Peruvian cuisine takes center stage in the new film, “Mistura,” which opens in Miami on April 24, and features a popular chef in his first acting role.
Before Tomás “Toshi” Matsufuji accepted the role of Raúl, the chef in the new film, “Mistura,” he had already spent years playing one in real life.
The subject of Netflix’s “Street Food: Latin America — Lima” episode, Matsufuji runs the beloved cevichería Al Toke Pez and carries the legacy of his late father, Dario Matsufuji, a celebrated Peruvian chef who once hired a young Nobu Matsuhisa to work in his restaurant, Matsuei.
Tomás “Toshi” Matsufuji with Barbara Mori in the new film, “Mistura,” about a woman in 1960s Peru who opens a restaurant after her husband leaves her.
Though he had appeared on camera before as himself, acting was new territory. Matsufuji trained with a coach for two months before filming began, learning to enunciate more clearly and to relax before each scene.
“Ricardo (the director) has a good eye for his actors and helped me as a novice to feel comfortable,” he said by phone from Lima. On screen, he looks completely at ease — perhaps because the film unfolds in a restaurant, a place where he feels most at home.
In “Mistura,” Matsufuji and his dishes become the quiet center of a story set in 1960s Peru, where Norma Piet, an upper‑class French‑Peruvian woman played by Bárbara Mori, watches her life unravel after her husband, played by renowned Peruvian actor, Christian Meier, leaves.
Chef Tomás “Toshi” Matsufuji
Mori, who previously collaborated with director Ricardo de Montreuil on “La Mujer de Mi Hermano” recently starred in the Apple TV+ series “Woman in Blue.” Meier, best known for “El Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa,” plays her husband.
Ostracized by high society and left with only her housekeeper, Rosa Condor, (Hermelinda Luján) and chauffeur, Oscar Lora — (César “Pudy” Ballumbrosio) an African‑Peruvian musician — Piet is forced into new alliances and a new business venture: opening a small French restaurant, L’Entrecôte. Director de Montreuil is known for his films, “La Mujer de mi Hermano”, “Máncora: and “Mistura,” his latest film which premiered in 2024 at the Mill Valley Film Festival in Mill Valley, California, and at the Morelia International Film Festival in Morelia, Mexico, garnering over 20 awards across its festival run.
For de Montreuil, who wrote, directed, edited, and produced “Mistura,” the project was “extremely personal” on two levels.
“I was frustrated by the rhetoric of politicians who try to divide us,” he says from Los Angeles. “I wanted to tell a story about diversity making things better, and there is no more perfect metaphor than the diverse cuisine of Peru.”
Barbara Mori in the new Peruvian film, “Mistura”
The film is also an homage to his grandmother, Sheila Loyer, now 95, who, like Piet, was a divorced woman in a Catholic country in the 1960s and had to find her own resilience — even being forced to stand outside church on Sundays.
Peruvian cuisine, de Montreuil notes, is the product of 500 years of migration — indigenous Inca, African, Chinese, Japanese, European, Middle Eastern — and Lima has become the culinary capital of Latin America, home to restaurants like Maido, Central, and Kjolle.
With native ingredients ranging from ají peppers, to corn varieties not found elsewhere, to more than 2,000 varieties of potatoes, the country’s dishes carry flavors found nowhere else.
Barbara Mori in the new Peruvian film, “Mistura”
“Mistura” celebrates that heritage through the dishes Raúl creates for L’Entrecôte: his Japanese‑inspired estiradito de corvina in leche de tigre (lime juice, salt, chilis and garlic); Chinatown‑style roast duck; lomo saltado; and anticuchos — one of Peru’s most iconic street foods, skewers of marinated, grilled beef heart served with potatoes, corn, and spicy ají sauces. “Cheap but exquisite,” Lora the chauffeur says.
The film menu also features arroz con mariscos, vieiras a la parmesana, Rosita’s clay‑pot duck with rice, her hearty shambar soup from Chiclayo (“with plenty of wheat and pork”), and causa — a cold, layered potato terrine made with creamy yellow potatoes seasoned with ají amarillo and lime, then filled with chicken, tuna, seafood, or vegetables.
For dessert, Piet suggests the native fruit, lucuma — the “Gold of the Incas” — and Raúl promises to create something new with aguaymanto, the bright, golden berry of the Andes.
Peruvian chef Paola Marsano served as the film’s food stylist.
The backdrop of the story is Peruvian society in the 1960s, a decade defined by social divisions, reinvention and a growing sense of cultural confidence.
That world — with its strong social class divisions, increasing immigration and emerging sophistication — is the backdrop for the film.
Ricardo de Montreuil, who wrote, edited, produced, and directed “Mistura.”
In 1960, Peruvian surfer Héctor Velarde won the International Surfing Championship in Makaha, Hawaii, — a victory that put Peru on the global surfing map and signaled a new, modern identity.
By 1965, front‑page headlines announced David Rockefeller’s visit to Lima, highlighting that the American banker sampled anticuchos and spent an evening listening to música criolla.
These moments — along with a labor union strike tying up traffic - briefly mentioned, but symbolic — capture the cosmopolitan, cross‑cultural energy that “Mistura” evokes as it tells its story of food, identity and social transformation.
And, as the story unfolds, a gentle romance begins to simmer.
As Piet opens to her new reality, new life and new business, so she is open to a once-frowned-upon romance with her former chauffeur and new business partner, Lora.
As they explore Peru's culinary heritage together, Lora helps Piet rediscover her identity and appreciate the beauty of the country’s diversity.
They explore the outdoor markets with its sides of beef, Chinatown, local eateries and the kitchens of the country’s finest chefs. With Lora guiding her, Piet learns to embrace the flavors and traditions of her homeland, infusing them into her new culinary venture.
Through food, she reclaims her sense of self, transforming her new passion into a thriving restaurant business that upends societal expectations and definitions of social class, revealing the transformative power of friendship and commonalities.
At its core, “Mistura” – a blend, combination of various elements – is a celebration of Peru’s cultural and culinary richness, using food as a connector and metaphor.
Piet’s story is not only one of personal growth but also a tribute to the unsung heroes—like Condor and Lora—who carry the weight of their families and traditions, and embrace life’s flavors, complexities and the obstacles that turn into opportunities.
For Matsufuji, a third‑generation Peruvian, the film’s message resonates deeply.
He embraces its celebration of cultural diversity and says that no matter one’s background or ethnicity, everyone shares a common ritual: we all need to eat.
“It’s important to share a table with others,” he said. “It’s a way to unite and bring people together, and we see that in the film.”
“Mistura”
Opens April 24 at several cinemas, including AMC Aventura, CMX Brickell, and Coral Gables Art Cinema.
“Mistura”
Estiradito
Chef Toshi Matsufuji’s recipe for Estiradito, featured in the new Peruvian film, “Mistura”
4.2 oz. or 120 g of fish fillet (sole, halibut, flounder)
6 limes
½ cup or 80 g of minced red onions
1 to 2 medium sized minced fresh chili peppers, or 20 g of minced chili
1/3 cup or 10 g of minced cilantro
2 minced garlic cloves
Approx. 1 oz. or 25 ml of fish stock (wáter or ice cubes)
Directions
In a bowl, add the juice of the 6 limes and add salt until the sourness and saltiness are well balanced. Add the fish stock to reduce the saltiness/sourness of the sauce. Add some minced chili peppers along with the garlic clove. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes and then filter the solids. The remaining liquid is the tiger’s milk sauce used for the estiradito (leche de tigre).
Slice the fish fillet in very thin pieces (1mm of thickness). Lay the fillets flat on a dish. Add the minced onions on the top of the fish. Pour the leche de tigre on the dish, serve and enjoy. Makes 1-2 servings.
Chef Toshi Matsufuji’s recipe for Lomo Saltado, featured in the new Peruvian film, “Mistura”
7 oz. or 200 g of beef sirloin
½ red onion
½ tomato
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of minced parsley
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 potato
¼ cup of beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Cut the potato into strips for French fries and add salt to taste
Lomo Saltado
Cut the sirloin into thick strips 2 inches in length, and the same for the onions and tomato.
Heat a pan and add some vegetable oil. When it begins to smoke, add the beef and stir fry.
Next, add the salt and pepper, garlic and onions and continue to stir fry. Then, add the red vinegar, soy sauce and beef stock. Lastly, add the parsley and the French fries. Makes 1-2 servings.
A Taste of Peru Along Biscayne
Ceviches by Divino MiMo, 6411 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
Gastropub featuring a creative menu of ceviches, sushi, and Peruvian standards, and known for its fresh seafood and cocktails.
Jarana Aventura, 19505 Biscayne Blvd., Ste. 5150, Aventura
Modern, chef-driven Peruvian cuisine and Pisco bar featuring Nikkei-inspired dishes and fresh ceviche.
Limon y Sabor Peruvian, 2713 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
Family-owned Edgewater eatery that boasts extensive ceviche options and large portions of traditional meat and seafood dishes.
Merkado 31, 1127 NE 163 St., North Miami Beach
Casual spot offering a variety of Peruvian dishes with an emphasis on fresh ingredients.
Pollos & Jarras, 115 NE 3 Ave., Miami
Bi-level spot near Bayside known for rotisserie chicken and other Peruvian cuisine. Offers vegan options.
Sabor a Peru, 2927 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
Casual eatery near Wynwood known for generous portions of traditional Peruvian seafood and other classic dishes.
UMA Cantina Peruana, 16395 Biscayne Blvd., North Miami Beach
Modern spot offering and elevated take on Peruvian classics, such as duck fried rice.