Madam Tusan, Your Gastronomic Destination.
Savoring every bite
If you are ever in Lima, looking for the best place for a wholesome Peruvian-Chinese or Chifa meal, then Madam Tusan is your undoubted gastronomic destination. Having a meal at Madam Tusan is definitely worth one’s salt. It is a much acclaimed Chifa restaurant at Level 1, Centro Comercial Real Plaza Salaverry, Av. Felipe Salaverry 2370. This is one of Gaston Acurio’s famous restaurants. Gaston Acurio put Peruvian cuisine on the world map by his innovation of fusion of traditional Peruvian and Western Cuisines. Tusan (土生) is a term for a Chinese emigrant used in China and in Peruvian Spanish it was adapted to mean Chinese person. This restaurant franchise opened in 2011 and has branches in Lima and Santiago de Chile. Out of 545 reviews on TripAdvisor, 423 reviews state that Madam Tusan is an excellent and a very good place for a succulent spread. Lloyd Hannis from Lima writes “This was by far the best experience I had at a Chinese restaurant in Lima. Superb service, amazing food, sensational flavours, A1+ experience. The Kam Lu Wantan was excellent, rice was perfect and the Lemon shrimp roll things were ace too.”. Lloyd has probably tried many Chinese restaurants in Lima, so you feel inclined to trust him and go to taste the superior and delicious fare at Madam Tusan.
The restaurant does not take reservations for lunch and therefore on weekends the wait can be interminable, certainly a good thing for the restaurant, but perhaps not for the clients. Our waiting time was 40 minutes which we spent loitering about in the Real Plaza Mall. Nice to have the restaurant in the Mall, it helps one to kill two birds with one stone, both pass time and shopping and dining. You can almost smell the food from a mile away. As I near the restaurant, having worked very hard not to eat any thing else in the mall, the thought of the food there makes my stomach rumble. As one enters, the restaurant is filled with the aroma of Chinese spices and ingredients. The hostess greets you warmly and takes you along with menu cards to the table. As you sink into the posh red snug seats, the waiter places three different types of sauces on your table. I finished the sauces before ordering my meal because I couldn’t control my temptation. That’s how delicious they were. The chili sauce was a bomb. The sauce enlivened the tastebuds. We ordered dumplings for starters. The dumplings they serve are absolutely divine. The first bite into it is literally heavenly. The soft and moist dumplings with the chili sauce fills you with the urge to ask for some more. I loved the dumplings so much that I ordered a variety of them making one wonder how much care and effort the chef has put into it every detail.
Next we ordered duck, chicken and vegetarian dishes and they were all equally delicious. The waiters were courteous, quick with service and even quicker with a smile which in the end goes a long way in making eating there a good experience.
I tried to savour every bite of the food to make it last longer, but since the food is so amazing there, you can’t stop eating. Caution: Madam Tusan is not conducive to a good conversation because the food doesn’t allow you to talk, only eat! You just surrender to the onslaught of fragrant and delicious dishes. The restaurant has a variety of vegetarian dishes; so there won’t be a problem for those who avoid fowl and fish. The icing on the cake is that the restaurant is affordable, unlike Gaston Acurio’s other restaurants which are in the higher range. Just writing about my experience there makes me want to go there again. Madam Tusan does indeed takes you on a journey with delectable and mouth watering Chifa cuisine.
When you pay the bill for your gratifying meal, the waiter serves you golden brown fortune cookies. Madam Tusan is one of the only Chinese restaurants in Lima where they actually give you a fortune cookie at the end of the meal. As soon as you break the cookie to know your fortune, you can hear and feel the crunchy crunch. While you will certainly take what the fortune cookie says with a pinch of salt and but you may wish to seriously take my recommendation that Madam Tusan is real value for money.
