Chifa Restaurant
“Delivery on time, before than expected, food very warm, I recommend this place 1000000 times.”
“I was most impressed with the "Kam Lu Wantan".”
“I recommend the Dumplings, Avocado Salad, the Sauteed Noodle dish, the Pollo a la Brasa and the Bistek Encebollada.”
Chifa Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
7 reviews
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The flavors were were only okay, kinda bland. Not somewhere I plan to go back to for another meal. The noodles (Tallarin Saltado) were super soggy. It's my preference to have the noodles crunchy like Cantonese style chow mein. The food wasn't hot enough for me. Most of our dishes came out lukewarm except the soup which was nice and hot. The fries in my Lomo Saltado were not as hot as I would like it and not crispy as if the fries were fried up a while ago. I definitely had better. I was quite disappointed.
It was not an empty restaurant. The prices are cheap, portions are okay. Which is a good start but maybe the way they cook is just not for my taste. Would I come back, no. Once was enough for me.
Chifa is a new Peruvian Chinese place that just recently opened up in Jackson Heights, Queens area. The place intrigued me as I didn't know what Peruvian Chinese food is.
Brief History on Chinese in Peru:
So here goes a brief history, according to Wikipedia history (I know it's not an official source) but it's a guide to get some quick info. Chinese contract laborers (also known as coolies) migrated from Macau (then a Portuguese territory) to Peru for work in the mid-1800s. As time passed over the years, coolies started migrating from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia (to include Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore). In the 1960s and 1970s, many Chinese Peruvians left Peru due to the socialist government, worsening poverty, and earthquakes. Many emigrated to the US, Canada, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Food:
With that said, the type of food that is served here at Chifa is really Chinese food with a bit of a Peruvian flair (and maybe a few Peruvian dishes). Some of our favorites are Pollo a la Brasa and their fried Calamari Appetizer. Both bf and I think the Chicken rivals that of Pio Pio's. The green sauce at Chifa, however, is more buttery tasting. Bf prefers Pio Pio's green sauce better. As for the fried Calamari, freshly battered and fried. The lemon sauce that comes with it is very intriguing. Loved it.
– Pollo a la Brasa (Half Chicken) with Green Sauce – yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
– Fried Calamari Appetizer – yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
Other dishes that we like include the Tai Pa, Tallarin Saltado (Sam Si) and their Langostino Con Champiniones. All 3 dishes have a brown sauce that is very similar to the brown sauce that is served at Chinese take out places. As a kid that grew up in a Chinese take out place – their brown sauce brings back good memories for me.
– Tai Pa – with Chicken, Duck, Pork, Shrimp, Quail Egg, and Mixed Veggies – yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
– Tallarin Saltado (Sam Si) – Noodles with Chicken, Duck, Beef and Mixed Veggies – yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
– Langostino con Champiniones (Shrimp with Mushrooms) – yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
We've also ordered the following:
– Sopa Wonton Especial – Their wonton skin was thinner than the average wonton at Chinese take out places. It's the type of skin that is used at Cantonese restaurants. yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
– Shumai (Chinese Dim Sum Appetizer) – good – yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
– Chuleta (Big size of Pork Chop pan fried with garlic and onions) – the onions were pan fried perfectly. Seasoning was good on the pork chop. Pork chop itself was a bit dry in some parts. yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
– Chancho con Tamarindo y Pina (Pork with Pineapple in Tamarindo Sauce) – good. sauce was a bit sweet from the pineapple. yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
Some kinks:
– Chifa also has a selection of bubble teas with pearl tapioca, jelly, or pudding. I have ordered the bubble teas twice with pearl tapioca. The first time, the pearl tapioca was too tough. I usually like my pearl tapioca at Taiwanese places that make it very soft and chewy. The second time that I tried to order the bubble tea with pearl tapioca, they didn't have pearl tapioca available.
– They also didn't have Lobster with Ginger & Scallion dish when we tried to order it. They need 24 hour advance notice for this dish, which wasn't indicated on the menu.
– We also tried to get the Pescado con Vendura (Fish with Vegetables), but then the waiter told us that he didn't eat fish, so we didn't know if this was a good dish to get. Not the answer we were expecting. I don't think I even know a person of Asian descent that doesn't eat fish. Guess there's a first time for everything.
– We tried to get the Chicha Morada drink but they didn't have that available.
– During one of the visits, they didn't have the Pollo a la Brasa (Rotisserie Chicken) available. This disappointed me the most… it's their signature dish!! (Also note that it was a Tuesday night… I wonder what would have happened if it was a Friday night!)
Picture that another Yelper took of the dining room. Very minimal decor.
yelp.com/biz_photos/oVdi…
Service:
Service is a bit slow as the waiters seem a bit absent minded, so some patience may be needed.
Overall:
Worth a stop by to try their Rotisserie Chicken (if they have it).
Did anyone lose a button?
I found one in my Tallarin Saltado con Pollo Trozo (Chifa style noodle with mixed vegetables and chicken in a brown sauce). The button was a big hunk of white plastic about the size of a quarter. My guess is that the chef's uniform was falling apart and into my dish. It's a good thing I found it before I or someone else swallowed or choked on it. As for the noodles, they were really good. Very greasy, full of salt, and lots of flavor.
Those three traits seem to be the common characteristics of the food from Chifa. I've tried quite a few dishes from Chifa and I'd recommend along with a jug of water:
Pollo Chi Jau Kay (breaded chicken in the brown sauce)
Blacken Chicken (chicken w/ string beans and spicy black bean sauce)
Arroz Chaufa "Sam Si" (fried rice w/ shrimp, chicken, and roast pork)
Chicken Wings
Tortilla de Pollo (chicken egg pancake)
Tallarin Saltado con Pollo Trozo (MENOS BOTON!)
I'm indifferent to the Fried Calamari and Tai Pa (a mixture of chicken, duck, pork, shrimp, and mixed vegetables in the brown sauce). There is pretty much everything on this menu ranging from appetizers, salads, peruvian-chinese dishes and soup to japanese teriyaki and bubble tea. Everyone should be able to pick something that they like from Chifa and be happy to share it since the portions are ample and served family style.
I'd skip the Salchipapas and Pollo a la Brasa. The Salchipapas are just french fries with low quality hot dog pieces. The rotisserie chicken is terrible in comparison to Pio Pio and El Pollo Inka Peru. They really rub in the spices and herbs a little too much on the chicken skin, underneath it, and in the middle of the meat. We had to scrape it off because it was so salty. No amount of rice or water could offset the abundance of flavor. If you're looking to pour the infamous "green sauce" all over your chicken, please note that the sauce at Chifa was nowhere near "crack-worthy" either.
Dining at the restaurant is a nice experience. The restaurant is fairly new and the staff is friendly. Delivery from Chifa works too. Just be sure to sift through your dishes for buttons. Buttons are meant to be worn not eaten.
It's really amazing to have a chifa restaurant in New York – there are at most one or two others around the area. Now I don't have to go all the way to Lima to experience Peruvian Chinese cuisine.
Anyways, chifa is a very interesting blend of cultures, and one of the few legitimate fusion cuisines. (By legitimate, I mean that it developed naturally as opposed to restaurateurs concocting up something just for the sake of novelty, such as the sushirrito or cronut.) I started off with the ceviche mixto and then had beef lomo saltado. The portions are super generous, and although I'm a big eater I could barely finish half of the lomo saltado. I also took home an order of aeropuerto (chow mein and fried rice mixed together), which I enjoyed the next day for lunch. I've never actually been to Peru so I can't comment on its authenticity, but it certainly does seem like it would be authentic chifa.
They also have a good selection of Peruvian drinks. I had the Kola Inglesa and Inca Kola. Both of them tasted fruity but had a certain quality not present in American sodas. I think it's their relatively delicate taste; American fruit-flavored sodas just taste artificial and nasty.
The decor is fairly simple, but they have cool pictures of Peru hanging on the walls.
***ALERT THIS PLACE ONLY TAKES CASH!!****
While i was waiting for my new car to be finished and ready by nissan i decided to check this place out. the Yelp reviews were very high and i love when people give recommendations. it makes choosing something for lunch by yourself a little more independence!
I was intrigued that it offered both chinese and peruvian food.
last i checked both China and Peru or in different areas. But we live in this great city called NYC and they offer all sorts of food pairing.
The food pairing was definitely a success i ordered the pollo chicken lunch special, it came with white rice and some lettuce already dressed in a light oil and vinegar dressing and 1/4 chicken breast they also brought this wasabi/ cream im going to guess mayo based dressing to the table and i added it to my rice and it was pretty good not too wasabi spicy. the portions they gave were huge definitely will fill you up. and for $6 bucks perfect spending.
the inside decor is very cute, their back bar looked really cute had some Peruvian and Chinese culture mixed. although the cat with the moving hands was a little weird, it kept catching my eye to its attention.
the staff was very friendly. when it came time for my check i told the guy bring it when you can no rush. so he brought it and i said when you have a chance i will need change. he never brought it back. so i just hung out a little while longer because i knew i would have to be waiting at Nissan still. but he never brought it back i didn't even see the waiter come back out. so i had to go up to the hostess station and ask the gentlemen do you still have my check? I said the guy never brought me back the change.
that was my only disclaimer for this place i think he took the bring it back when you can a little too literal. but i would definately come back to try other things.
The size of their food is large, and the price is OK. But the food itself is not impressive. I ordered chicken with tamarind, but it was literally sweet and sour chicken with pickled daikon, no trace of tamarind. And the combination of chicken and pickled daikon works really bad. The sauce is neither better than what you can get from any American Chinese fast food restaurants. The sopa fuchifu is tasteless as well.
I would give Chifa five stars for their nice staff, excellent service and most of all….the rotisserie chicken that beats Pio Pio (moist, tender, better flavor throughout) but Chifa's green sauce is terrible. There's very little flavor and hardly any heat. I had to stop by Pio Pio for a large thing of green sauce.
We also had some wontons with tamarind sauce that were absolutely wonderful.
I think the Chifa dishes on the menu will likely be really good but unfortunately this will not be my go-to place for chicken and green sauce since I can't normally go to two places to obtain dinner and I NEED my green sauce.