Chifa Canton - Lamas

The canton has good food. The selection is great and the service is good. The food is always very well prepared. This is the best Chinese food throughout Amazon... read more The canton has good food. The selection is great and the service is good. The food is always very well prepared. This is the best Chinese food throughout Amazonas

The canton has good food. The selection is great and the service is good. The food is always very well prepared. read more The canton has good food. The selection is great and the service is good. The food is always very well prepared.

I was here at a visit to Tarapoto. This of the best China I was in Peru was the place was really clean and very nice decoration with very good service. I had th... read more I was here at a visit to Tarapoto. This of the best China I was in Peru was the place was really clean and very nice decoration with very good service. I had the Sopa de Casa, who was as big as ever... and more than enough than a meal for one it came with chicken, pork, juniper, mushrooms, broccoli and Langoustinen. I also ordered a pig with pineapple that I didn't really need, but it was tasty no less. With half a liter of Chicha morada the meal costs 41 soles.

If you are Chifa (Peruvian Chinese Fusion Food that started on the streets of Lima), then Chifa Canton is your place. It is probably the best Chifa in all Tarap... read more If you are Chifa (Peruvian Chinese Fusion Food that started on the streets of Lima), then Chifa Canton is your place. It is probably the best Chifa in all Tarapoto, as proved by the crowd of lunches on a Tuesday afternoon. The restaurant is super efficient (on the classic Chifa way) and can move you flat in no time through a lunch experience. What a highlight of the menu for our table was the wide range of vegetables that you can get in a number of dishes. This was a pleasant hint of the heavy food we had for most of our visit to Tarapoto.

I was wholly impressed with my experience at Chifa Canton. I enjoyed the food quite a bit. importantly, however, the service was spectacular. I am a strict vege... read more I was wholly impressed with my experience at Chifa Canton. I enjoyed the food quite a bit. importantly, however, the service was spectacular. I am a strict vegetarian, so I had questions regarding their preparation. As I 've learned the hard way, vegetarian Asian food...(even in most Asian restaurants in the United States does not typically take into account ubiquitous animal products used in the cuisine. How many times have I been told at a Thai restaurant that anything can be made vegetarian? With just a follow up question or two, more often than not, the signature fish sauce appears in every so called vegetarian dish, thereby ensuring that almost none of the dishes is truly vegetarian. In Chinese food, that common ingredient is oyster sauce. Although Chifa Canton has a brief vegetarian section of six or seven dishes, the outstanding server, Rachel, confirmed that oyster sauce lurked in those dishes. After much back and forth (Rachel must have gone back to the kitchen or to the Chinese owner four or five times to confirm the ingredients and the modifications , they served me what I wanted: a spicy plate of mixed vegetables (broccoli, Napa cabbage, etc with three types of mushrooms and green onion. It wasn 't on the menu. Additionally, most of the dishes come over spaghetti (apparently the Peruvian equivalent of Lo Mein or rice despite that there is no such mention on the menu. I just want vegetables. Could it be done? Although she had to ask these customizations aren 't common virtually everything I wanted they were able to do. While I was eating, I came across what appeared to be meat. Rachel confirmed that it was a dehydrated soy product. There 's little doubt she knew her products. Trust me: in Tarapoto, dehydrated soy protein is not found on every corner (or any corner, for that matter . If she didn 't know what it was, she wouldn 't have had the presence to claim it was a soy substitute. The food was delicious, piping hot, a little spicy, and satisfying. The pricing, too, was fair. They took the closest vegetable dish on the menu and charged me that price. Had they been greedy, they could have attempted to charge me for everything substitution and adaptation (i.e., +3 soles for each of the three mushrooms, the onions, and the spicy peppers . It would have then doubled the cost of the dish. No such shenanigans here. Honest, fair, forthright. I recognize the risk that all of the dishes I could order at Chifa Canton could taste similarly. I 'm not claiming the most varied or creative vegetarian food is on offer. What I ordered is exactly what I wanted, but that could be the extent and breadth that I 'm able to find here. I don 't care. I was so impressed with the time, the effort, the honesty, and the trust that Chifa Canton has won me over. There 's no doubt that it 's the finest Chifa in town, as evidenced by the crowds late night on this Sunday, the quality ingredients, and the lack of MSG. But what truly sets this place apart is it 's willingness to listen. At least with Rachel, for a woman of twenty years, she demonstrated maturity and patience and care. I don 't often experience that in the United States, where servers offer robotic answers that have little bearing on the accuracy of the kitchen 's preparation. I 'm typically told, for instance, when I ask for spicy that they will bring me sauce on the side. I don 't want spicy sauce. I want spicy food. It 's seldom offered, and when it is, it 's usually not spicy at all. When I offer that feedback, nine times out of ten I 'm told that they didn 't want to make it too spicy for fear I 'd send it back, even after I had preemptively alerted them that it 's nearly impossible to make food too spicy for me. My point? Restaurants don 't typically engage or communicate. They either don 't listen or they ignore. And yet, all I got from Chifa Canton and its star server Rachel was communication, confirmation, and effort to make my food the way I wanted, respecting my vegetarian sensibility. It should be so simple. Sadly, it isn 't. And despite the language barriers I do speak Spanish but I don 't have all of the vocabulary or tense structure Rachel and Chifa Canton worked to earn my business and my trust that they have my interests at heart. I thanked Rachel profusely and then I spoke to the owner to reinforce my praise. To be sure, he was confused (I guess it 's not common in Peru to speak to an owner about his employees? , but he understood my intent and started to brainstorm other vegetarian dishes he could create for me. When I left, Rachel came over to give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I came for the food; I got so much more. It matters to be heard. It elevates the experience. It honors the individual. I recognize that my positive experience is largely because Rachel was my server. Someone else may not have taken the time or had the patience. Still, what was shown by the owner (Juan Carlos, he calls himself was that they will accommodate and they do want to respect and honor each individual 's requests. The owner instructed me to find him, should I return, and if Rachel is not working. His interest in helping and listening is sincere. The entire experience was. And it 's great just as a change of pace. Great experience. Recommended.