Lunch at Kong restaurant in Chinatown

Yesterday, following a tip in the El Rico Dato FaceBook group in my search for soup dumplings, I took myself out to lunch at Kong restaurant at Paruro street in Chinatown.

Kong is a newish addition to Chinatown dining options. It is a small but well-appointed space that's clean and pleasantly decorated (and it has nice, clean bathrooms, which is a nice plus and a bit of a rarity in downtown).

Kong serves dim sum all day in addition to a few main dishes.  The offer goes beyond the usual chifa staples of fried rice and chi jau kay, and they don't offer a set-price lunch combo like many other places.  Nonetheless, that the menu is not super extensive, as in some restaurants, and the presence of some images in the menu booklet, makes ordering relatively easy. 

Prices are pretty reasonable. I walked out having enjoyed four dim sum plates and a pot of tea for about 20 bucks.

Of course, I ordered the soup dumplings (xiaolongbao or siu long pao).  Xiaolongbao are steamed dumplings filled with broth.  They are a southern Chinese specialty often associated with Shanghai, and are surprisingly difficult to find in the US -even in the San Francisco area- so getting them was a rare treat.  They are tasty, but especially, they are fun because they are so different to other buns or dumplings.

Another fun treat was an order of zu chai pao, sweet buns colored yellow and shaped like cute little piglets. They were filled with a sweet paste with pecan bits and were a nice way to end the meal.

Kong
Jirón Paruro 836
Lima

Lunch in Chinatown

On Wednesday I was hankering to get out for a bit and for some dim sum, so Diego and I headed to Chinatown, even though it was quite wet and drizzly out.

We went shopping for some large soup bowls in the shops near the old Central Market and headed to a Chinese restaurant and tea room that I knew about on Calle Capon.

It was Diego's first exposure to dim sum, and he said he liked it, although he is not  a big fan of chifa food beyond the classic fried rice and won ton soup lunch combo.  However we were both very impressed with a beef and wheat noodle soup that we ordered to help combat the chill of a very gray and drizzly day.

The flavour was deep and rich, and warmed by a generous addition of star anise, and the meat itself was super tender, even the parts with nerves and tendons.

I've been trying to find out more about it or something similar, but with the old-style (pre-Pinyin) transliteration into Spanish that is used here it is turning out to be somewhat of a lost cause.

Birthday lunch

This morning I awoke late to the sound of church bells after a late night with my cousins. It being my birthday, I soon got ready as the family was heading to Lima's Chinatown for a celebratory lunch.

Based on recommendations from Danny and Liz, I opted for one of the more traditional Cantonese-Peruvian chifas on Calle Capon, the San Joy Lao. Coincidentally, it also happened that I had recently read about San Joy Lao in the news as it had won a prize for the best arroz chaufa (fried rice) in Lima.

Palmira, Willy, Toya, Marina, Juancho, Toti, Mito, Carla

We ordered a banquet deal for 8-11, and added a number of dishes as there were sixteen of us (we're always a large group). Danny and Liz's recommendation was right on, as the food was quite good and varied, though one thing I miss in Peruvian Chinese fare is the piquancy of Hunanese- and Sichuanese-influenced cuisine.

Pa Kap Sum
Squab, duck, pork and Chinese sausage, with crispy noodles to be wrapped in lettuce

Chi Jau Cay chicken

Cam Lu Wan Tan

At the end of the meal the waiters brought out a small boat with an effigy of a Chinese deity and a candle for me to blow out. They led the group in singing "Happy Birthday" in Cantonese, but my cousins changed the Cantonse lyrics to "cuchi senqa to you" which means "pig nose to you" in a mix of Quechua and English!

"Cuchi senqa tu yu ...!"

Rafaela, Carla, Palmira

Nicolas

Natural History Museum

Today (Wednesday) the kids and I went to what was one of my favorite places when I was a child: the Natural History Mueseum of San Marcos University. The museum was founded in 1918 and houses a collection of natural history specimens primarily focused on Peruvian fauna.

The museum is around the corner from the Hospital Edgardo Rebagliatti Martins, where I was born back when it was still the Hospital del Empleado, and from the Social Security Institute. On the way I was amused to see that a building that was begun back in the 1970s is still not finished. This time, however, unlike the suspended animation of other years, they seem to have accepted that it won't be finished and removed the cranes and other accoutrements indicative of work.

At the museum itself, there are some new installations, but old specimens I saw in my youth -which were mouldering even then- are still there, much to my delight.

Most of the specimens seem to have been donated to the museum or gathered ad hoc, and were not stuffed or mounted according to what would be considered good museum, or even good taxidermic standards today. Sometimes, specially with the mammals, the results can be quite amusing.

The bird collection, though somewhat faded by time, is still quite impressive and better prepared than other areas.

There are some new exhibits centered on cetaceans and prehistoric life which are much better done, and are quite impressive and interesting. One particularly cool exhibit involves life-sized models of Peruvian dinosaurs which extend clear out of the rooms that house them, their tails protruding into adjoining halls and passageways.

I'm not sure which looks scarier, the dinosaur or the children...

Afterwards, because Susana had been asking to go to a chifa (Chinese restaurant), we walked to the Restaurante Royal, on Ave. Prescott a couple of blocks from San Felipe, for the lunch buffet.


The service was great, and the food good. Not great, but good. However, both Susana and Nico were very happy - Susana said she felt "like a lady" because the waiters pulled out her chair for her and helped with her coat- and the dessert selection met with aproval all around.