Chifa

CHIFA

Chinese Restaurant

I hardly missed Chinese food throughout my one month travel in South America.

There are no shortage of Chinese restaurants. They sprout up everywhere, every corner, even in the remote areas. Big sign board with the word Chifa, and occasionally in distinct Chinese character names. And even if it is not a Chinese restaurant, Chinese dishes are often available.

The common Chinese dishes in Peru are fried rice, noodles and wan ton soup. Though they don't taste nor served exactly like what we do in Singapore, they are pretty close. Wan ton sopa (soup) is very popular in Peru. The wan ton, unlike what we have in Singapore with a big meatball of meshed pork and pawn meat wrapped up in the wan ton skin, is just plain wan ton skin. Or if the chef is generous, it may come with a small little dot of minced chicken meat in the centre of the squarish wan ton skin. There isn't a standard serving of sopa; some come with just the soup and wan ton while others may be served together with noodles.

For the counterparts in Argentina, the Chinese will open the Parrillas restaurants. These restaurants usually offer an unlimited serving of dishes in Chinese and Western style, together with grill meat. With respect to the high cost of living in Argentina, these restaurants are indeed value for money for about US$5. In fact, this amount is hardly enough for them to recover their cost and they have to make it up through the side orders of beverages. That is why patrons have to pay slightly more for the buffet if they are not ordering any drinks.

It was a delightful feeling to step into a Chifa restaurant. It feels homely and warm to see Chinese decorations, read the menu in Chinese characters and of course speaking to the waiters in Mandarin or Cantonese. And we will usually receive some sort of special attention, as Chinese tourists are rare. It doesn't mean that we are served with larger portion or given special discount though. It may be a sparkle of curiosity in their eyes or a just a simple nod of recognition.

Along the busy and chaotic road near the bus station in Lima, there were several outlets of Chifa restaurants. We patronised one particular restaurant so often that we ended up having a good chat with the lady boss. Her family had migrated from Canton several years ago and took over the existing restaurant. Running a restaurant seems to be the best option to earn a living in a foreign land with language barrier.

When we first patronised and gave our order in Mandarin, her daughter replied halting. We switched and conversed in their dialect when we later heard her son listening to some Cantonese taps. She sends her 10 years old son to a private school to be educated in Chinese while the older daughter helped out as a cashier / waitress in the restaurant.

After paying for rental and her son's education, there wasn't much left from her small margin business. Beside the positive comment of having cool weather in Lima, she complained the difficulty of making ends meet. And she talked enthusiastically and retrospectively about the attractions back in China. I wondered why would they want to migrate given all the boom and opportunities in back in China. They were not poor folks back home, as they were required to bring in a handsome sum of money to Peru. Neither did they embrace the Peruvian culture, remaining glued within their small little Chinese community.

Imitations of Chifa are common too. These Chifa are neither owned nor cooked by Chinese. Though some are nicely decorated with the oriental ambience, some do not even come with chopsticks. With so many Chifa, Chinese food must be well liked in South America.