Peruvian-Chinese Cuisine

[markk]

A friend has recommended a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant to me for an upcoming trip. I've never heard of that cuisine! Any Gulletteers familiar with it?

[ulterior epicure]

Where are you visiting?

u.e.

[herbacidal]

I understand the Cuban-Chinese joints in NYC aren't serving Cuban-Chinese food as much as serving Cuban and Chinese foods side by side.

Can anyone confirm this?

If this is correct, might this also be the case for Peruvian Chinese, Indian Chinese, etc.?

But Muslim Chinese is probably more real and authentic (because of the Muslim influence in the western provinces and regions), although really just a lesser known subset of Chinese food.

[andiesenji]

In another thread I mentioned Jose Antonio's Peruvian Chinese restaurant in Chatsworth, CA, which has received some rave reviews in the L.A. times, Valley magazine and other publications.Here is a note about origins.

Edited April 30, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[Chris Cognac]

I would try for Peru/Japanese stuff....El Pollo Inka here in L.A. is awesome...you can get chicken fried rice made with soy sauce and an order of Lomo Saltado...oh yea...and that amazing green Aji sauce!!!!

[godito]

andiesenji, that's a nice little article. Chifas (peruvian-chinese) restaurants are quite an experience if you ever visit Lima. You will certainly recognize chinese ingredients and techniques, but the cuisine itself has evolved into a delightful fusion (and I know how unpopular that term is this days). I think a good chifa is definetly worth a visit.

And it's also true what Chris Cognac says about the japanese-peruvian cuisine. Good stuff. Nobu himself leved in Peru before going to the states and you can see a lot of peruvian influence in the food he serves at his many restaurants (aji amarillo, aji panca, anticucho, tiradito, etc)

[Pan]

A friend has recommended a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant to me for an upcoming trip.  I've never heard of that cuisine!  Any Gulletteers familiar with it?

←

There's a Peruvian-Chinese place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan called Flor de Mayo. It's really Peruvian food plus kind of Peruvian-Chinese (something like American-Chinese) food, much as herbicidal implies by analogy with Cuban-Chinese places.

[constanela]

Are you actually going to Peru for this restaurant or somewhere else. If you are going to Lima, I can recommend a great one.

[gfron1]

I did a month long climbing expedition in Huaraz ( a few hours north of Lima), and I lived in Chifas - you could get a huge plate of fried rice for $1US or something more elaborate for no more than $3US. The restaurants in the mountain towns were very rudimentary but always fast and good.

[Jason Perlow]

I understand the Cuban-Chinese joints in NYC aren't serving Cuban-Chinese food as much as serving Cuban and Chinese foods side by side.

Can anyone confirm this?

If this is correct, might this also be the case for Peruvian Chinese, Indian Chinese, etc.?

←

Absolutely not, Herb. While there is some resemblence to American Chinese, they are also using Cuban-style roast pork in fried rice dishes, etc. La Caridad on 78th street in Manhattan is a good example of this (incidentally, this is one of my favorite places to eat fried rice and egg foo young in the city). You'll see Soy Sauce and other Chinese condiments used with typical Cuban dishes there as well. In fact, most of the food is more resembling Cuban food than Chinese.

http://www.gothamgazette.com/citizen/jun03...n_chinese.shtml

Indian Chinese is a very distinct cuisine in and of itself, with a lot of fusion going on.

Edited May 3, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[EdS]

The Chinese and Japanese have left their mark on Peruvian cuisine. I know the Chinese arrived in the 1800's. The Asian influence isn't just some modern thing but a real part of the cuisine. I know that lomo saltado seemed to pop up at every restaurant I visited. I rather lked it and would order it again and again. It then hit me that I was eating a stir-fry with soy sauce but also other popular local ingredients like potatoes of which there are seemingly hundreds of varieties there. There are chifas, Chinese restaurants, but the Chinese influence appears in the mainstream as well.

There's Peruvian soy sauce at my local Latin market.

Edited May 4, 2006 by esvoboda (log)

[tsquare]

I went to a local (Seattle) Peruvian restaurant, El Chalan. It has never been mentioned in the reviews, but the menu was almost comically Chinese. The Mexican waitress told us that when she told her Mom where she was working, she replied "Oh, some of the best Chinese food you can find is at a Peruvian restaurant." Not at this particular one, but you get the idea.

[BrentKulman]

We used to have a Peruvian Chinese place here in Charlotte and I really miss it.

Most of the dishes were Latin and they had an amazing cilantro chicken soup, corn with the biggest kernels you ever saw (but the taste was very bland) and served Inka Cola. The Chinese influence came in the rice stir fry dishes, which had lots of seafood and hybrid of Spanish and Oriental flavors.