Taste of Clay

Clay brings you an exceptional culinary experience. Fresh ingredients delivered via intricate techniques and nuanced flavour. Food inspired by the elements. 

Our name, drawn from clay food pots in Peruvian fires, inspires the main dining area.Peruvian-Japanese cuisine lives here. In the late 19th century Japan’s diaspora combined Peruvian ingredients with Japanese techniques to produce a style of food called Nikkei. That heritage is embodied in Clay. 

Although over one hundred years old, Nikkei is still unfamiliar to many. It is our privilege and responsibility to bring you its exciting and distinct flavours. Experience Nikkei food prepared with knowledge, care and experience in our open kitchen. The room steeps with flavour. The eyes explore.

Nikkei refers to the Japanese diaspora. Those of Japanese ancestry who choose to live outside of Japan. 

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Japanese heard of a country across the Pacific. Peru. Thought to be full of gold and rolling with opportunity, this land was also blessed by rich soil and a tender-hearted climate. The call of mirrored mountains and the yearning for a new life enticed Japanese in their hundreds to cross the seas to arrive, exhausted, on the coastal plantations of a foreign land. 

Peru welcomed them. The land offered abundance and sustenance and some ingredients that closely resembled the Nikkei’s own. So began the relationship. Aji peppers and Andean potato met miso, soy and wasabi. Fresh fish bathed in citrus. Cultures asserted themselves while their food commingled. And now, Peru is home to one of the largest Nikkei communities in the world.  

And Nikkei has taken on a new meaning. It not only refers to Japanese-Peruvians, who call Peru home, but to the cuisine that emerged from the blend of these distinct cultures, developed over years of experimentation, collaboration and expression.  

After the fire has fragranced the air a settled comfort sets in and the bar calls. Contented drinks and laughter. Formalities aside this area is for the relaxed, the conversational, the entertainingly social, the comfortable style, the view, the glinting of the lights. Listen in for the end of night. 

Clay brings you an exceptional culinary experience. Fresh ingredients delivered via intricate techniques and nuanced flavour. Food inspired by the elements. 

Interior Design done by Tristan Plessis Studio. “Tristan du Plessis is an international award winning interior architect based out of Johannesburg, South Africa. Namely being a finalist in the London-based Restaurant and bar design awards for 3 consecutive years and winning in an international category in 2016, the first South African to do so.

His edgy, atmospheric aesthetic entails layering textures to the nth degree, and pushing the envelope on opulence. With deluxe homes from France to Johannesburg, immersive restaurants around the world, and a growing portfolio of cool concept hotels quickly expanding his repertoire, his reputation is growing accordingly.

An innate passion for creating things. Always had a love for beautiful spaces and an interest in the way that these spaces have the ability to affect people on an emotional level. It was a natural gravitation towards interior design and I’ve never looked back.”

“The interior elements designers brief for Clay restaurant was to carve out a space on the top of a new carpark in the heart of the vibrant area of Adliya, and use that space to tell the story of Nikkei Cuisine and the unlikely but beautiful intertwining of Peruvian and Japanese cuisines. ⁠

The completed restaurant has created a sense of escapism and intrigue, the local market has reacted so well with the space and its cuisine, far beyond the designers expectations.

The space warms up as the sun starts to set and oozes a nearly palpable sexiness and alluring charm. The textures & colours tell the story of Nikkei, the narrative was put together with a collective energy and enthusiasm and it’s beautiful to see how guests engage with it.⁠”

Clay & Tristan du Plessis studio is also shortlisted for the Restaurant & Bar Design Award.

ARTICLE BY CLAY

ARTICLE

INTERIOR DESIGN: TRISTAN DU PLESSIS

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