* Madrid 2015 Invited to participate as a mentor of the Peruvian chef Maria Jose Jordan, who won the 3rd place among the best young chefs in the world.
* 2015 Invited by PROMPERU and great initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism to the Expo in Citta event in Milan where Peruvian products such as rocoto and quinoa are again joined the Oriental flavors at the hands of Mitsuharu in the Bistrot Museum Cultures (MUDEC)
* February 2016, received the award MIRADAS 2015 for his outstanding participation and influence in the gastronomic area.
* 2016 Participated in the International Congress kitchen in Milan " Identita Golose 2016" demonstrating once again the thousand faces of Peru Gastronomic .
* 2016 Commercial Office of Peru in Italy in collaboration with ITC (International Trade Center) organized on March 12 in the city of Florence the round table “Each bite contains a story “dedicated to gastronomic excellence where Mitsuharu told the origin, heritage and evolution of food producers and artisans in Peru.
* 2016 Invited by Estudio Millesime by American Express at the St. Regis Hotel in Mexico to demonstrate the Nikkei cuisine.
* 2016 The Culinary Institute of America's flagship conference is Worlds of Flavor, which takes place at the Napa Valley campus every year with presenters who include 60+ of the world's best chefs and culinary experts, and an audience of more than 700 people the theme this years was On Fire: Culture, Passion, Invention in which chefs use their passion and define their cultural identities—national and personal—to invent unique spaces and styles. Mitsuharu was invited at this amazing experience.
* 2016 Traveled to Brazil to participate in two major events and represent Peru with renowned and brilliant chefs. GASTROMOTIVA was one of them and GELINAZ! WALK WITH US was the other event in which he participated with Alex Atala , Helena Rizzo, Thomas Troisgros , Leonardo Pereira and Alberto Landgraf . At the end of the trip he could give a Master Class at the University Anhembi Morumbi the biggest and most important Gastronomy school in Brazil, member of Laureate International Universities.
* 2016 Mitsuharu was invited to Rio – Brasil, to participate in a special project called “Reffetorio Gastromotiva”. The project aims to provide food and dignity to people in situations of social vulnerability. Guest chefs from around the world are going to cook tasty and nutritious meals during the Olympic Games.
* 2016 In Mexico the Estudio Millesime by American Express presented us with a very Latin and refreshing concept the different views and mergers of the best cuisine in the different countries where Micha participated as a protagonist chef of the Nikkei cuisine.
* 2016 Micha was invited by Vladimir Mukhin to Moscow to celebrate the 5-th anniversary of the flagman restaurant, White Rabbit.
* 2016 Invited to cook at an exclusive dinner with selected clientele at Nobu restaurant in Milan with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and Antonio D'Angelo located on the second floor of the most popular Italian designer house Giorgio Armani. An unforgettable night.
* 2016 He participated in the International Chefs Congress in New York "Star Chefs" in a main stage cooking demonstration to share his vast experience and knowledge with various international chefs.
* 2016 Shangril-La Hotels and Resorts, one of the world´s premier hotel companies launched “the Shangri-La International Festival of Gastronomy” with an illustrious line up of celebrates chef like Mitsuharu in order to introduce his culinary artistry and excellence, Manila – Philippines.
* THE GRAND GELINAZ SHUFFLE TWO (2) this year 2016, a total of 40 chefs from 17 countries and 5 continents will pack up their knives and leave their native kitchens for an unchartered restaurant, the territory of a fellow participating chef. Picked at random by ballot, each chef will discover his or her new restaurant location several weeks prior to the SHUFFLE Micha traveled to San Francisco and was in the restaurant “The Atelier Crenn” of the chef Dominique.
* 2017 was invited for “ Menu Panama” the most important gastronomic event to participate with a lecture for students and to cook together with the best cooks of Panamá.
* 2017 was invited for the Latin American Gastronomic festival together with the hotel W to prepare a Nikkei dinner for the interested audience.
* 2017 Was invited by the world´s 50 Best restaurants in the world to Australia for the nomination of Maido.
* 2017 Micha was invited by the inter-American Finance Bank in Panamá to discuss the importance of the relationship with agricultural peasants and cooks.
Achievements of Maido:
* 2012 -2014 Maido for three consecutive years was selected as the best Japanese cuisine restaurant in Peru and also entering the Top Ten of the best restaurants occupying the post No. 07 ( 2013 ), these awards were presented by the Summum guide
* 2014 Best restaurant in the world according to The Journal of Matoses post No. 20
* Selected in 2014 as No. 7 according to the list of Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants
* Selected in 2015 as No. 5 in the awards Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants
* Selected in 2015 as No. 44 in the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards
* 2015 According to Summum Guide TOP -Restaurants, Maido was awarded Ranked No. 3 in the category Top 10, ranking No. 1 in the category of Food Nikkei and No. 1 in the category of Japanese Food.
* 2016 Maido gets ranked number 13 of the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards; also Maido makes the leap from 44 to 13, earning it the Highest Climber Award, sponsored by Lavazza.
* Selected in 2016 as No. 2 in the awards Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants
* 2017 Maido gets ranked Number 8 of the the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards
* 2017 Miado is nominated for the world´s 50 Best Restaurants award in LatinAmerica.
